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. 

That Faith Lives in You

20^th Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, October 6, 2013

Habakkuk 1:1-4,2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-10; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

The disciples cry out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!”  Jesus responds saying, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.”  The disciples are pleading.  What is Jesus doing?  Is he berating them?  Is he admonishing them?  That’s the tone I often hear in this passage, the frustrated tone of parent or teacher.  But what if Jesus is really encouraging them?  What if Jesus is using a voice of love and compassion that I too often forget to use with myself? 

What if he’s talking more like St. Paul, in Paul’s letter to Timothy.  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.  Paul reassures Timothy.  Paul recognizes the signs of faith in him, signs that, for whatever reason, Timothy may not be seeing in himself.  Maybe Timothy had even been pleading with Paul!  Increase my faith. 

I know what that’s like … to feel like your faith doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.

Eternal Tenting

18^th Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, September 22, 2013

Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

The parable of the Dishonest Steward is one that troubles most preachers when it pops up in the lectionary.  It’s a parable, a wisdom story, so I guess it’s good to remember that it is more like a Buddhist koan than an allegory.  This is one of those parables that makes us think, really think … because it doesn’t make sense to our ears.

Does anyone like hearing the dishonest steward praised?  Does anyone feel that his last ditch effort to make friends of those indebted to the master has any merit?  Would any of you be proud of acting in the same self-serving way?  Does anyone feel the least bit satisfied when Jesus tells us that we are to make friends with dishonest wealth too?  Oh, and by the way … you cannot serve two masters.  No one can serve both God and wealth.  Clear as a bell?  Everyone get the point?  I usually don’t.

Finding Forgiveness

17^th Sunday after Pentecost; Yr. C, September 15, 2013

Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10

Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

            So a woman lost one of her ten silver coins, and she searched the house up and down until she found it.  It reminds me of the time I lost an ear ring, and I search the house the car, the pathway to the church door, the parking lot and the grass around my car.  I desperately wanted to find it, because what do you do with just one of a pair of earrings.  But I didn’t find my lost thing.  It stayed lost, probably sitting in some obscure dusty corner … waiting to be found.

            I knew that earring was lost, because I still had its partner in my left ear.  The only thing harder then losing it, was telling Nancy that it was gone … because it was her earring.   She had bought them for our wedding in New Hampshire.  Someone told me I should pray to St. Anthony, because that always works, but I didn’t.  That’s never really worked for me.  I just kept looking.  Something inside me made me believe that it was somewhere near by, that I was probably looking right at it, but not seeing it.  If only I looked in the right place … the lost thing would be found.  I imagined myself finding it, and running inside to tell Nancy.  Look, the lost have been found, I’d say!  It’s right here in my hand! We’d both smile and jump for joy.  We’d do a little happy dance in the kitchen and celebrate!  My guilt would be lifted and peace restored.  But I never did find it.