Becoming One

5^th Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, June 23, 2013

Isaiah 65:1-9; Psalm 22:18-27; Galatians 3:23-39; Luke 8:26-39

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

This week I spent a day at Northeastern Seminary listening to a conference on Emergence Christianity given by Phyllis Tickle.  She talked all about the sociological changes that have taken place over the last 100 years that have brought us to the place we are today in Christianity. 

So, you might be asking yourselves, what does this event have to do with today’s readings?  Good question.  I ask myself that question every week.  What does anything in my life have to do with what I’m reading in scripture?  Maybe it’s a question we should all be asking ourselves; because if we believe that scripture is the source of authority for our faith, than it has something to say about the decisions we make about how to live our lives.

Is scripture the authority?

The Beginning of the End

2^nd Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, June 2, 2013

1 Kings 18:20-21, (22-29), 30-39; Galatians 1:1-12;  Psalm 96; Luke 7:1-10

Sermon preached at The Church of St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene

Richard Hays had this to say about Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  “Galatians proclaims an apocalyptic gospel.  Christ came to defeat the oppressive powers that held us captive and to ‘rescue us from the present evil age’ (1:4).  As Paul develops the implications of this confession, he discloses to his readers that the entire world of orderly religious norms that he had once zealously defended has been ‘crucified’ (6:14); it no longer has any claim upon him.  The real world in which we now live is the “new creation” brought into being by Christ, in which we are given new life and are guided by the Spirit.  As the church reads Galatians, then, we are constantly challenged to reject the wisdom of business as usual – including the business of religion – and to see reality as redefined by the cross.  Those who live by this rule will no longer be manipulated by the popular culture’s images of security and respectability.  We will live, instead, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, and our life together will be a sign of the world to come.” [1]

            Our life together will be a sign of the world to come.  Paul saw Jesus’ resurrection as a sign of the new world coming to fruition.  What he had expected to be an end of time event, the general resurrection of all the faithful, he saw actually racing into the present.  Jesus was the first sign that it had already begun.  For Paul, the resurrection was the beginning of the end. Everything Paul knew about “church” … the laws, the rituals, the norms … were being re-formed, re-written in light of this unanticipated resurrection event.  It was all being transformed by the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  Believers were given hope of a new life, and the gift of a new Spirit to guide them.

Why Baptism?

Trinity Sunday; Yr. C, May 26, 2013

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5;  Canticle 13; John 16:12-15

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            When I lived in Lake Placid and the search committee was interviewing for our new priest, someone asked the interviewee who she would be willing to baptize.  If someone called who wasn’t connected to the church, would you baptize them?  These are the questions of hatch, match and dispatch … baptism, marriage and death.  If someone comes to the church looking for these “services”, the member wanted to know, would she offer them?   It’s an interesting question because it’s both a pastoral question and a theological one. 

            Death is the easiest.  In the midst of suffering and grief, I’m always swayed to do the most pastoral thing.  If I’m available, I’ll bury anyone.  I don’t care who you are, or where you came from.  We’ll find a way to commend you to God, if that’s what you and/or your family needs.  God’s love trumps everything.

Decisions, Decisions

Pentecost Sunday; Yr. C, May 19, 2013

Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21;  Psalm 97; John 14:8-17, (25-27)

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            It’s Pentecost Sunday a day in our church when we recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit.  One of the participants in our clergy Bible study this past week said, “Why do we celebrate Pentecost as the day when the Holy Spirit descended on humanity when we believe that the Holy Spirit has always been a part of the trinity?”  There was silence.  Then a colleague said, “You’re right … but the feast of Pentecost is the moment when the church recognized it.”

            I was surprised how many of my Baptist colleagues found the idea of the Holy Spirit somewhat foreign to their congregations.  I like the idea of the Holy Spirit.  I have a sense of the Spirit at work when I feel those nudges that prompt me to do something that feels a little risky, or calls me out of my comfort zone.  When the same thing pops into my head in different situations three times, something in me starts to pay attention.  I call it the nagging of the Spirit. 

Offering Freedom

7^th Sunday of Easter; Yr. C, May 12, 2013

Acts 16:16-34;  Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            Most of you know that I used to live in the Adirondacks.  When you think of the Adirondack Mountains, I bet you think first of the natural beauty there, and the access to lakes and trails that enable so many to enjoy the outdoors.   You might think about snowmobiling or ski slopes or ice skating on frozen ponds.  Perhaps you even remember the winter Olympics that took place in Lake Placid, most recently in 1980.  I think of those things too, but every once in a while I remember something else.  I remember the many prisons there.

            Between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid there are two prisons, one federal and one state.  In the small town of Gabriels, not far away, there was another one.  It’s now closed.  In Malone, about 30 minutes away from where we lived, there were three more. According to Wikipedia,“All three prisons [in Malone], along with other upstate facilities, provide employment in an otherwise depressed economic area of the state.”  Our neighbor was a prison guard, so were a lot of other people.  When I lived there, the town I taught in was actually competing for a new prison as a way to grow their economy.  They needed a new industry to fuel that growth.  They needed jobs.  A new prison could mean at least 200 new jobs.  A new prison could mean money for the town.

Who’s the Helper?

6^th Sunday of Easter; Yr. C, May 5, 2013

Acts 16:9-15;  Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

                        I’ve been on the SWEM board a few years now.  That board is a working board.  Almost everyone on it is an officer or a leader in one of the programs that SWEM coordinates.  We all help with the Christmas Baskets.  We’ll all be at the CROPWalk later today.  We’ve all put in hours at the food cupboard at the Montgomery Neighborhood Center, and we’re committed to feeding hungry people in our neighborhoods.  We want to serve.  For us, it’s a calling.