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.
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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”.
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‘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.
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I Need a Miracle Every Day
(A sermon for John 20:19-31 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, April 6-7, 2024)
If you were fortunate to join us a couple of weeks ago during our Gospel & Coffee series, you would’ve heard how we started our discussion about how Jesus couldn’t preach in his hometown and how 40 minutes later into that discussion, we ended on the topic of miracles.
Father Matt then asked us two questions about miracles. 1) Who believes in miracles? And_2) Who expects miracles to happen? _
And then, he defined miracles as “God putting things back to how they’re supposed to be anyway”. I’ll say that again _ miracles are “God putting things back to how they’re supposed to be anyway”.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 20:20) In our group, I begrudged this openly until someone asked me if I was looking for a threshold as to when a miracle happens, and I said, I think so.
And just as I said that, I realized by that definition, there could be no threshold. Miracles would be happening every day, all day long, most of them hidden from the naked eye. Thus, there could only be an infinite possibility to the number of miracles occurring all around me. And because I can’t always see them, I must have an all-encompassing faith that God is putting things back to how they’re supposed to be, all the time.
Keep in mind, I said God was putting things back to how they’re supposed to be. I didn’t say He was setting things right. Because right is how we want things to be. For example, I think it would be right if there was no corruption, lies or murder. And from there I have a whole list of things that I think should be right, as I’m sure each of you have your own personal lists.
Right is how we want things to be. Miracles are how God knows they are supposed to be. To reconcile this, God gave humans the ability to have faith. So when things are not right by our standard, we still know and feel deep down that God loves us and has our best interest.
And if we’re looking and we’re lucky, we’ll see a miracle happen right in front of our eyes. Something that will solidify, or recharge our faith, or remind us even in our darkest hours of doubt that He exists and loves us.
Mother Mary is the patron saint of humans and comes to us in our darkest hour of doubt. But it’s our patron saints of architects, St. Thomas the Apostle who is saddled with a label of being the ultimate doubter, the one who understands doubt very well.
Thomas may be famous for being the penultimate doubter. But he’s our great example of wanting things to be right and then being shown a miracle.
Thomas is cited as a dedicated and quick follower of Jesus, and when Jesus told Thomas that He was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, Thomas didn’t turn around and say, “yeah right”. He was not known in the scriptures for being a curmudgeonly skeptic.
But still, at one point, the resurrected Jesus appears to just eleven of the apostles while Thomas was not there. They tell Thomas what they’d seen, and Thomas says that cannot be right and it won’t be right until he sees it and feels it for himself. Jesus returns and lets Thomas experience the resurrection in a very tactile way, and to see and feel the miracle of the resurrection … to put things back to how they’re supposed to be anyway so that Thomas would return to his ministry and spread the Gospel, which would take him as far away as India.
The thing that I like about this Gospel is Jesus came back for Thomas. Whereas He could have avoided Thomas altogether.
But he wanted Thomas to be the one to question him and make a big deal about it, so the story of the miracle of the resurrection could have a protagonist and live on in artful depictions and human characterization (a.k.a. A doubting Thomas).
This was God putting Thomas back to how he was supposed to be, a dedicated and quick follower of Jesus, who believed that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life _ and now becoming the model of doubt for us.
For St. Thomas, he may not have viewed this as right. But it was the way it was supposed to be.
Imagine the faith you have, and being saddled with a cause, or an expectation, or a task that you didn’t see as yours to have. Something to you that you think isn’t right, but it is the way things are. You have the faith that God gave you to reconcile these two things.
And we have Thomas’ story which is our story. This is our story of following faithfully, and when we are in our moments of doubt, there are still miracles all around us.
It may not be easy, and you may be riddled with doubt, and you may be waiting for a sign as to why or how. But have faith that beyond your immediate comprehension, God is putting things back to how they’re supposed to be anyway. Unfortunately, we don’t always get the gratification that Thomas experienced. But know that the answer is there_ and may that keep you comforted until you know the reason or witness the miracle first-hand.
As Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”
Amen
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Don’t Stop Your Quest
(A sermon for Mark 8:31-38 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, February 24-25, 2024)
I feel lucky today because I get to tell a sermon about one of my favorite questions asked in the Gospels, “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” And also because the same Gospel reading contains another passage that I adamantly question how it’s interpreted.
But before we get to all that, let’s first focus on the fact that Jesus is asking a question. According to the author, Martin Copenhaver, in his book, “Jesus is the Question”, Jesus himself asks 307 different questions in the Gospels. Whereas he is only asked 183.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 19:00)
Some might say that a leader who asks a lot of questions, is either not qualified or is just being a jerk_ and testing you to see what you know. Both could be true, but good leaders have a skill of leading with questions_ and then telling with kindness. This teaches a person to be curious and not assumptive _ to question yourself as to what you think you know _ and to question what else you need to learn.
In Jesus’ case, some of his questions come with immediate answers. But this question does not.
So, what does that mean _ “gain the whole world and lose one’s life?”
For starters, what is life? They say that bread is life. Life is hard. Life is like a bowl of cherries, or a box of chocolates. Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.
Idioms aside, life is probably the only thing that you really have.
But one might ask in response_ “Paul, what about the fine church garments you’re wearing, or what about your incredibly large (and awesome) record collection, or the house you live in? Don’t you have all of those?” True, I have all three.
But they are just things. Things that I have _ that come along with me. But they are not my life. I could give up all three as well as every other thing, and I would still be left with the one thing that I truly have … me.
I can buy all those other things again. But I can never buy one more me. The me that I was given by the grace of God.
So, the question seems to be how much do you obtain, buy, or gather before the scale tips and your life is secondary to all these things you’ve obtained? So much so that you lose sight of your own self.
I say “the question seems to be” because I wasn’t there when Jesus asked this question and there’s no recorded answer. So how can I know for sure? And what makes me so unsure?
What makes me so unsure is because God made humans to be a curious bunch. He made us to question everything in search of finding answers. This is why sometimes we progress and create amazing inventions_ or sometimes we’re just obnoxious_ or sometimes we just spin in place trying to figure it all out. Or sometimes we turn that curiosity too far toward obtaining more things, believing and hoping that that’s what makes a better life.
Thus, our curious nature can cause misalignment at times, sometimes for good, sometimes not so good.
Which brings me back to the beginning of the sermon when I said there was a part of the Bible that I question the way it’s interpreted. The verse “And Peter took [Jesus] and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, [Jesus] rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men.” The common thought is Jesus is calling Peter Satan.
But what if instead Jesus is really talking to Satan who may be actually present and influencing Peter to act stupidly? When I first read this many years ago, I thought Jesus was talking to Satan. And I still do.
So there you have it. I’m questioning how this is interpreted and my questioning has led me to believe a difference. Thus, I’m not in alignment with the widely viewed interpretation and I’m spreading my misalignment with you.
I’m not telling you this so that you agree with me but to show that curiosity of scripture is OK, and in hopes that you’ll be curious and question me back. After all, we’re only humans.
So hopefully you appreciate the scope of this sermon:
(1) _ Life is the only thing you truly have, don’t give it up in place of a bunch of things.
(2) _ It’s OK to question everything…even God _ because he made us to be that way _ and it helps us to learn more about God and become closer to God when we ask questions.
Lastly, think about the fact that Jesus is teaching us by asking us questions in the Scriptures. He wants us to design our lives around love, worship, and faith. He wants us to read scriptures and find ourselves in them.
But He wants us to continue questioning just like He does to us.
And when you think of the word “question” … think of the first part of that word_ quest.
He wants us to go on this quest. He wants us to have the lives He gave us, and feel and say “I feel lucky today” because we’re on this quest with Him, and because you are you, and God loves you for being you _ the curious questioning creature that you are.
Amen.
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The Source of Evil
(A sermon for Mark 1:21-28 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, January 27-28, 2024)
If I ask, “Who ya gonna call”? _most, if not all of you just thought _ “Ghostbusters” _ those guys who fought off demons such as that nutty Zuul, and Gozer the Gozerian who turns himself into a giant destructive Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Only by crossing the streams of their proton guns were the Ghostbusters able to exorcize New York City from the infestation of demons.
Imagine if it was just that simple _ to remove all that evil_ all one had to do is “cross the streams”? Of course, that’s in the movies. And of course, Jesus did not have a proton gun to fight off evil. But he knew evil when we encountered it. And as we hear in today’s Gospel, it also recognized him.
(Gospel & Sermon begin at 5:00) During Epiphany Season, we’ll hear the accounts of Jesus’ baptism and his ministry up to the point of his transfiguration. We hear about his wisdom and reassuring words alongside his healing miracles.
But just as Jesus saw the good in this world, and shined a light on it, he also dealt with the unpleasant parts of our world: afflictions, sadness, arguments, betrayal. And the gospel writers want us to know he dealt with demoniacs several times _ those who were possessed. It’s easy to relate to the typical unpleasant parts of living that Jesus encountered. But the topic of demoniacs can be incredibly unpleasant to hear or think about, and in some ways, it can sound too incredulous.
It’s no wonder. Today’s passage sounds like a script from a horror movie. You can almost hear or imagine the eerie snide tone of _ “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
So it’s a natural reaction to draw away from this type of unpleasantness. It can be more comfortable leaving the talk of Satan to the stereotypical fire-and-brimstone preacher, or the TV evangelists, who can easily be mimicked by a stand-up comic.
But it’s OK to laugh, especially in the face of Satan. He hates all types of joy and comfort, all the good things that God hath brought. What we shouldn’t do is pretend that Satan’s influence is of no great consequence. No matter how big or small the influence, the consequence is always great.
Unfortunately, we get our image of Satan and his demons from the horror movies, and we see mostly extreme exaggerations of Satan’s wrath against mankind.
What Hollywood does do correctly is show Satan as the fallen angel full of sinful pride, rejecting any humility and obedience to God. Fallen angels have either forgotten, or chose to not remember, that angels were also created by God. Despite what they think, they are not gods. They do not have the power of God. They cannot read our thoughts. They do not create us. They get in mankind’s way. They persuade us to turn away from God and act in the same way as they do toward God. They do this to mankind because they hate God’s sacrificial love for us, and our love for God.
And they come from all directions to tempt us _ to tempt us to disregard the Ten Commandments; to not have love for mankind; to engage in the occult and spells; to waste our gifts, resources, and time; to let greed and fear motivate us. To limit us of from our full potentials. To distract us. To get in front of us and turn us away from God.
It’s said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled, as I’m sure you’ve heard, is convincing mankind that he doesn’t exist. The greatest consequence of that is_ instead of believing that Satan is the source of evil in our lives, it’s believing that the source of evil is either our neighbor, or those live in a country on the other side of the world, or those who speak a different language, or those who have different customs or identities, or those who simply express a different opinion than us.
Truly, it’s important to recognize evil. But it’s equally important to not be quick to judge and label. Most people in this world who seem afflicted with evil or seem possessed most likely have a mental or physical ailment _and should be treated by a doctor, or a social worker. They most likely do not need an exorcist.
So how do we recognize the influence of evil in ourselves, or in someone else? A good test question for ourselves is, is it something that is turning me, or turned me away from God? And when we think we recognize evil in others_ have mercy, grace, hope and trust in God, because you can never know for sure about someone else.
That said, evil wants to stay hidden. It most likely is not going to appear to you as a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. <Though if you do see that, I highly recommend that you just run.>
But in all seriousness when you do suspect an evil presence that won’t leave you or your family alone, and you have exhausted all other possibilities, there is no {do-it-yourself-at-home} kit.
Call Father Matt. Call any priest. If a priest is not available, call on God to deliver one. Just don’t be afraid because Satan loves fear. He also probably hates the “Ghostbusters” theme song. Because Satan wants us to feel alone as if we have no one to call.
But be assured we always do. We always have Jesus Christ’s phone number, and He is always stronger than Satan.
Amen.
Wired For Faith 
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