An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
Last Supper by James Tissot - Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons I don’t know what to make of or do with today’s gospel (John 13:21-32). It raises more questions for me than it…
Read More The Messiness Of Betrayal – A Sermon On John 13:21-32 For Wednesday In Holy Week
Jadas Iscariot by Eilif Peterssen - Own work Themightyquill, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Today’s gospel (John 12:1-11) is the one we hear every year on Monday in Holy Week, and every year it starts me thinking about Judas. What’s…
"Spring fragrance" by César Poyatos is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. I want to think with you today about poverty and that last line from today’s gospel (John 12:1-8) in which Jesus says, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not…
Read More Smelling the Fragrance of Beauty – A Sermon On John 12:1-8
Here’s my question. In what ways have you been the betrayer? Whom have you betrayed? And how did that happen? “Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus said, “one of you will betray me.” Everyone at the table looked around wondering who it was. I wonder if they looked at themselves or just each other. I wonder if they looked at their own lives; their thoughts, words, and deeds; things done and left undone. I wonder if they were relieved when Jesus dipped the bread in the dish and gave it to Judas. Are you?
Here’s my question: In what ways are you fragrancing the life of others? I hope you understand that I’m not talking about perfume or rubbing someone’s feet. I’m asking about love. I am talking about the kind of love that is absolutely free and will cost us everything. I’m not talking about love that is based on feelings or attraction but the kind of love that is a choice and a commitment by which we pour out on another all that we are and all that we have. I am talking about loving someone to death, and beyond. I’m asking you to look at how you love in light of Mary and Judas. Let them be the lenses through which you look at yourself.
Wednesday in Holy Week - John 13:21-32 What comes to mind when you hear the name Judas? For most of us, I suspect, the first thing we think of is betrayal. Judas is the one who betrayed Jesus. Judas is…
Read More Judas, More Than A Betrayer? – A Sermon On John 13:21-32 For Wednesday In Holy Week
"The rose has no why; it blossoms because it blossoms. It pays no attention to itself, nor does it ask whether anyone sees it."
What if we were to live like the rose, without a why? What if we blossomed simply because we blossomed. What if there was no motive or seeking to our blossoming; to be noticed, to be praised, to accomplish? What if we fragranced the world because we couldn’t do anything but fragrance the world? The rose is going to do what it’s going to do regardless of whether anyone sees or smells it. It’s beauty and fragrance are not means to an end. It has no why.
He was the one they had waited for. They had grown up hearing stories of his coming. Then one day he showed up and chose them to be his friends and students, to follow and learn. He took them new…
Read More “Lord, who is it?” A Sermon on John 13:21-32
To love or to not love. That is the question in today’s gospel. It is always the question. Every minute of every day we answer that question. The answer to that question orients our way of being, guides how we…
Read More To Love or to Not Love, A Sermon on John 12:1-8
The collect and readings for Maundy Thursday may be found here. The following sermon is based on John 13:1-17, 31-35. One by one, Jesus kneels on the floor in front of each disciple. One by one, the water of his love…
Read More All Are Washed, All Are Loved – A Sermon for Maundy Thursday; John 13:1-17, 31-35
Interrupting the Silence 