Our Father

10^th Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, July 28, 2013

Genesis 18:20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19); Luke 11:1-13

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

One of Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.  Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.  Anyone recognize this?  When I go visit Dorothy Adle at the Episcopal Church Home we end with this prayer.  No matter what I pray for at the beginning, I always end with the Lord’s Prayer.  Anyone know why?  It’s hardwired in her brain.  No matter what else she may forget … what she had for breakfast … who visited her in the last week … even her own name, when I start to say the Lord’s Prayer, her lips begin to move.  We say it together, at least most of it.  That prayer is a staple of our Christian faith.  No matter what Christian denomination you may belong to, if you call yourself a Christian you’ve heard it, and most of us know it.  We know it so well, we may not think about what we’re saying anymore, or let alone wonder what it might have meant to the people Jesus was speaking to.

Even the Pastor

9^th Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, July 21, 2013

Genesis 18:1-10a; Psalm 15; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

Nancy, Hannah and I have been traveling over the last few weeks.  
As a part of that travel, we were in a number of restaurants, restrooms and rest areas.  All places, where one goes to find “rest” of some sort.  You might imagine that these were places of peace and quiet, but virtually none of them were.  The rest areas were filled with people coming and going from their summer vacation travels.  The restrooms were humming with people and noise, mothers corralling young children, shouts to “wash your hands” or “hold my hand”, the sound of flushing and drying and water running louder made the chaotic scene louder than you might imagine.  I didn’t expect complete quite at these way stations, because they are by nature the very places where people zip in and out on their way to somewhere else.  They aren’t meant to be places where we STAY.  So the noise of people getting done what needed to be done was appropriate.

Restaurants, on the other hand, are places where people sit and spend some time.  Whenever we were shown to a table for a bite to eat, we settled in to stay for a little while.  It felt good to be out of the car, and have someone wait on us.  The days were hot, and our drive was long.  So, a little peace and quiet would have been appreciated.  Most restaurants weren’t that quiet either.  Most had music piped in that negated any possibility of a quiet conversation.  Nancy and I both commented on how difficult it was to actually have a quiet conversation in most any family restaurant anymore.  The music was just too loud.  It wasn’t long after that, that we began to notice music in almost every public place we entered, stores, bathrooms, gas stations, airports, elevators … if it was a public space, there was almost always noise piped in.