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 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.

Magnificat

My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat
and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel
as he promised to our forefathers Abraham, and his seed forever.
Amen. 

Johann Sebastian Bach: Magnificat BWV 243, directed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Duccio:  The Madonna and Child with Angels, courtesy of Wiki Commons

Meditation for the 3rd Sunday in Advent: gaudete!

even now the axe is at the root of the trees:
gaudete! dare we rejoice?
flee! says the prophet:
still we cling to all that cheered us,
moth fretted securities, corroded treasures,
narrow rooms and meaner habits.
gaudete! dare we rejoice:
we vipers who live on usury?
flee! says the prophet:
g-d has shown what is required of you.
do justice, love mercy, walk humbly:
bring fruit worthy of repentance.
gaudete! the apostle answers:
let your gentleness be known to all. the lord is near.
leave the narrow land, divest yourself of extra coats:
and in the wide wilderness the peace of christ will
establish your hearts.
even now the axe is at the root of the trees:
gaudete! dare we rejoice?

Sermon: B Last Pentecost Proper 29 King of kings 25 November 2012

2 Sam 23: 1-7; Ps 132: 1-13; Rev 1: 4b-8; JOHN 18: 33-37

Grant, O God, that all may be brought under the most gracious rule of your Belov’d Son, King of Kings AMEN

Chip our seminarian, who defines a providential gift as a Field Ed person, is graciously being our parish musician this morning. He was a good sport about giving me apt travel music, from Messiah, “King of kings and Lord of lords, and he shall reign forever.” Some of the music for Jesus as King and Lord, is some of our most familiar and favorite, even if on careful word-checking, we’re less enthusiastic about some of the ideas that go with such august positions as King of kings. The kingly images in music are ones that have leapt out at me this week, rather than visual ones.

Hurricane Sandy: A message to readers who need assistance

If you need help, contact DisasterAssistance.gov - Home. You can also apply via smartphone at http://m.fema.gov, or call (800) 621-3362 or TTY (800) 462-7585.

People will continue to need assistance for months. If you want to help, you can volunteer or donate cash to the Red Cross. You can also give to Doctors Without Borders, Occupy Sandy Relief, 350.org, or to The Episcopal Relief and Development's Hurricane Sandy Response Fund

Image by NOAA and the Naval Research Lab.

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 18 Pentecost 21 Proper 30 September 2012

Esth 7:1-6,9-10;9:20-22; Ps 124; Jms 5: 13:13-20; MK 9: 38-50

Our help is in the Name of the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth. AMEN.

Today we include Michaelmas in our observance and thinking. It’s odd though to have the story of Esther on the same day as Michaelmas, the first being the Purim narrative, a Jewish celebration usually observed in March—and its attendant cookies available at the picnic—and September 29, yesterday, was St Michael and all the Angels. It’s jarring to have asparagus-spring-fertility matched together with and pumpkins-autumn-fruition together, and nearly St. Francis (to come next week and here.) Maybe, seasonal constants don’t shape your day, but they do underlie the Church’s wheel of time, nature’s time, and light patterns in which we live and grow. Also, it’s election time, and elections cross both nature’s wheel of time and our church and personal commitments to decency. Today’s lections each have a structuring, almost echoing, commitment to some sense of decency.

Meditation for September 30 & The Feast of St. Michael & All Angels: Pursuing Peace and Radical Thanks-giving

The Gospel for Sunday exhorts us to practice hope and curiosity by recognizing that “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink, because you bear the name of Christ” may be the face of Christ and  teach us to practice and receive mercy and pity. And more radically the Gospel suggests that if we “have salt in [y]ourselves,” we should “be at peace with one another.” Praying the collect for St. Michael and for this Sunday are helpful channels.

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.