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: B 20 Pentecost 23 Proper 14 October 2012

Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Ps 22: 1-15; Heb 4: 12-16; MK 10: 17-31

Loving God, grant that your grace may always precede and follow us. Amen.

The days are getting shorter, the nights longer, and the readings minatory (again.) There is a tone of increasing desperation and self-accusation. “But as for me, I am a worm and no man, scorned by all and despised by the people. All who see me laugh me to scorn; they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord’ let him deliver him; let him rescue him, if he delights in him.’” Perhaps this seems more comforting, “The Almighty has terrified me; if only I could banish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face.” Maybe, since this is less personal, not in the first person, this sounds less frightening: “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” None of this is comforting, and none sounds particularly hopeful, and there’s the Mark reading to come.

Meditation for Proper 23 - October 14th: “Who can be saved?”

Who among us has not, at least once, like Job, railed to God about the unfairness of life, complained about an apparently undeserved trouble, as if our own good deed ought to exempt us from difficulty or entitle us to an uninterrupted stream of obvious blessings?

Mark’s follower of all the rules, recipient of many of those obvious blessings, was also so seduced by and reliant on possessions that he could not forfeit them even to secure eternal life.

    

Who can be saved?

    

All. For with God all things are possible – mercy and grace for all who but ask -- demonstrated through Christ’s presence among us, acquainted with our need, ready to heal even the blindness of the 1% crying, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” into the void created by their own abandonment of trust in the Lord.

Sermon: B 19 Pentecost 22 Proper 7 October 2012

Job 1: 1, 2: 1-10; Ps 26; Heb 1: 1-4, 2: 5-12; MK 10: 2-16

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice…   AMEN

Again this Sunday, as we race towards the end of this long teaching season of Pentecost, we hear readings with ominous testing and more testing. Additionally, it’s a bustling season of many things going on. Look around to see much loved creatures with their faithful humans, so it must be St. Francis Day. It’s also Dignity’s 40^th Anniversary of Solidarity Sunday; we join their celebration of their work and progress. It would be a fine Sunday like Paradise, if all experienced welcome, here and throughout their lives, work, and worlds.