Whose Brood?

Advent 3, Yr. C, December 16, 2012

Zephaniah 3:14-20; Canticle 9; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            So here we are again on the third Sunday of Advent, listening to John the Baptist rail against those gathered at the river.  That crowd of people had come out to be baptized by John, to be washed clean,  purified by a baptism of repentance, a baptism intended to re-orient them to God.  I imagine them standing there in that crowd eagerly awaiting their dip in the muddy waters of the Jordan.  Standing ready to take that plunge and make that commitment.  Instead of cheers and congratulations, they are met with name calling and accusations.  “You brood of vipers!  Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor.’”  I wonder how many baptisms we’d have at St. Stephen’s if that’s the way I greeted people at our baptismal font?  How many would continue on?  How many would leave angry … or run away in fear? 

Got Hope?

Advent 1, Yr. B, December 2, 2012

Jeremiah 33; Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            I’ve been talking a lot about hope lately, and today won’t be any different.  Notice the banner that’s up on the wire this week.  Our first candle in this new season of Advent, a season of “coming” is also about hope.  This is the beginning of our looking forward to a future event that happened 2000 years ago, the birth of a man who had the capacity to live in full communion with God in every moment of his life.  As grim as life in first century Palestine could be for many, Jesus proclaimed hope.  Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God was at hand.  The advent of the Day of the Lord was upon them.   Just watch the signs, he told them.  Stay steadfast in your faith, trust in God, don’t let your fears and worries get you down.

            I imagine there were many people who couldn’t see the possibilities themselves, and despair was a ready friend to them, a trap that could catch them and refuse to let them go. 

The Reign of Christ

Last Sunday after Pentecost, Yr. B, November 25, 2012

Daniel 79-10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            The readings from Daniel and Revelation are part of the apocalyptic literature in the Bible.  We tend to think that this type of literature is all about retribution and annihilation.  It portrays a kind of end time that most of us don’t particularly look forward to, an end that ushers in the victory of God by means of a great war between the forces of good and the forces of evil.  There have been times in my life when I felt that these writings weren’t particularly helpful to my spiritual life. 

            But as I look around in the world today, and I see so many of our young adult males, particularly males of color, dying in our streets, and as I look up the names of those killed in our military every week now, I find myself seeing these stories from a different perspective.