C Easter Vigil 2013

 Alleluia! The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

If, in the Genesis first reading by the third Day of Creation, we have not demonstrated clearly that this great liturgy is different from all others, surely that tonight’s Sermon is listed on page 18 should be a definitive clue. This liturgy is not designed around a balance between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Table. This Liturgy is more like a family reunion party after not seeing each other for a while. Everyone needs to hear our grandparent’s, our ancestors’ family stories, enough of them to recognize themselves as part of the family. We want to push those old voices along too, but the stories remind us, who we are, where we came from, what makes us a community, and to where we’re traveling together. That story, one made of so many stories, takes time and listening, time and feelings, time and mystery, time and beauty.

Sermon: C Good Friday 29 March 2013

Is 52:13-53.12; Ps 22; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; JN 18:1-19:42

“It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. AMEN.

Again we hear the long, difficult narrative of Jesus’s death on a cross. Again we want to squirm away from it, and rush to celebrate what comes next. We need to make meaning, though, of this: Jesus died on a cross. He didn’t choose to die or die this way then, and yet he did. That in no way means he agreed or chose in a suicidal way to die. He kept on keeping on making the cross into an offer, and an act of solidarity.

Holy Week Service schedule

Maundy Thursday

Thursday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m.

Good Friday

Friday, March 29

Stations of the Cross at 12:15 p.m.

Good Friday Liturgy at 6:30 p.m.

The Great Vigil of Easter

Saturday, March 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Eucharist for Easter Day

Sunday, March 31 at 10:30 a.m.

For further information, please call 617-227-5242.

Please join us!

Church of St. John the Evangelist 

35 Bowdoin St.

Boston, MA 02114

Sermon: C Palm Sunday 24 March 2013

Is 50:4-9a; Ps 31:9-16; Ph 2:5-11; LUKE 22:14-23:56

Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of Christ’s suffering and also share in his resurrection. AMEN.

“Let the mountains and all the hills,

Break out into great rejoicing at the mercy of God.

And let the trees of the forest clap their hands.

Give praise to Christ, all nations,

Magnify him, all peoples, crying:

Glory to thy power, O Lord.

Seated in heaven upon thy throne

And on earth upon a foal, O Christ our God,

Thou hast accepted the praise of the angels

And the songs of the children who cried out to thee:

Blessed art thou that comest to call back Adam.” (From an Orthodox Hymn for Palm Sunday.)

Sermon: C 5 Lent 17 March 2013

Is 43: 16-21; Ps 126; Phil 3: 4b-14; JOHN 12: 1-8

Grant, O G*d, that our hearts may be fixed where true joys are to be found, through I X our Lord. AMEN.

Top o’ the morning to you, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day. It may seem odd to be deep in Lent and hear upbeat lessons. In today’s Gospel, Jesus does predict his death, saying Mary’s extravagant gift is for his burial, but this forewarning doesn’t bear the gloom of other predictions. Instead, in Mary and Martha’s dinner, we hear the promise of something new, fragrant, and remarkable. That’s the theme and tone of today’s readings: that promised change is both new and eternally wonderful. Not the Celtic northern sin and gloom outlook of Lent traditionally presented to us, leading to an almost morbid obsession with preparing for Good Friday, instead we hear genuine preparation for Easter.

Sermon: C 3 Lent 3 March 2013

O G*d, you are my G*d, eagerly I seek you; for you have been my helper, and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. AMEN.

Ex 3:1-15; Ps 63: 1-8; 1 Cor 10: 1-13; LUKE 13: 1-9

Good Morning and it is indeed a splendid morning, or as we used to say always at Fischer’s Cove, “it’s a beautiful day at Fischer’s Cove,” and it’s wonderful to be back and most generous of Canon Okunsanya to allow me to be here with you this morning. His theme for the week is reconciliation,” in the context of these Lent 3 readings.

Sermon: C 1 Lent 17 February 2013

Deut 26:1-11; Ps 91:1-.2, 9-16; Ro 10:8b-13; LUKE 4:1-13

God shall give the angels charge over you, to protect you in all your ways. AMEN.

 “Create and make in us new and contrite hearts…that we may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness…that [whenever we are] separated from the body of the faithful…[be] now reconciled…and restored to the fellowship of the Church…I invite you, therefore, (in case any didn’t hear this from Ash Wednesday) in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. This invitation to a holy Lent, the Great Litany’s “Spare us, Good Lord, whom you have redeemed,” and from this morning’s collect, “Come quickly to help us…and let each one find you mighty to save” propel us both into the readings and into Lent.