An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
Shortly after Easter I attended a retreat that focused on creativity and spirituality. In one of the workshops we were invited to write our own psalm. I knew that I would write about the mass shooting that occurred in Uvalde…
Read More And What About You, O God? – My Lament On The First Anniversary Of The Uvalde Shooting
We often come to this day, Good Friday, and talk about what Jesus on the cross did for us. We talk of his death as having accomplished and completed something for us. I think that’s why a little later in…
Read More The Jesus Choice – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42 For Good Friday
“The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross.” The crucifixion in November? What’s that about? Someone even asked me if I was sure I had the correct gospel for today. It is the correct gospel for today and I…
Read More The Reign Of Nonviolence – A Christ The King Sermon On Luke 23:33-43
Photo by Sage Friedman on Unsplash As I reflected on today’s gospel (Luke 13:1-9) and prepared this sermon I thought about the Russian war on Ukraine, the six million covid deaths worldwide, the collision between a pick up truck and a van that…
Read More Reimagining Our Lives – A Sermon On Luke 13:1-9 and Exodus 3:1-15
Image by Cynthia A. Marsh, inspired by https://uocofusa.org/news_220124_1 I often remind myself that if I am going to pray for something I also need to align my life and actions with that prayer. It’s a way of giving existence to…
Read More Pray For Ukraine, And Then Act
Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents - Matthew 2:13-18 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were…
Read More It Still Matters – A Reflection On The Feast Of The Holy Innocents, Matthew 2:13-18
Here’s my question. What is the cross of Jesus asking for in your life today? And what is it showing you? Most of us come to Good Friday believing that the cross gave us something. Most of us come to this day saying that “Jesus died for our sins.” I’m not so sure anymore. I struggle with the torture and execution of Jesus. I suspect most of us do. I can’t make sense of it and I’m not sure Jesus could either. I want to rethink the meaning of Good Friday and the usual ways we interpret it.
Last week, some of you may remember, I ended my sermon by asking this question: Will we, in 2021, be different from and better than how we were in 2020? There’s not much about the first ten days of 2021 that suggests we will. I think it’s still an open question and, I hope, still a possibility. But after the events of last Wednesday and the assault on our nation’s capitol I’m just not so sure we will be. As I reflect on the events of last Wednesday I keep going back to words from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Few are guilty, but all are responsible.”
If what we hear in today’s gospel (Matthew 22:1-14) is really what the kingdom of heaven is like, then I’m not interested. Who needs God’s kingdom - at least as Jesus describes it today - when we already have more than enough leaders throughout the world who are abusing their power, when violence is perpetrated on a daily basis, when people’s lives are being destroyed, when cities are burning, when some are excluded and told they don’t belong? We don’t need God’s help to bring that about, we’re pretty good at it by ourselves.
America is in a hard place these days, and we have been for quite a while. Over the last few months of the coronavirus many have said that we’re all in this together. Yes, but we’re not all together in this. We are not “all together in one place” on this day of Pentecost. Our country is divided, fragmented, and wounded. And so is my heart. Maybe yours is too. It’s not easy to talk about our wounds; whether it’s our individual wounds or our national wounds, whether it’s the wounds we’ve received or the ones we’ve inflicted. To talk about our wounds requires us to look at what we’ve done and left undone. It means we each have to look within ourselves. It means taking responsibility for our lives. It means valuing the life and wounds of another as much as our own.
Interrupting the Silence 