Let Your Heart Sing

Reign of Christ; Yr. C, November 24, 2013

Jeremiah 23:1-6; 
Psalm 46; 
Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            Every time I read that passage from Jeremiah, I shudder.  I hear God talking to the shepherds of the flock and chastising them for destroying and scattering the sheep of God’s pasture.  I am one of those shepherds, and even though I have no desire to destroy or scatter anything … it seems that can happen all too easily.

If it does, what happens then?

Bigger Than We Think

All Saints Sunday; Yr. C, November 3, 2013

Isaiah 1:1-10; 
Psalm 32:1-8; 
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            Many of you know that I have started a Clinical Pastoral Education program to become certified as a CPE Supervisor.  As a result of that process, and the fact that it has been five years since we wrote our first Mission and Vision statement, the vestry and I have been exploring our life and work together.  Elaine, our secretary and I, took a month and kept track of our work and the time we spent on different tasks.  The vestry took a look at our Mission & Vision statements to see if and how they still ring true for us. After our service today, we ‘ll ask all of you to look at the work we’ve done and to give us feedback on the Mission & Vision.  In anticipation of this meeting, last week the vestry started thinking about the work that needs to be done in order to make this piece of paper a living document.  We’re looking forward to your feedback.  The vestry has put in a bit of extra time doing this work, meeting outside of their regularly scheduled monthly meetings.  I feel a deep commitment to this parish in their commitment of time and talent, but we are a small church.

            The early churches were small too.

Remembering the Dead

All Saints Day; Yr. C, November 1, 2013

Daniel 7:1-3,15-18; 
Psalm 149; 
Ephesians 1:11-23
; Luke 6:20-31

Sermon preached at St. Luke & St. Simon Cyrene Episcopal Church

            At my clergy Bible study this week, a colleague told me that she didn’t think it was any surprise that All Saints Day occurred at this time of the year.  Just think about it, she said, the days are getting shorter, darkness is growing longer, leaves are falling, and the temperatures are dropping.  The earth itself appears to be dying.  At her church, there are a large number of Burmese refugees.  During their first fall here, they saw all these changes taking place and they didn’t know what was happening.  It was totally foreign to them.  They live in the tropics.  They asked the pastor why people weren’t afraid to see all the trees dying.  The pastor assured them that that wasn’t so.  This was fall, and winter would follow.  The trees were not dead; they were becoming dormant.  But the Burmese had never experienced winter and they didn’t believe him.  So one day, he took a few of them outside and with a pen knife, he cut a small branch on one of the trees.  He showed them the green that still lived on the inside of the dead looking branch.  He told them that new leaves would grow on the tree the following spring. So it seems appropriate to remember the promise of resurrection as we begin our journey from fall into the stillness of winter.  Life comes out of death. 

The One Who Came Back

21^st Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, October 13, 2013

2 kings 5:1-3, 7-15c; Psalm 111; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            I was a leper.   You may not believe me because I look so good now.  But I was.  No one would come near me.  I would call out whenever I came near a village.  Unclean!  Unclean!  Beware!  And people would scatter in front of me.  They would run for safety and cover their faces.  Some would throw stones at me and chase me away from the village.  I was an outcast … an untouchable … ashamed … unclean.

            But then I found my brothers.