Sermons from June 2019

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Pentecost 3C: Proper 8: 6/30/2019

6/30/2019
Pentecost 3 Yr C: Proper 8

The prophet Elijah passed his cloak onto Elisha. That cloak represented his power as a prophet of God, and all that he had learned, and all that he had been empowered to do. This scene is not just about the cloak, but it is about passing forward the story; his understanding of Faith in God; passed from mentor to student; enabling the next generation, and anchoring the next generation to something thought out and powerful; and making sure through that passing forward, that true Faith would endure.

Pentecost 2C: Proper 7: 6/23/2019

6/23/2019
Pentecost 2 Yr C: Proper 7

Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” The lake was the Sea of Galilee, and that trip took them out of Jewish territory into the land of the Gerasenes. This was Gentile land; where people did not know God. And in that land Jesus met a man who was overtaken by demons. Imagine being one of the witnesses of this event. The people in that town obviously knew the man; for many years he had worn no clothes, lived in the cemetery, and sometimes had to be chained up and guarded; but he was able to break the chains and run away. Jesus knew that what was at work was evil spirits. And so he asked, “What is your name?”  The answer should have put chills down the spine of every person who heard the reply; “Legion”. A legion was the largest unit in the Roman army; about 6,000 soldiers. But that wasn’t what made the people afraid.

Trinity Sunday: 6/16/2019

6/16/2019
Trinity Sunday Yr C

Today is Trinity Sunday. In the rest of our church year we read scripture for history, stories, or parables about what God DOES in the world; today’s lessons focus on WHO GOD IS. God is Spirit, and so the more we can understand the nature of God, the more likely we are to recognize God’s presence and activity around us. Christianity is unique in this understanding of a triune God, and it offers us a way to get our heads around the works of our infinite God.

There is an intellectual side to our understanding the nature of God, and there is an experiential side to it.

Seventh Sunday of Easter: 6/2/2019

6/2/2019
Easter 7 Yr C

Every Sunday we offer a blessing for couples celebrating an anniversary of their marriage. The blessing we say come directly from our Book of Common Prayer (BCP 431). It begins with the words, “O God, you have so consecrated the covenant of marriage that in it is represented the spiritual unity between Christ and his church.” This unity with the ‘church’ is not the institutional church; it is the ‘body of Christ’ church; it is you and me; all of us who believe in Jesus, and all of us who do the best we can, to the best we can understand, to follow Jesus.The ‘spiritual unity’ of Jesus and his church is the central topic of this passage from John today. This is part of Jesus’ High Priestly prayer; the prayer he said aloud at the Last Supper, for all of his disciples to hear, so that we could know this amazing statement about the relationship that Jesus asked for God to allow.