In the name of God, who is Grace and love and communion. Amen. Good evening. Good evening! And Merry Christmas. It felt so helpless. It feels so helpless. It’s Christmas Eve in Ramallah on the West Bank. In Israel, Palestine, it’s Christmas Eve. But all the Christmas celebrations have been cancelled. No wreaths, no trees. […]
Sermon Topic: Christian Hope
Hope from the House of Bread
My building has really got into the Christmas spirit and have been playing Christmas carols morning, noon, and night in the lobby and all the other public spaces. While I was having my morning swim the other day, I was thinking about the conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, and my mind wandered to […]
Let Us Not Fear the Cross
I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. Isaiah 50:5b-6a In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. Today Jesus asks his disciples to state who they believe he is. […]
The Gift of Grace
Supposedly we have left summer behind by the first week of October, though you can hardly tell from the temperature outside. The autumn equinox was back a couple of weeks ago. Fittingly for the modern world, it was marked not so much by a change in weather as the advent of pumpkin-spice everything. Welcome to […]
Against Fairness
There is a practical misconception about prayer, it seems to me, one that is easily refuted by anyone who has spent much time doing it. That is the idea that praying is just a naturally easy thing to do. Well, it’s not. It doesn’t just happen. I know this both from my own experience and […]
Would You Like to be Famous or Immortal?
A couple of years ago The New York Times ran an article entitled “Who’s more famous than Jesus?” (March 14, 2014) It was an article on a newly launched website called ‘Pantheon’ in which a team of designers, engineers, and scientists worked together to quantify, analyze, measure and visualize global culture. It’s fascinating; you tap […]
Hopeful Living
For many of us it is hard to understand the feelings of those who have lost loved ones in violent circumstances. As we celebrated the mass of Resurrection only a few hours ago, a suicide bomber walked into the children’s’ area of a park in Lahore, Pakistan, where families with children were enjoying their own […]
Encourage One Another
We live in an age when many funeral customs have all but disappeared in many societies. Gone are the days of washing and preparing the body, gathering with the body and telling stories and even feasting. Many funerals do not even have the body present at all. I want to encourage you as members of […]
Father Austin's Last Sermon
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. If I may, I would begin this my final sermon with a point of humility. May I say to each of you that I am truly sorry for my sins, and if I have sinned against you in some […]
Human Weakness: Divine Power
The two women in today’s bible readings from the Old Testament and the Gospels must have been desperate. The widow of Zarephath and the widow of Nain were already unfortunate women; by being widows they had become part of one of the poorest classes in Israel’s society. What stopped them from sinking into abject poverty […]
