Matthew 2:1-12 When I was a teenager, I was cast one year as one of the three wise men along with two of my classmates. We had all aged out of being sheep and shepherds and angels, and we weren’t quite old enough yet to play Mary or Joseph or the angel Gabriel, although byContinue reading “For All People”
Tag Archives: sermon
A Beautiful Beginning
Luke 2:(1-7) 8-20 If I were to start off with “once upon a time…,” it would probably signal certain things to you about what comes next. A fairy tale, a myth, a legend. Not necessarily true in the literal sense, but meaningful and maybe even instructive. If I were to say “a long time agoContinue reading “A Beautiful Beginning”
Big Love, Small
Luke 2:1-14(15-20) We want a big God. We want a God who will stop wars and move mountains and slow the passage of time. When we feel small and afraid in the wide world, we want a God who is bigger than us to protect us and fight for us. When we encounter natural marvelsContinue reading “Big Love, Small”
Wake Up!
This sermon was given at St Peter Baptist Church in Clifford, VA, by invitation of their board of deacons. The people of St Mark’s Episcopal Church worship with the people of St Peter four times a year as we have done for over a decade. “You know what time it is, how it is nowContinue reading “Wake Up!”
Happy New Year
Luke 23:33-43 I was reminded by a mentor from my fellowship this week that today is the New Year’s Eve of the church calendar, a threshold between the year behind us and the new year ahead of us. This is the last Sunday of Year C, and next week on Advent 1 we begin theContinue reading “Happy New Year”
The Devil is a Liar
John 18:1-19:42 Yesterday, we heard that the devil had put it in the heart of Judas to betray Jesus, and today we bear witness to the outcome of that betrayal. “The Devil made me do it,” a phrase popularized by a comedian in the 70s, has long been a tongue-in-cheek way of excusing minor infractions,Continue reading “The Devil is a Liar”
In Remembrance of Me
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 & John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Do this in remembrance of me. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth, we have the earliest mention of the Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper. Paul was writing almost a generation before the Gospel of John was written, and decades before Mark or Luke or MatthewContinue reading “In Remembrance of Me”
Temptation at Lunchtime
Luke 4:1-13 In C. S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters, Lewis imagines what the correspondence between two demons might look like. They discuss humanity with contempt, all the while obsessing over the actions, choices, and beliefs of the individual humans they are charged with leading away from God, or as they call him, the Enemy.Continue reading “Temptation at Lunchtime”
For Love’s Sake
Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a] For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved one particular prayer in the prayerbook more than any other. It is found in the Compline liturgy, prayers for the close of the day, which was prayed before bedtime every night at my summer camp growing up and at the end of everyContinue reading “For Love’s Sake”
Crying in Church
1 Samuel 1:4-20 & 1 Samuel 2:1-10 As you may have noticed, I am not a particularly stoic person. When we sing a particular hymn, or read the words of a particular psalm, or even at times when I am preaching or teaching or sitting with folks going through something hard, tears come to myContinue reading “Crying in Church”
Mother A Writes 