These writings are designed for preaching on the Sundays that correlate to the scripture listed in the Lectionary of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. As of Advent 2010, these are no longer the texts selected for use in most Episcopal Churches. But mine does.
Each sermon links to the scripture that influence it.
-
God Doesn’t Let Anyone Go
(A sermon for Luke 5:1-11 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, February 8-9, 2025)
Recently someone who I’ve known for a long time, surprisingly revealed to me that they didn’t believe in God anymore and they had a very unfavorable view of Christians. From my past experiences with this person, I knew better than to engage too much. So, I opted to just give a polite retort.
What my friend doesn’t understand is that Christians like everyone else in this world are imperfect, and unfortunately Christianity doesn’t make life, or us_ perfect. Christianity, instead, helps us sort out the complications of our lives, leads us toward happier outcomes, and guides us to understand that God is always with us.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 11:29)
But sometimes, how Christianity does this for us is not always clear. Our scriptures give us paths and signs _ but sometimes give us multiple roadmaps with complicated directions, that still lead us to the same destination.
Take the four gospels for example. Four different stories of Jesus written for four different audiences that don’t always tell us the same events exactly, or line up perfectly in an historical timeline.
Today’s Gospel from Luke for instance tells us the story of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John giving up everything to follow Jesus. Many view Luke’s account of this event as the same event told by Matthew and Mark, just written differently. But Luke’s version is different enough that maybe Luke’s story is an account of _not the first time that Jesus calls them, it’s the second time that He calls them.
In Matthew and Mark, Jesus classically tells Peter, Andrew, James and John, “follow me and I will make you the fishers of men” and they stop what they’re doing, and start following.
The four apostles follow Jesus around Galilee helping him with his ministry. And that seems reasonable enough. But then it’s easy to think that the four men thought, “this was great helping you out Jesus, but I have to get back to work the next day. I’ve got customers who need their orders filled. I got to do payroll. I got to fix my fishing boat and my nets.”
So perhaps it was a struggle for these four men, they had to choose between their livelihood, or follow Jesus who they believe to be the savior.
So if this is the case, they go back to work and Jesus visits the four men again. And Luke documents that this time, Jesus came with a crowd. To be able to preach to the crowd, Jesus uses one of Peter’s boats to preach from. When Jesus finishes, he tells Peter to drop the nets again. Peter, believing this is fruitless effort, is amazed when the net catches enough fish to fill up many boats.
This time around, Peter recognizes that he has shamefully turned away from God. Jesus in response does not say again, “follow me and I will make you the fishers of men”.
Instead, he says “have no fear, from now on you will be catching men.” Peter’s reaction and the difference in Jesus’s statements suggests that Jesus had already said “follow me” once before, and they did. But not until Jesus followed up with an abundant catch of fish, and the assuring words “have no fear” did they fully follow him.
I think if this is part two of the story, it is more in line with human nature. It wasn’t enough to simply say, “follow me”. It took a sign of reaping abundance and [comforting words to not fear], to make it more palatable for them to follow.
It is an example of our human frailty and the precious frailness of our faith. As Christians, we worship Christ in church, we bow, we sacrifice. But we can choose to let it go. We can choose to be atheistic or agnostic. But God does not let us go, just like he did not let Peter, Andrew, John and James go.
God not letting us go, is clearly a major theme of the scriptures and to prove it, He gives us Jesus. He gives us Jesus to help us make sense of the complications of our lives, [to help us trust that God knows the outcome that we need is not always the one we want], and to guide us to understand that He is always with us.
Jesus says the right words at the right time to make us understand this, knowing that our lives are complicated, and the roadmaps take us in different directions, but still lead us to the same destination … back to Him.
So next time someone tells you that they don’t believe in God, a great way to change their minds is to politely retort, and treat them as Jesus would, with love and patience, remembering that God believes in them, and even though they are not following God, God is never letting them go. Just like he’s never letting you go.
And even though Christianity is not perfect, God never letting us go, is the perfect thing in the midst of our very imperfect lives.
Amen.
-
Faith and the Wizard of Oz
(A sermon for Luke 21:25-31 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2024)
For the past several years now, I have had the pleasure of working in different ministries in this church, whether that was serving at the altar, or through our adult education sessions, or preaching to this congregation. I’ve worked closely with Father Matt, listening to him, learning from him, and thankfully finding out along the way that his advice and opinions make sense, and his sermons are inspirational.
Each Sunday’s sermons brought us closer to understanding the Gospel and about Jesus. And we would learn things about Father Matt’s life, like one of his favorite movies is “Roadhouse” or his music tastes include Motorhead and AC/DC.
And seriously, these three things are absolutely fine examples of modern culture that I couldn’t agree with more, and thus certainly got me to raise my head up attentively. And these are just a few examples of how this would happen.
But all that came into question a couple of months ago, when our rector openly claimed in a sermon how much he detested the movie … the Wizard of Oz.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting right there and I completely spaced out after his bold confession, so I have no idea what he said after that, or why this cultural icon of cinema was on his abomination list. But it didn’t matter what he said. My head went down and my mind was a-flood with how wrong he was.
Granted, this is a movie that glorifies witchcraft as something good, and the Lollipop Guild song is probably the most annoying 25 seconds in the history of America cinema. But this is a movie rich in the human condition and dynamic.
The four main characters represent some inherent truths about ourselves. We either don’t think we’re smart enough,
or that we don’t love enough,
or that we don’t have the courage that besets us,
or have the ability to get home.
But as the hit song from the 1970’s stated, “Oz never did give nothing to the Tinman that he didn’t, that he didn’t already have.” This was also true of the Scarecrow, the Lion, and Dorothy.
So, despite a wicked witch, an army of flying monkeys, angry apple trees, narcotic poppy fields, meeting Oz’s big scary green head _ these characters stuck together through the “distress among nations”, and their own fainting from fear and foreboding, only to find out that when they got Oz’s attention, the song was correct. They already had what they were searching for.
And as I wrote this sermon, I wondered, do brains, hearts, courage, and wanting to go home cover everything about the human condition in this story? What about faith? Does the story need a character who thinks they lack faith?
At times they lacked faith. But not enough to keep themselves from venturing to the Emerald City. Even though Glenda knew Oz was not who he wanted everyone to think he was, Glenda knew enough about Oz to know he was the one who could help Dorothy.
Glenda had faith in Oz and gave Dorothy faith, and in turn, Dorothy spread her faith. And she spread her faith in a land that was ruled by an onerous and wicked leader.
So faith was not their problem. They were concerned with their lack of other attributes. Faith seemed inherent in them.
AND It’s that inherent faith that Jesus points to when he says to look to the blooming of a fig tree as a sign to us that Summer is near. What Jesus doesn’t say is that the fig tree knows that it’s time to bloom. It knows it instinctively.
The fig tree doesn’t need an Oz to tell it that it’s Summer, and that it has what it takes to bloom….The tree raises itself and points itself to the sun and does not worry about what it lacks.
So to you _ I encourage you to hear Jesus’ words _”stand up and raise your heads”.
Raise your heads in faith.
Raise your heads despite your flaws, real or imagined.
Raise your head despite your bad day.
Raise your head despite the weather outside.
Raise your head knowing your faith is already within you _ already within everyone _ and even when you feel shaken in your faith.
Raise your heads when you don’t agree with your leaders, or your preacher, or your rector.
Raising your head is inherent in each of you. So, when it comes to that time of redemption when you ‘see the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory _ remember your faith, remember the faith that you’ve had all your life _ and let that instinctive faith raise your head to meet Jesus.
I’ve made my case as to why The Wizard of Oz should not be a detested movie. In truth _ I couldn’t care less that Father Matt does not like The Wizard of Oz. It just goes to show that we don’t have to always agree. And when we don’t agree we can poke fun at it.
We don’t have to take our differences while we live in this world so seriously. When Jesus comes, He’s not going to care about our disagreements with each other over earthly matters.
He cares that we find ways to bridge our differences, and not let those differences erode our connections, beliefs, and faith in each other, so we are ready for our redemption when the Kingdom of God finally does arrive.
As you all know instinctively, it may be December today. But you also know that Summer is already near.
Amen.
And for that hit song from the 1970’s, here you go …
-
Spiritual Friendships
A sermon for Mark 10:2-9 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, Oct 5-6, 2024)
The best words I ever heard at anyone’s wedding was when I heard the priest tell the about-to-be married couple that there will be difficult times ahead, and that you will feel this friendship strained at times. And when this happens, I want you to think about this day and remember the love you have for each other right now and the vow you’re taking.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 5:14) Because despite the pageantry, despite the dress that was said ‘yes’ to, and despite the designed wedding cake _the wedding day_ is a day of vows. Vows_ that you promise to love the person next to you for the rest of your life. Vows_ that you are joining your lives together.
And people join their lives together in all sorts of ways. Sometimes with this union, sons and daughters are created and/or adopted. Sometimes just cats and dogs are adopted. Sometimes the married couple don’t live together. Sometimes, and at times, they have a lot in common, and sometimes they don’t. And the variations go on and on.
Whatever it may be, what makes the marriage is that two people join their lives together, and when done in Church, it’s having God as their witness.
So, this question from the Pharisees about the legality of divorce, that attempts to draw Jesus into a contradiction of his teaching, raises the question of_ what is divorce? Conversely, it draws us to the question of_ what is marriage?
Jesus’ response to the Pharisees is that the Law for divorce was shaped to the character of those, for whom it was written. So that with a certificate, a woman who was now dismissed as an unworthy wife, was permitted to marry again.
But also, Jesus’ response hearkens back to the Book of Genesis and the reason for the origin of woman, which was for Adam to have help.
Thus, it was for men and women to have companionship, and that companionship comes in many forms_ to join together in friendship _ or in a formal committed friendship to join their lives together _ or to have offspring.
Each version of these companionships is two persons coming together as one, for men and women to live with each other, love one another, and to continue a fellowship of man.
When Jesus says, “what God has joined together, let no one separate”, it points to the notion that you shouldn’t just write off companionship with a certificate.
So let’s apply this to the real world of companionship in today’s times. As a person that has spent almost sixty years on this planet, I can relate to the expression that friendships are either for a reason, a season, or forever.
Let’s also be realistic. Hardening-of-hearts happens. Forever-friendships-ending, happens. Divorce, happens. Sometimes it’s supposed to happen. Sometimes it should happen. But judgment of these circumstances is not what we’re exploring in today’s Gospel.
Instead, we’re exploring our relationships with each other, how we relate to each other, and how this is linked to Jesus teaching us to love each other.
The theologian Aelred of Rievaulx wrote a book on friendship in 1164 and you can see in that book how a friendship that he described as “frivolous excess” would be a “reason” friendship, a friendship that he describes as for “something to gain” as a “season” friendship, and the “forever” friendships as truly spiritual. These forever spiritual friendships he describes come from two persons having the “likeness of life, habits, and interests” and also having “an agreement in things human and divine, with goodwill and charity”. He goes on to argue that a friendship based on this should last forever. And due to their complex and intimate nature, human beings will only have a few forever spiritual friendships in a lifetime.
He says that “Such a spiritual friend is a partner of your soul.” Moreover, this spiritual friend will in “silence protect all the secrets of your spirit _ and will …endure according to their ability anything wicked they see in your soul.” Sound familiar? It should because it’s the same friendship that you have with Jesus.
Thus, something this rare on earth should be sacred, held with the highest regard. If the friendship should be forever, then it should not be easily written off and we should thank God for having it.
And when it is a sacred and spiritual friendship that we can vow to each other as a marriage, it’s a promise to God to hold this companionship forever.
Just like the other six sacraments, marriage is a gift _ a divine gift of grace celebrated with a visible rite.
Jesus’ message is_ it’s a choice to do what you want with that gift. But before returning that gift, we should consider unhardening our hearts and think back on that wedding day and ask do I really want to write off this marriage?
And when anyone has reached that level of sacred spiritual friend, wedding or not, the same question arises. Either way all that’s being asked is that we firmly search our hearts before we walk away from any rare spiritual friendship.
Amen.
And now for some inspirational music …
-
What Has God Shown You?
(A sermon for Mark 6:45-52 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, July 27-28, 2024)
Four Sundays ago, we heard the Gospel story of how Jesus revived the daughter of the synagogue leader and said the comforting words, “do not fear, just believe.”
Since then, we’ve heard about Jesus commissioning his twelve disciples which led to a great many followers, culminating in them feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes.
After this, Jesus sent the twelve that evening to go to Bethsaida by the Sea of Galilee, while He stayed behind to pray alone. In the morning, as the twelve struggled against the wind, Jesus appeared to them. He walked across the water, got into the boat, and the wind ceased.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 20:30) Mark’s account is that the disciples were still not fully grasping what they were witnessing. Even though they were dedicated followers of Jesus and just witnessed the feeding of the multitudes, the disciples were still ‘hard of heart’. And then they watched this man walk on water, and as the wind coincidentally and serendipitously ceased, he said to them, “Take heart, it is I, have no fear”.
So four weeks later in the lectionary, Jesus is once again saying, “have no fear”. And this time it’s not a recounting of someone else’s pain. It is a recounting of the disciples’ pain and fear. And what we witness is their gradual learning.
Today, to be a Christian, there’s a very laid out path either through a creed or a confession. But for these twelve apostles, there was no road map. There was no manual. There was _ what we now know as the Old Testament. But nobody had ever been an apostle of the true messiah before.
Putting myself in their shoes, if I had decided to follow Jesus and I had just witnessed the feeding of 5000 people, I can see myself thinking _ did I really witness this? And then I’m in this boat because He told me to, and it’s a rough ride (let alone I’m not a good swimmer and it predates life preservers) and then Jesus comes walking across the water and says “don’t be afraid”.
Guess what folks. I would be beyond afraid at this point. I’m not only afraid; I’m questioning my sanity. I’m the “Doubting Thomas” times a zillion.
So I wonder, why does Jesus make such a spectacle? Why did He need to walk on water? Why didn’t He just calm the sea from a vantage point where He could do that and not be seen? Or maybe He could have pulled alongside them in a bigger boat with a bunch of friends to help out?
I think what we’re hearing here is not the tale of a show-off, or the tale of a Superman floating across the water with a red cape, and a “J” on his chest.
This is the story of God giving another example to the human race that He exists, that He exists in His son, and that He loves us and wants to protect us. And that we should not be afraid.
So let us take comfort in that notion.
That said, I know sometimes following God is a bit of a mystery. We wish for a hero to save the day. We wish for someone, anyone, to change the weather OR the things we’re troubled by. We wish for someone to calm the stormy seas in our lives.
What we get is a God who created us to have free will, and with that comes a multitude of possibilities from the choices we make. And from there, despite that we run into stormy seas, or we have negative experiences in life, God is assuring us that fear is not something we have to subscribe to.
So why let us have free will or fear in the first place? Why doesn’t he just calm the seas all the time? Why doesn’t he just come with a bigger boat all the time? But maybe He does come with a bigger boat all the time, and maybe it’s just too big to see.
You’ll find in every Book of Common Prayer on page 855, that the mission of the Episcopal Church is to “restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ”. Imagine what the success of that mission would look like. I imagine it to be a boat so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t get under it, and so wide you can’t get around it. In other words, it is a really big boat.
So Jesus walking on water may seem like a strange way to get his apostles’ attention. But He knew they could not see the whole boat yet. So he gave them a keyhole to look through. He gave them something smaller _ a man walking on water.
So, what has God done to get your attention, and what does He show you? Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter if it’s through a keyhole, or if you’re standing at the dock next to the whole big boat. What does matter is, do you want to look? Do you take the free will that God gave you and look?
Then when you do look, look without fear, or hardness of heart.
Look _ as you heard St. Paul today say to the Ephesians, “with patience, forbearing one another in love”, and “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
-
‘It’ll be OK’ is actually the truth
(A sermon for Mark 5:22-24 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, June 29-30, 2024)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus deals with a couple of things that happens to us all. The first is that he has to deal with someone else’s pain _ in this case, a father whose child is near death. The second is other people telling the child’s father, “don’t bother Jesus because the situation is hopeless” _ in that the child is already dead.
So let’s first deal with someone else’s pain. How do you deal with someone else’s pain face-to-face, who is clearly distraught and troubled about the present, and wishing for a better future? Most people I know don’t repeat Jesus’ advice from today’s Gospel, which is “do not fear, just believe.”
We may want to say that. But it’d probably sound hollow coming from our mouths. Instead we listen as earnestly as possible, maybe hug to ensure the person that they are seen, heard and loved.
And we say that we will pray for them, and say, “It’ll be OK” or “I’m sure it’ll all work out”.
Which for the most part, “It’ll be OK” can be just another way of saying, “do not fear, just believe”.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 20:30) But when you give these comforting words, you may think, will it really be OK? What does it mean, that it’ll be OK? Is this also just another hollow sounding expression? Or maybe should I have expressed myself more?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows us that even a few words go a long way. Because in the long run, as Christians we understand there is the suffering of this physical world, but there is the joy of eternal life after our time in this physical world. And our assuring words of ‘It’ll be OK’ is actually the truth.
That doesn’t mean that this truth is easy to accept. So to bring another perspective into this sermon, I’ll read a quote from the Christian saint and female monk from the 4th century, Syncletica of Alexandria, who had this to say_ “If we go blind, let us not be upset. We have lost one means to excellence, yet we can contemplate the glory of God with the inward eyes of the soul. If we go deaf let us remember that we shall no longer hear a lot of silly talk. If suffering has weakened the strength of your hands, you still have inner strength against the enemy’s attacks. If the whole body is afflicted by disease, your spiritual health is still increasing. “
Like most of you, I’ve had my fair share of searching for the moments of feeling “OK” with this physical world. Four years ago for example, we started to hear about COVID-19 spreading over the world, and when I look back to March 2020, I’m still amazed about how life’s events unfolded. All of a sudden, we couldn’t go to places, and we had to think differently about our normal routines, such as buying groceries, traveling, or attending church. Thank God we are past the strangeness, and the more worrisome and fearful parts of those years, and now just routinely exist with COVID in our lives.
But I remember the conversation I had with Father Matt the week before the Church shut its doors. He listened to me say how difficult it was to imagine how the world functions with everything shutting down. And he said to me, “whatever you do, don’t be afraid.”
And I reflected on those words quite often during those years. It was a constant reminder to choose the path of walking unafraid, no matter what I saw along the way.
And you see this in Jesus’ reaction to those who are telling the child’s father not to bother Jesus_ because the situation is hopeless. Jesus demonstrates to us to nevertheless walk unafraid toward those who are in pain, and to offer our comforting words, our saving words, our healing words, and our prayers, even if it appears on the surface_ hopeless.
Jesus’ actions of walking to the child also expels those in the crowd who advised the child’s father, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” Jesus ignores them, and heads to the daughter amongst mocking laughter, and in this motion signifies to us that we are not, never, troubling our “teacher” Jesus Christ, the living God, when we are afflicted, mourning, afraid, sad, confused, or just feeling weird.
So in these two moments of dealing with someone else’s pain, and hearing the discouraging words of others’ perceived hopelessness, the lesson our teacher is teaching us is that, not only is God always available to help us, but that as Christians we in turn should not feel like we’re being troubled when someone comes to us feeling afflicted, mourning, afraid, sad, confused, or just feeling weird. We help. Sometimes we help by giving time and/or money. But we help by giving a hug and saying, “It’ll be OK” or “I’m sure it’ll all work out”. And we help by praying because as Christians, praying shapes believing. Believing allows us and others to walk unafraid.
The point is, we may not be able to fully heal someone. But have no doubt or cynicism _ our comforting words and prayers, time and attention, no matter how quick or small in amount, are truly making a positive difference in someone else’s life. These actions help those who feel hopeless.
Hopefully all of these comforting thoughts sound “OK” to you.
Amen.
Wired For Faith 
Leave a comment