Last Thursday we had a reception at the Rectory for new pledgers and members of the EMC committee and Vestry. As people left a number thanked us for opening our home to them; I smiled and said “Thank you, but it’s really the parish’s – in a way it’s not our home but yours.” Later […]
Sermon Topic: God's Love
The Fullness of Time
The season of Advent, which we have been observing the last several weeks, continues for a few more days still. These last few weeks of worship have been marked by a clear tone of anticipation: a waiting for the second coming of the Lord on the last day; the return of Jesus Christ in glory. […]
To be Drawn to Him
“In receiving Communion, it is not sufficient merely to perform a soul-less, external action…We are familiar with the fact that Christ ‘comes to us’ in Communion, but we forget the far more important aspect of this great mystery: in order for him to come to us, we must ‘come to him’, we must allow ourselves […]
Does it Hurt to be Real?
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tody the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?” […]
Speaking Frankly about Things Divine
We are still at the beginning of our Lenten journey—only a week and a half in—but, as you heard in today’s gospel, from Mark, the difficult words are coming already. They came today in a surprising form, however. In much of the gospel of Mark, Jesus is depicted as being somewhat enigmatic in his interactions […]
Entering into the Woundedness of God
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. At the beginning of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes this: “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 […]
I Had Thought the World Was Ending
I have recently finished reading a book about a woman who trains a hawk for falconry as a means of coping with her grief over her father’s death. Near the end of the book she recounts waking from what she thought was an apocalyptic dream that included a poltergeist shaking her bed, only to realize […]
Trinitarian Doctrine is Good for the World
The first thing to say about the doctrine of the Trinity is that we Christians should not be ashamed of it. Yet many Christians easily talk about Jesus; some will speak of the power of the Spirit; lots will talk about “God” and about love and about justice and peace; but about the Trinity, one […]
Like a Mother Tending Her Children
In the last chapter of his book, the prophet Isaiah paints a beautiful picture. God is likened to a mother tending her children. Jerusalem is likened to a mother nursing her young, bearing them on her hip, dandling them upon her knee: a loving mother delighting in her children and the children thriving at the […]
The Once, Future and Present King
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. Today, the Last Sunday of the Christian Year, is called the Feast of Christ the King. The Epistle and Gospel present descriptions of Christ which I want to juxtapose, because they show what sort of king he is and […]
