pentecost – Mother A Writes

Listening Together

John 16:12-15 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” Right there, in red letters, the Bible tells us that God has more to teach us than what could be said in the brief time that God walked the earth in human flesh. Jesus promises the apostles thatContinue reading “Listening Together”

This Is The Hard Part

Acts 2:1-21 Last Sunday marked four years of ministry together, for me and you, and for the partnership between our two parishes in an official capacity. It marked four years of ministry for Ben at St John’s, and it’s been a little over four years since we moved into our home in downtown Lynchburg withContinue reading “This Is The Hard Part”

Praying with the Spirit

Romans 8:12-17 I did not truly learn how to pray until I was a young adult. I grew up in a Christian home, I went to my family’s Episcopal Church every Sunday, I attended youth group and Christian summer camp, I loved church and the prayerbook and I listened to the sermons as best IContinue reading “Praying with the Spirit”

There Will Be Life

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Mortal, can these bones live? O Lord God, you know. The vision of Ezekiel reads like a ghost story, or the plot of a zombie movie. Ezekiel finds himself in a vast valley, and as far as the eye can see, the ground is covered with bones. These bare skeletons are everywhere, andContinue reading “There Will Be Life”

Our Holy Conversation Partner

Acts 2:1-21 My first conscious experience of Pentecost happened at a Diocesan youth retreat when I was fifteen years old. It wasn’t the feast of Pentecost, and the reading from Acts was not read. But all the same, it was my first moment of being so filled with the Holy Spirit that I felt likeContinue reading “Our Holy Conversation Partner”

What I Understand About the Trinity- Alternatively Titled “Heresy? Probably.”

John 16:12-15 The readings for Trinity Sunday can be found here, although you’ll find this to be an occasional sermon, meaning I focus on the occasion of the Feast of the Holy Trinity rather than any one text There are lots of jokes among preachers that this is “curate Sunday” or “associate Sunday” or “seminarianContinue reading “What I Understand About the Trinity- Alternatively Titled “Heresy? Probably.””

The Reversal of Babel

Acts 2:1-21 In the parish where I grew up, there was a practice for many years on Pentecost, a dramatic demonstration that echoed the liturgical reliving of Holy Week’s journey from the betrayal to the resurrection. For the reading of the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the lesson we heard today, theContinue reading “The Reversal of Babel”