Tag Archives: christianity

Via Dolorosa

A Homily for Good Friday
April 18, 2025

Text: John 18:1-19:42

I speak to you in the name of one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I want to share a story with you about a time when I was in my first year of ministry as a priest in northwest Texas. My family and I were living in Abilene at the time, where I served as curate at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest.

Not long after I began my ministry there, I was invited to attend a retreat for new clergy at a Catholic retreat center in San Angelo, which was about an hour and a half away from Abilene.

I was told that it would be a great way to meet other clergy from around the diocese and to learn some helpful things about how to get started in a new ministry.

The time came for the retreat.

So, I packed my bags and headed south for a few days.

It turned out to be exactly what I needed—a chance to get away for a while from the regular routine of parish ministry.

There was plenty of time for learning and asking questions.

But, more than that, it was an opportunity to simply rest in the presence of God without having to worry about any other responsibilities.

One day, during some free time, I decided to go for a walk outside and explore the surrounding area.

The campus was very beautiful and well-maintained.

It felt like an oasis of green in a part of the country that’s normally very dry and brown.

As I walked around for a bit, I eventually came to a long, winding pathway.

At first, I wasn’t sure where it would take me or how long it would take to walk the path.

But, I was curious to see where it led.

So, I decided to keep walking.

And, as I continued on, I quickly realized that the path was leading me toward a river that was close by.

I could hear the sound of the water getting louder as I continued to walk.

Then, I came upon something unexpected.

This wasn’t just a path to get down to the river.

This path was leading me to the Stations of the Cross.

The retreat center had their very own, outdoor Stations, depicting the final hours of Jesus’ life—similar to the fourteen stations we have hanging on the walls of our church.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Stations of the Cross, let me take a moment to explain.

The Stations of the Cross is an ancient, prayer practice which began centuries ago when pilgrims would travel to Jerusalem to walk the Via Dolorosa, “the way of sorrow”—the same path that Jesus walked on his way to Calvary.

Each of the fourteen stations represents a moment in Jesus’ suffering and death, and to this day, churches all over the world continue the practice of walking The Way of the Cross.

It’s especially meaningful during Lent and Holy Week.

Some churches have stations installed inside their buildings.

Some have outdoor stations.

But, the purpose is all the same—to walk with Jesus, to remember the sacrifice he made for all of us, and to remember that we, too, are called to take up our own cross and follow.

It’s a powerful and moving experience.

And, for those of you who are interested, tonight at 6:30, you’re welcome to come back to church and join us as we walk The Way of the Cross together.

I was surprised to discover the outdoor Stations on my retreat in Texas.

And, it wasn’t my intention to keep going and pray through each one.

But, since I had the time, I decided to keep going.

The only problem was that I somehow managed to find the end rather than the beginning.

I was at the fourteenth station—the one where Jesus is laid in the tomb.

So, I had a choice to make.

Do I try and find my way to the first station and start from the beginning?

Or, do I keep going in the direction I’m already headed?

I decided to be bold.

I kept going.

I walked from the fourteenth station to the thirteenth station—the one where Jesus is taken down from the cross.

Then, I walked from the thirteenth station to the twelfth—and so on.

I just kept walking and praying through each one of the stations—watching the events play out in reverse order.

As I moved further and further away from the twelfth station—the one where Jesus dies on the cross—a thought came to my mind that’s stayed with me ever since and led me to a deeper and more loving relationship with Jesus.

Jesus could’ve said “no.”

He could’ve easily walked away from all of it and spared himself the pain and humiliation he endured.

When faced with the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane—knowing that his time was soon coming to an end—Jesus could’ve handed that cup back to the Father and said, “This is too great of a burden for me to bear.”

When he was flogged and given a crown of thorns to wear by Roman soldiers, he could’ve said, “I’ve had enough,” and walked away.

When faced with Pilate’s interrogation—the one where Pilate questions him and tells him he has the power to release him or to crucify him, Jesus could’ve thrown his hands up and walked away.

Jesus could’ve walked away from all of it.

He was vulnerable to the same fear and pain and humiliation that all of us are.

And yet, he chose to keep walking.

He chose to endure all of it—for you and for me and for the whole world.

God didn’t force Jesus to go to the cross.

The choice was always his to make.

Jesus willingly sacrificed himself so that we might be reconciled with our Father in heaven.

He was obedient in his call to walk in love—even to the point of death.

He stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross so that the whole world might be drawn in.

That’s the reason why we take special care to observe this day.

It isn’t to be overwhelmed with feelings of guilt or shame—even though we’re all guilty of turning our backs on Jesus.

No, the true purpose of this day is to remember—to remember the sacrifice Jesus made so that we might be reconciled with God.

And, to remember that we’re part of the story as well.

As followers of the one who emptied himself and laid down his life for others, we’re called take up our own cross and do the same.

Just as it was for Jesus, it’s our choice to make.

Do we walk away from the path we’re called to follow?

Or, do we say “yes” and keep walking—trusting that, even in times of uncertainty and doubt—our “yes” will lead us to experience new and abundant life with God?

I want to close with a prayer that comes from the liturgy we’ll use tonight as we walk The Way of the Cross together. 

Let us pray:

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord Needs It

A Sermon for the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday (Year C)
April 13, 2025

Text: Luke 19:28-40

I speak to you in the name of one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Whenever I write a sermon for Palm Sunday, there are two things I try to keep in mind. Number 1: Keep it brief. The focus of our service on Palm Sunday should always be the reading of the Passion Gospel.

Every year, we hear the story of our Lord’s passion and death re-told from one of the three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, or Luke.

At St. Mary’s, we hear it proclaimed in a very moving and dramatic way with members of the congregation reading different parts.

The story is powerful enough on its own, and there’s really not much more I need to say in a sermon.

So, I try my best to keep it short and to the point.

The second thing I try to do in my preaching on Palm Sunday is to stress the importance of Holy Week.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of our journey through Holy Week.

And, it’s important that we take time out of our busy lives to walk through this week together as a community of faith, participating in as many services as we can—especially in the three days leading up to Easter.

I hope you’ll remember that as we leave church today and go about the week ahead.

This special time time between Palm Sunday and Easter is the single most important week for Christians around the world, and we’re called to observe it faithfully.

In our journey through Holy Week, we’re renewed in our faith and reminded of what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ—the one who laid down his life for us, opening the way of salvation for all people.

So, as you’re thinking about the week ahead and how you’re going to spend your Holy Week, make plans now to come back to church on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. 

Come back to church on Saturday night for the Great Vigil of Easter and help us celebrate the Passover of our Lord as we move move from the darkness of Good Friday to the joy of resurrected life.

I promise you won’t regret it.

But, what I can’t promise is that you won’t be changed in the process and come out on the other end of this week with an even greater and deeper love for Jesus.

Come back to church this week as often as you can.

Make it a priority for you and your family.

Embrace the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Because the truth, dear friends, is that it’s not just about Jesus and something that happened 2,000 years ago.

It’s also about you and me and this life we’re called to live in Christ, which leads me to the point I really want to make in my sermon for today.

And, to do that, I want to draw your attention to the passage from Luke’s Gospel that we heard outside in the Garden.

Think back to the story we heard earlier.

Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.

And, as they approach the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two of his disciples ahead of the group to go and find a young colt that’s never been ridden.

He says to the two disciples, “Untie [the colt] and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

The disciples do as Jesus told them.

They walk ahead of the group, and when they arrive in the village, they find everything just as Jesus said they would, including the young colt.

As they’re untying it, the owners come out and ask them why they’re taking the colt.

They respond as Jesus instructed them.

“The Lord needs it.”

One thing I love about this passage from Luke is that it says something pretty remarkable about Jesus—something we don’t often consider.

Jesus asked for help.

He trusted his disciples to do what they were asked and shared his ministry with them.

But, even more than that, Jesus needed his disciples to help carry out God’s plan for salvation.

He couldn’t do it alone.

Luke’s account of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem involves both Jesus and his disciples.

His disciples are the ones who secure the colt that will bring him into the city.

His disciples are the ones who’ll throw their cloaks on top of the colt and place him on its back.

They’re the ones who will praise God joyfully as he approaches the city gates, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

His disciples are the ones who will make a way for him to enter the holy city to complete his work of salvation on the cross.

I think there’s something incredibly powerful about that.

Presumably, Jesus could’ve done all of it himself.

He could’ve come among us as a mighty king and accomplished all he did without anyone else’s help.

But, that’s not what happened.

Instead, “he emptied himself,” as Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, “taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”

Jesus lowered himself and became vulnerable to the temptations and pain of this world and, by doing so, gave us a perfect example of humility and obedience to God.

His disciples played an important part in his journey.

And, just like they did when they made a way for Jesus to enter the city, we’re called—in our own time and place—to make a way for Jesus.

That’s what our journey from Palm Sunday to Easter is all about.

Not only recalling the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection —but also remembering who we are in the process and who we’re called to be.

We are the hands and feet of Jesus, and our ministry is one of service, just as Jesus came, not to be served but to serve others.

We are his Body, broken and poured out for the life of the world.

And he’s calling us, once again this Holy Week, to be renewed in our faith and to recommit ourselves to the work we’ve been given to do.

If you need to be reminded why, remember these words:

“The Lord needs it.”

Amen.

Selfless Love

A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent (Year C)
March 15, 2025

Text: Luke 13:31-35

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our lesson today from the Gospel of Luke takes place as Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. They’ve been stopping in various towns and villages along the way in order for Jesus to teach and heal the sick when suddenly, a group of Pharisees come up to Jesus and warn him that Herod Antipas—the local ruler of Galilee and the person responsible for killing John the Baptist—is out for blood.

He sees Jesus as a threat to his power and authority, and he wants him out of the picture.

But, Jesus has no concern over Herod’s threats.

He tells this group of Pharisees, these religious leaders, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’”

The only concern Jesus has in that moment is being faithful to God and completing the mission he’s been given to do—to open the way of salvation for all people and to bring healing and restoration to the world.

He isn’t worried about himself or his own well-being.

The only thing he’s focused on is fulfilling his mission.

But, Jesus knows that his time is short.

Soon, he and his disciples will arrive at the city gates.

Jesus will be welcomed by crowds of people with great joy and celebration, waving branches from trees and laying them on the ground, making a path for him to enter the city.

But, the celebration will be short-lived.

Eventually, the crowds who welcome him into the city with shouts of “Hosanna!” will be the same ones who call for him to be crucified.

He knows that Jerusalem is the city where God’s messengers go to die.

And, he laments over the fact that, despite his best efforts to share the message of God’s love with the people he came to save, they will reject him and hand him over to suffering and death.

He says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

“See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

I love that phrase Jesus uses.

“…as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…”

I think it’s such a beautiful image.

Jesus describes his love for God’s people by comparing himself to a mother hen who takes care of her brood.

Now, I’ll be honest.

I don’t know much about farming or farm animals, but I do know that hens—when they’re brooding—are fiercely protective.

They will do anything to protect their chicks from danger, even at the cost of their own safety and well-being.

In the first century, the Greek historian, Plutarch, praised the many ways that mother hens cherish and protect their chicks, lifting them up as a symbol of motherhood.

He once wrote, “…we have before our eyes every day the manner in which hens care for their brood, drooping their wings for some to creep under, and receiving with joyous and affectionate clucks others that mount upon their backs or run up to them from every direction; and though they flee from dogs and snakes if they are frightened only for themselves, if their fright is for their children, they stand their ground and fight it out beyond their strength.”

The 16th century Italian naturalist and writer, Ulisse Aldrovandi, once described how, at the first sign of a predator, mother hens will immediately gather their chicks “under the shadow of their wings, and with this covering they put up such a very fierce defense—striking fear into their opponent in the midst of a frightful clamor—using both wings and beak—they would rather die for their chicks than seek safety in flight.”

He also describes how a mother hen allows her chicks to eat their fill before satisfying her own hunger.

Thus, he said, mother hens present, in every way, “a noble example of love for their offspring.”

A mother hen provides protection and warmth and comfort for her chicks, always putting the needs and safety of her offspring before her own.

Some might describe this as the kind of love a mother has for her children.

Another word I would use to describe it is selfless.

So, I think it’s perfect that Jesus uses the image of a mother hen to describe the kind of love he feels for God’s children.

It’s the reason why he laments over the city of Jerusalem.

His selfless love for the people there—and for all of God’s children—is like the love a mother hen has for her chicks.

He would do anything to save them—including lay down his own life.

This is the depth of God’s love for each of us.

A love that will be on full display in just a few short weeks when we come to Palm Sunday and our journey through Holy Week.

A love that will lead our Savior to be nailed to a cross.

And yet, we reject God’s love every time we refuse to listen to Jesus and live our lives as he’s called us to live.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus isn’t grieving over the fact that he’s going to be killed in Jerusalem.

He’s grieving for the people there who will fail to recognize him as the Lord’s Messiah and refuse to accept his message of God’s redeeming love.

As much as it pains me to say this, I think Jesus grieves for us as well.

Jesus grieves for us every time we refuse to listen to him and choose instead to follow our own, selfish ways.

Jesus grieves for us every time we refuse to forgive those who’ve hurt us or caused us harm.

Jesus grieves for us every time we see someone hungry or in need and do nothing to help.

Jesus grieves for us every time we stand idly by and allow God’s children to be oppressed or taken advantage of.

Jesus grieves.

But, Jesus also forgives and longs for us to repent and return to the Lord.

Because—like a mother hen cares for her brood—it’s only under the shadow of his wings where we’ll find true peace and joy with our God.

In order to get there—in order to find that peace and joy we seek in our lives—we have to learn to listen for his voice and answer his call to follow.

When you think about it, that’s really the purpose of this season of Lent—this special time we set aside each year to renew our relationship with God.

Sometimes, we get off track and forget how to listen for the sound of Jesus’ voice calling to us in our lives.

Sometimes, we choose to go our own way instead of following the one who came to live and die as one of us and show us the way to eternal life with God.

And so, we learn how to listen again with open minds and open hearts.

We learn how to love again as Jesus taught us to love.

And, we’re reminded, once again, that our true home is with God, under the shadow and protection of his wings.

Amen.

Christ Be With Me

A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent (Year C)
March 9, 2025

Text: Luke 4:1-13

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I spent the summer after my first year of seminary participating in a program called Clinical Pastoral Education, or CPE for short. Basically, it’s pastoral care boot camp for those who are training to be priests.

It’s where we go to learn how to be pastors and how to listen and care for people who may be going through difficult times in their lives.

Most of the time, it’s done in a hospital or some other kind of healthcare facility.

I was fortunate enough to do my chaplaincy work at a hospital right down the road from my seminary, not far from where my family and I were living at the time.

On my first day of CPE, I showed up to the hospital, eager and ready to learn all that I could.

There were actually two of us there from the same seminary.

We both walked into the chaplain’s office, and Pat, the director of pastoral care, began explaining some of the things we were going to be doing over the next few months and orienting us to the hospital.

As she was talking, the phone rang.

She picked it up and started talking to the person on the other end of the line.

My friends and I just sat there and waited until she was done with the phone call.

When she was done, she hung up the phone, looked at both of us and said, “Follow me.”

As we were walking, she told us we were headed to the emergency room, but she didn’t tell us anything else.

When we got there, we heard loud cries coming from one of the rooms, and when I say “room,” what I really mean is a small area separated by a curtain.

We walked over to where the cries were coming from.

They were coming from a woman who had just unexpectedly lost her husband due to a heart attack.

Pat told us to wait outside of the room and listen to what was going on.

She drew back the curtain and walked in and immediately started caring for the grieving wife.

The woman was hysterical.

She was crying and kept saying over and over again, “He wasn’t supposed to die today. He wasn’t supposed to die today.”

Pat wrapped her arms around the woman and began to comfort her, and I’ll never forget the words she said to the wife.

Softly, she said to her, “Just imagine it’s Jesus holding you.”

It was a sacred moment, and even though my friend and I were standing on the other side of the curtain, we knew that God was there.

After some time passed, Pat came out of the room, and we walked back to the chaplain’s office, where we had a conversation about what happened.

She told us that things happen like that from time to time, and when they do, it’s our job to show up and do the best we can to offer care and support.

Well, needless to say, I walked away from my first day of CPE less excited than I was when I got there.

Because, to be very honest, I didn’t think there was any way I could do what Pat did that day.

I walked away from my first day of CPE thinking, “There’s no way I can do this.”

“I don’t have what it takes.”

“I’m in way over my head, so I might as well give up now.”

But, what I eventually came to realize is that I was there for a purpose.

I was called by God to go to seminary and be formed as a priest, and part of that call meant going through hospital chaplaincy and learning how to be a pastor.

I wasn’t always going to get it right.

But, I had to trust that, if God was calling me to be a priest and pastor, then God would be with me through it all, including the hard parts.

What I also came to realize is that those thoughts of self-doubt were not from God.

They were from the tempter—the one who uses subtle lies and deception to make us doubt ourselves and think we aren’t good enough or capable enough to do what God has called us to do.

For me, hospital chaplaincy was definitely a time in the wilderness with God.

Most of the time, I really had no idea what I was doing, but I could trust that God was with me through it all, leading me and guiding me and giving me the strength that I needed.

When God calls us to do something, he doesn’t leave us to do it alone.

God empowers us and gives us strength and wisdom by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Eventually, over time, I gained confidence in my ability as a chaplain and pastor, and every time I got anxious or nervous about a situation, I had a prayer that I would pray as I walked to a patient’s room.

I kept it in a little green book of prayers that was given to me on my very first day of CPE, and It goes like this:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Anytime I needed to be reminded of the fact that God was with me wherever I went, I would always return to that prayer.

And, even now, to this day, I return to it from time to time, and I’m reminded that God is always with me, even in those moments when it feels like I’m walking through the wilderness, unsure of where I’m going or what I’m being called to do.

Because, that’s the thing about walking through the wilderness as a follower of Jesus.

Often, we really have no idea where we’re being called to go.

But, we can trust that if we put our faith in God, we can face any challenge that may come our way.

We can trust that God will always be with us.

The reason why I wanted to share this story with you today is because it’s easy to think that the only temptations we face in our lives are external.

In other words—those things we do or say to make ourselves feel better or to satisfy some hunger we have or to fill that God-shaped hole in our hearts.

And, it’s true that sometimes they are.

Sometimes, we indulge in material things that make us feel better, at least for a short time. 

But, often they’re things that cause us to turn away from God or things that prevent us from living more fully into who God created us to be.

Sometimes, we turn to things like alcohol to dull the emotional pain we’re feeling over a loss or heartbreak or to make life a little more bearable when times are hard.

Sometimes, we lie, cheat, or steal in order to get what we want.

Sometimes, we turn to gossip or talk about other people behind their backs because it makes us feel better about ourselves.

There are lots of ways we’re tempted by external things.

But, I’m convinced that perhaps something even more destructive are those internal temptations we face—those subtle whispers or thoughts that the tempter uses to make us feel like we’re worthless.

The subtle whispers that cause us to wonder whether or not we’re worthy of God‘s love or whether or not we’re good enough or capable enough.

The tempter—whether you call him Satan or the devil or any other name—will use deception and subtle lies to make us believe these things are true.

But, I’m here to tell you today, friends, that all of these things our lies.

You are the Lord’s possession.

God has called you by name for a purpose, and he will never leave you.

God will send his Holy Spirit upon you to lead you and guide you in your life and to give you the strength and will to persevere in your walk with Christ.

That doesn’t mean it’ll always be easy.

There will be temptations along the way, but with Christ, we know that we have an advocate and guide—someone who will take us by the hand and never let go.

In our Gospel lesson for this morning from Luke, we hear the story of our Lord’s journey through the wilderness, where he was led by the Spirit and tempted by the devil for forty days.

There’s a reason why this story comes right after the story of Jesus‘s baptism.

And, I think this has a lot to do with us as well in our own lives in Christ.

To be baptized means to be set apart for a special purpose.

It means renouncing the ways of the world—the ways of sin and death—and giving our lives over to Christ and serving only him.

When we do that, we will be tested.

Our lives will be tested.

Our faith will be tested.

Our trust in God will be tested.

That doesn’t mean that God is the one testing us or waiting for us to fail in some way.

It means that every day when we wake up, we have to make the choice of whether to follow Christ or follow our own selfish ways.

We have to make the choice of whether to serve others or serve ourselves.

We have to make the choice of whether to put our trust in the Lord or to put our trust in material things.

These are the temptations we face in our lives every day. 

Some are external. Some are internal.

But, they all threaten to make us lose sight of who we are as God’s beloved.

Just as Jesus was tested in the wilderness, we also will be tested.

And, just like Jesus, we can make the choice to put our trust in God and to always remember that God will be with us no matter where we go or what we do.

If you ever need to be reminded of that, I know a great prayer you can use:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Amen.

Called by God

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)
February 9, 2025

Text: Luke 5:1-11

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When I was a teenager, I never dreamed that I would one day be a priest in the Episcopal Church.

As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know what the word “Episcopal” meant until I was a junior in college.

I went to school to study music education with the hope that, one day, I would get a great job teaching music to high school students and enjoy a long career as a choir director.

When I made the decision to study music in college, I felt sure that it was the right path for me to take.

Music had been such an important part of my life in junior high and high school, and being a choir director was something I knew I could do really well, something I knew I would enjoy doing.

So, I worked hard and eventually graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music education.

I began teaching at a high school in Savannah, Georgia, and for the most part, it was wonderful!

After years of hard work, I was finally getting the chance to do the work that I felt called to do.

But, something happened during my first year of teaching—something I never saw coming.

It was almost like a light switch was turned on.

I started asking myself questions like, “Is this really what God wants me to do with my life?”

“Am I really being called to be a music teacher? Or, is there something else I should be doing?”

“What if God is calling me to be a priest?”

“A priest! How ridiculous!” I thought.

“I’m still a brand new Episcopalian! I’ve only been confirmed for about a year.”

“Who do I think I am? There’s no way that God could be calling me to be a priest!”

So, I quickly dismissed the idea and continued on with my career as a teacher, but those thoughts and those questions never completely went away.

About two years later, I was teaching music at a different school, and I was finally able to talk with someone about these thoughts and feelings I’d been having about the priesthood.

I was finally able to say the words out loud.

“I think God may be calling me to be a priest.”

I can honestly say that I’ve never experienced such a weight lifted from my shoulders as I did in that moment.

It felt as if I was finally able to pass through this door that God had prepared especially for me, a door that God was waiting for me to walk through.

It wasn’t that I was unhappy as a teacher.

I could’ve kept teaching for the rest of my life and been perfectly fine.

But, I always would’ve felt this lingering sense that something was missing.

They say that when God calls someone to a particular ministry, that call doesn’t just go away. God is persistent.

And, for me, what started as a gentle nudge from God eventually turned into a calling that I could no longer ignore.

I wanted to share this with you today because the truth of the matter is that all of us—not just me or anyone else who wears a collar—all of us are called by God to serve in some way.

And, I think all of us—at least at some point in our lives—have questioned whether or not God could actually use us in ministry.

Because, let’s be honest.

Most of us are really good at doubting our own self-worth.

We’re really good at putting ourselves down and coming up with reasons why we shouldn’t do something we feel called to do.

We have this internal voice that tries to convince us of things like, “You’re not good enough.” Or, “You’re not smart enough.” Or, “You have no business serving anyone else when you can’t even get your own life together.”

“What makes you think God can use you?”

Does any of that sound familiar?

We’ve all struggled with these thoughts.

And, I’m here to tell you, dear friends, that it’s all a lie.

God can use you, just as you are.

You are enough, despite what the world or anyone else may try to tell you.

God is calling you by name to love and serve others in the name of Jesus Christ.

In our Gospel lesson this morning from Luke, we hear the story of Jesus calling his first disciples, which happens not long after a series of healings in Galilee, including the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.

Jesus is standing near the lake of Gennesaret, which was another name for the Sea of Galilee, when a crowd starts to gather around him to hear his teaching.

The crowd gets so large that the people start to press in on Jesus.

So, he decides to get into one of the fishing boats he sees on the shore, the one belonging to Simon Peter.

And, he asks Simon to push the boat out a little from the shore.

Then, he sits down in the boat and begins to teach.

When he’s done teaching, he tells Simon to take the boat further out into the lake where it’s deeper and to let his nets down into the water for a catch.

Simon and the other fishermen are tired from working all night long and not catching anything.

So, he thinks it’s pointless to try and catch anything at this point.

But, he tells Jesus, “If you say so, I will let down the nets.”

So, he puts the nets down into the water, and when he draws them back up again, they’re filled with so many fish that the nets start to break.

He calls the fishermen in the other boat to come and help, and by the time they’re done, both boats are loaded down with so many fish that they start to sink.

Simon Peter is so amazed by what he’s witnessed—so overwhelmed with emotion—that he falls down on his knees and says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

It’s his way of saying to Jesus, “I’m not worthy.”

“I’m not good enough to stand in your presence.”

I like to imagine that, in that moment, Jesus stopped what he was doing and smiled at Simon Peter and thought to himself…

“If you could only see yourself as God sees you, Simon.”

“Then, you might start to understand that you are worthy of God’s love and compassion and that you’re so much more than your worst mistakes and failures.”

“You are God’s beloved, and God has called you for a special purpose.”

Jesus tells Simon Peter, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

And, as soon as they return to shore, Simon, along with James and John, drop everything they own and follow Jesus.

Unfortunately, we don’t have Jesus standing right in front of us, pointing us in the direction we’re meant to walk.

In our own lives, the call to follow Jesus isn’t always so easy to hear.

Sometimes, we don’t know what it is that God is calling us to do with our lives.

And so we pray and try to listen for God’s voice, and we rely on each other to help guide us and keep us on track.

In the church, we have a special name for this process of exploring our call.

We call it discernment.

It’s a way of being open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, without any agenda or selfish ambition.

It’s a way of being honest with ourselves and open to where God is leading us to go.

Through that process, we ask ourselves questions, like “What are the gifts God has given me?”

“What talents do I have?”

“Where am I needed the most?”

And, we do a bit of holy imagining, wondering and dreaming about the possibilities of how God might be calling us to use those gifts and talents we’ve been given to help others.

Frederick Buechner, the Christian writer and theologian, once wrote that “Vocation (or our calling) is the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”

I’ve always loved that definition.

And, I think it’s a helpful way of thinking about the process of discerning one’s call.

Of course, when you finally get to the point where you start to feel that nudge or that tug on your heart to serve in some way—when you start to feel God’s call—then comes the hard part.

Saying “yes.”

Because when we say “yes” to God—when we say, “Here I am, Lord, send me,” it often means we have to give up something else in return.

Like the first disciples did when they left everything behind to follow Jesus.

But, we can trust that when we do say “yes” to God’s call, God will be with us every step of the way.

The process of discernment is a spiritual discipline, and it’s an important part of our Christian faith.

Because every single one of us, by virtue of our baptism in Christ, has been called to a life of ministry and service.

Despite our shortcomings and mistakes, despite our self-doubt and fear of the unknown, God can use all of us as instruments of his love and mercy in the world.

God can use you, just as you are.

You are enough, despite what the world or anyone else may try to tell you.

God is calling you by name to love and serve others in the name of Jesus Christ.

All you have to do is say “yes.”

Amen.

Stick to the Script

A Sermon for the Feast of the Presentation
Sunday, February 2, 2025

Text: Luke 2:22-40

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a video that was posted on YouTube several years ago, featuring the popular songwriter and jazz musician, Jon Batiste.

The video was from a commencement address he delivered in May of 2017 at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.

During his address, he shared a story with the audience—one that he had never shared before—about a time when his band started venturing out and playing at venues that were out of the ordinary.

They were used to playing in jazz clubs and music halls for people who were already huge fans of their music, and they wanted to reach out and introduce other audiences to it.

So, they started playing in different kinds of places like hip hop clubs and opening for rap artists.

As Jon describes it in the video, there was this one time they were playing in a new venue, and before the band even played their first note, the audience started booing and telling them to get off the stage and go home.

The band didn’t know what to do.

They started questioning themselves, wondering whether or not they needed to change what they were planning to do.

So, on the fly and without even rehearsing it first, they started to play a completely different set of music.

About five minutes in, Jon made a decision.

In his own words, he decided they were going to “stick to the script.”

And, they started playing the music they had always played, even through all the “boos.”

When the audience started booing louder, the band got louder, and they kept going back and forth until finally, one of the band members—who was playing the tambourine—accidentally knocked over one of the microphones.

There was feedback from the mic hitting the floor, and for the first time in twenty minutes, there was complete silence.

Everyone in the audience started looking around at each other, and then slowly, they all started clapping for the band.

And, in that moment, at a small dive bar in Philadelphia, Jon realized something very important.

In his speech, he looked directly at the graduating class and told them, “Don’t change who you are to fit the circumstances around you.”

Because at some point in your lives you’re going to be in a situation where the people around you don’t share your values.

When that happens, it’ll test your character, but on the other side of that test, you’ll become even stronger in your values and more confident in who you are.

I think there’s great wisdom in Jon’s speech.

And, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about what he said and how that applies to our Christian faith and life.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about our identity as Christians.

In other words, “Who do we say we are as followers of Jesus, and what are the values we hold dear?”

I think these are really important questions to be asking ourselves right now.

Because, dear friends, we seem to be living in a time when people are questioning—perhaps more than ever before—what it means to be a Christian in the world.

And, there are a lot of people right now who seem to think they have all the answers figured out and that the only way to be a true Christian is to think and believe the same way they do.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of it has to do with the current political climate in our country.

People are more divided than ever.

We see it all around us—in the news, on social media, and even in the Church.

There are some who insist that the only way to be a faithful Christian is if you support a certain political party or vote for a particular candidate.

Our identity as Christians—who we say we are and what we believe—is being tested, and it’s up to us to decide how we’re going to respond.

Do we change who we are to fit the circumstances around us?

Or, do we “stick to the script” and remain faithful to who God is calling us to be as followers of Jesus?

Today is a special feast day in the life of the Church.

In the Prayer Book, it’s called “The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple.” Or, you could just call it “The Feast of the Presentation.”

On this day, we remember the story from Luke’s Gospel about how Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to be presented before the Lord.

Jesus was Mary and Joseph’s first-born son, and so, it was expected that they would bring the baby to the temple to be presented, in accordance with Jewish law.

This was also the time when Mary would go through ritual of purification after giving birth to Jesus, which was also a requirement of the law.

The author of Luke’s Gospel tells us that there was a man in Jerusalem at the time named Simeon, who was a devout follower of God and who had great hope that God would one day redeem Israel by sending his Messiah to save them all.

Luke also tells us that it had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that, because of his great faith in God, he would not die before first seeing the Lord’s Messiah.

When Mary and Joseph enter the temple with the infant Jesus, Simeon is already there. 

He walks over to the Holy Family and takes the baby into his arms.

In that moment, Simeon knows that God has fulfilled his promise, and he begins praising God, saying:

Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.

If these words sound familiar to you it’s because we use them often in the Episcopal Church, especially in our services of Evening Prayer and Compline.

And, we prayed them earlier this morning at the beginning of the service.

These words are commonly known as “The Song of Simeon” or Nunc dimittis.

And, they speak of God’s great love and mercy for the whole world.

Simeon recognized the infant Jesus for who he truly was—

The long-awaited Messiah, the Anointed One, who will bring redemption and peace—not only to Israel—but to every nation and corner of the world.

He’ll be the One who, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, will bring good news to the poor.

The One who will proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.

The One who will let the oppressed go free and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This Jesus—the only-begotten Son of God, who was born among us and who came to live and die as one of us—will be the One who saves us all.

Through his life and ministry, through his glorious death and resurrection, we who proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Savior have come to know who God is and what God has called us to do in our lives.

So, back to my questions from earlier about who we are as Christians.

It’s really quite simple.

We’re a people who not only invite Jesus into our hearts but also a people who strive to live in Christ.

In every thought, in every word, and action, we are called to make the love of God in Christ Jesus known to the world.

That’s who we are.

That’s our identity.

It’s not some political party or who we voted for in the last election.

It’s Jesus.

And, if we can be committed to holding on to that ideal—and not allowing outside influences to convince us otherwise, then maybe there’s a chance that we can make a real difference in the world around us.

Maybe there’s a chance that our church can be a symbol of unity, drawing people together rather than tearing people apart.

Maybe we can be a sign of hope for the world that all is not lost—that there’s still a place for mutual love and respect for each other, despite our differences.

I want to circle back to Jon Batiste for a moment and leave you with one final thought.

At the end of his commencement address, he encouraged the graduates to take some time to think about their purpose in life.

And, he left them with an exercise to do after graduation.

He told them, “After you leave here, take a piece of paper. Write down at the top, ‘This is who I am.’ And, then just start listing things.”

He told them it didn’t matter how different they were. Just start listing.

And, then start to think about how all of those things are connected.

He said, “That’s your integrity. When you make those connections, that’s who you are in its rawest sense.”

Then, he told them to take another sheet of paper and to write at the top, “These are my prayers. And think about who, what, and how you want to serve other people with that first list.”

If we were to take Jon’s advice and do this exercise on our own—as individuals, we would all have different lists because God has given each of us different gifts and talents and called us to serve in different ways.

But, in our shared life together as a church, we have one list.

One list of vows and responsibilities that unite as one Body in Christ, despite our differences.

One list that reminds us from time to time of who we are as Christians and what we’re called to.

One list of values that we all believe in, that shape who we are as a community of faith.

It’s called the Baptismal Covenant.

As Episcopalians, it’s our way of expressing our love for God and our commitment to follow Christ in all that we say and do.

And, I’m thankful for it.

I’m thankful that we belong to a church that recognizes the fact that we don’t all have to agree on everything in order to belong, that there’s a place for everyone at God’s Table.

And we really mean everyone.

I’m thankful that we belong to a church that not only preaches a message of God’s love and radical hospitality but that we also live it out in the ways we seek to love and serve Christ in all persons.

As I mentioned in the newsletter this past week, we belong to a church that makes room for seekers and skeptics alike, recognizing that the journey of faith is a life-long journey, one with hills and valleys, and that it’s okay to have questions and even doubts.

This is a church where you don’t have to have all the answers figured out.

(In fact, we prefer that you don’t.)

But know this.

As you wrestle with the hard questions and as you seek to discover more about what it means to be a Christian and how to follow Jesus in his way of love, you’ll have a community who will walk with you and support you every step of the way. Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Beloved

A Sermon for the First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord
January 12, 2025

Text: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Many years ago, as I was discerning my call to the priesthood, I started to read a lot of books by different spiritual writers, mostly having to do with theology and what it means to be a priest in the Episcopal Church.

For me, one of the most influential writers was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Sadly, the archbishop passed away about three years ago at the age of ninety at his home in Cape Town, but his legacy continues on.

As many of you probably know, Desmond Tutu was an instrumental figure in the struggle to tear down the system of legalized racism in South Africa, known as apartheid, which finally came to an end in the early 1990s.

He was also an advocate for peaceful reconciliation in the years that followed.

Under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu served as the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was established in order to bring healing to the country and offer a way forward.

He was committed to the idea of restorative justice and believed that the only path to true peace and reconciliation—after decades of violence and oppression under apartheid—was by seeking the truth and offering forgiveness to those who were responsible.

Even though he’s no longer with us, I’m so thankful for the life and ministry of Desmond Tutu and for all he taught us about how to love others and offer mercy in the name of Jesus Christ.

Our former Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, offered these words shortly after his death: “While on this earth, he sought to follow Jesus of Nazareth in God’s way of love and life. In so doing, he showed us how to live God’s dream as children of the one God and creator of all. So, even in our sorrow that he is no longer walking among us, we can thank God that he did.”

I’ll always remember Desmond Tutu as the first person who taught me, through his writing, that all of us—no matter who we are or what we’ve done or left undone—are completely and unconditionally loved by the God who created us.

We were loved into being and formed in the image and likeness of God.

In his book, Made for Goodness—which he co-authored with his daughter—the archbishop wrote, “From the time before eternity our God has awaited each birth with love and delight.”

“‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you’ is the word of God to the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah. It is equally God’s word to each of us.”

“Before the ‘Let there be…’ of creation, before God breathed Adam’s first breath, God knew us and God loved us.”

“God loves each of us as though there were no one else in the world, as though there were only one person to love.”

“We are so precious to God that, as Jesus reminds us in the pages of Matthew’s Gospel, ‘even the hairs of your head are all counted.’”

It’s almost unimaginable, isn’t it, that God loves us so perfectly and so completely, without reservation or condition.

Our whole lives, we’ve been taught that, in order to succeed in life and be loved by others, we have to earn it.

We have to do certain things or behave a certain way or change our appearance in order to be loved and accepted by those around us.

But, not with God.

We are God’s beloved, God’s possession—loved from before time and forevermore.

In our lesson this morning from Isaiah, the prophet writes, “Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

In other words, dear friends, God has claimed each of us as his own, and there’s nothing we can do or say that will ever change that.

Today is the First Sunday after the Epiphany, the day when we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord.

On this day, we recall the story of our Lord’s baptism at the River Jordan by John the Baptist.

It’s important that we take time to remember this part of Jesus’ life.

Not only does it signal the beginning of his public ministry, but I think it also helps us better understand the significance of baptism in our own lives and the role it plays in our journey with Christ.

In today’s Gospel reading, soon after Jesus receives the baptism of John, the heavens are opened and the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove.

Then, Jesus hears a voice from heaven say to him, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

One way you could read this part of the lesson is that the voice from heaven is God’s response to what Jesus does when he goes to John for baptism.

After all, the voice from heaven doesn’t call out to Jesus until after he’s baptized.

But, I don’t read it that way.

I don’t see this passage as a response from God, as if God’s love for Jesus somehow depends upon whether or not he’s baptized.

I see it as an acknowledgement—a declaration from heaven—claiming Jesus as God’s own.

I see it as God’s way of saying to Jesus, “I’ve known you and loved you since before time, and I’ll continue to know you and love you forever.”

Jesus’ baptism is an acknowledgement of something that began long before he ever made the choice to be baptized.

We often think of Baptism as something we do in the Church that changes us in some way, and I think that’s true. Baptism is the sacrament of new birth.

In the water of Baptism, we are buried with Christ in his death. By it, we share in his resurrection. Through it, we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.

We are changed in the sense that the old way of sin and death has passed away and a new creation has been raised up.

But, in another sense, we’re the same as we always have been.

Since before time, we were known and loved by God.

Baptism is a way for us to acknowledge our belovedness and make the choice to live more fully into who God created us to be as God’s children.

This is why the liturgy for Baptism includes a series of questions and answers for those who are choosing to be baptized and why we join with them in renewing our own baptismal vows.

The vows and promises we make in baptism help guide us and keep us on track.

They remind us of who we are as the beloved of God.

They remind us, in the words of Desmond Tutu, that we were “made for goodness.”

In just a few moments, we’ll take some time to renew the solemn vows and promises of Holy Baptism.

As you say the words, think about that voice from heaven who spoke to Jesus, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

That same voice continues to speak to each of us, calling us by name into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God.

I’d like to close by sharing with you some final words from Desmond Tutu.

These words come from the last two pages of his book, Made for Goodness, and are written from the perspective of God, speaking to his beloved—

You are my child,
My beloved.
With you I am well pleased.
Stand beside me and see yourself,
Borrow my eyes so you can see perfectly.
When you look with my eyes then you will see
That the wrong you have done and the good left undone,
The words you have said that should not have been spoken,
The words you should have spoken but left unsaid,
The hurts you have caused,
The help you’ve not given
Are not the whole of the story of you.
You are not defined by what you did not achieve.
Your worth is not determined by success.
You were priceless before you drew your first breath,
Beautiful before dress or artifice,
Good at the core.

And now is time for unveiling
The goodness that is hidden behind the fear of failing.
You shout down your impulse to kindness in case it is shunned,
You suck in your smile,
You smother your laughter,
You hold back the hand that would help.
You crush your indignation
When you see people wronged or in pain
In case all you can do is not enough,
In case you cannot fix the fault,
In case you cannot soothe the searing,
In case you cannot make it right.
What does it matter if you do not make it right?
What does it matter if your efforts move no mountains?
It matters not at all.
It only matters that you live the truth of you.
It only matters that you push back the veil to let your goodness shine through.
It only matters that you live as I have made you.
It only matters that you are made for me,
Made like me,
Made for goodness.

Amen.

Joy in God’s Kingdom

A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent (Year C)
December 15, 2024

Text: Luke 3:7-18

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This past Wednesday night, we had some unexpected visitors show up to church during our Advent supper and program. We were gathered in the Parish Hall where we had just finished eating our supper, and not longer after I began the program, I looked over my shoulder and noticed someone I had never seen before quietly come inside.

It was a young, Latino man who appeared to be no older than twenty-five.

He had a friendly smile on his face, and I could tell that he was looking for someone to talk to.

So, I stopped what I was doing, got up from my chair, and walked over to greet the man.

By the time I got to the front doors, there were more visitors.

A young woman, probably in her early twenties, carrying a small child who was wrapped up in a blanket, and three other young children who were probably anywhere from four to ten years old.

I asked the man, “How can we help you?”

He spoke very little English.

So, he used his phone to communicate with me.

He typed some words into a translator and showed me the message.

“Can you help us with some food and gas and a hotel room?”

My immediate thought was that this poor family has nowhere to go.

It’s 7:00 at night.

It’s freezing cold outside, and they have nothing.

So, I quickly scrambled and tried to come up with some ways to help.

I couldn’t give them food from the food pantry because they would have no way to cook it, even if they had a hotel room.

But, thankfully, we had some pizza left over from dinner. So, we packed up all the leftovers we had and gave it to them.

It wasn’t much, but at least it was something.

I couldn’t give them a check from my discretionary account because they would have no way to cash it.

But, thankfully, we had some money in the church office we had collected from the Holiday Jubilee last Saturday. So, I gave them enough to help with a hotel room and some gas for their car.

It wasn’t much, but at least it was something.

As they left, they were very grateful.

“God bless you,” they said, and “Merry Christmas.”

And they went on their way.

Later on that night, after the program was over and I had returned home for the evening, my mind drifted to that young family.

“Where did they end up?”

“Did they find a warm place to sleep for the night?”

I prayed that they would be okay.

And, I couldn’t help but think about my own life and circumstances and the fact that my family and I have so much to be thankful for.

We’ve never known what it feels like to be desperate for food.

We’ve never known what it feels like to be desperate for a warm place to sleep at night.

And, as a father, I’ve never known what it feels like to wonder if I’ll be able to provide basic necessities for my family.

The things I complain about not having are so trivial compared to what so many people live with on a daily basis.

It was a truly humbling experience.

And, I’m so thankful that our church was able to serve that young family in the way we did.

We were able to be the hands and feet of Christ for them.

And, they were able to be the hands and feet of Christ for us as well, reminding us in that moment that our call is to love and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves.

In my years as a priest, I’ve found that it’s very easy to become cynical when it comes to helping people in need.

I think it’s something we all struggle with, to be honest.

We encounter someone asking for help, and we immediately think to ourselves, “Do they really need help? Or, are they just looking for a handout?

And, what if they take the money I give them and go and use it do buy something they don’t really need?

People come to the church office almost daily asking for money to help with gas to get to a doctor’s visit or money to help pay the power bill that’s past due or money for a hotel room.

And, so the temptation I have to resist—and it’s really hard to resist at times—is to ask myself whether or not they really need to be helped.

Because, in most cases, there’s no way to know for sure.

And, to be honest, I’m not sure it’s our job to ask.

Maybe it’s our job to simply do what we can to help—trusting that God will see our good deeds of love and compassion as an act of faithfulness.

That’s not to say that we should allow ourselves to be taken advantage of or knowingly give money to someone who’s going to use it for the wrong reasons.

But, it is to say that sometimes, we have to take a leap of faith and trust that what we have to give will be used by God to fulfill his purposes.

The Christian mystic and author, Thomas Merton, said it this way: “Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.”

I think what Thomas Merton was trying to say is that acts of love and compassion have the power to transform lives—not only the lives of those who receive that love but also the lives of those who share it.

Actually, I think it’s even more so for those who share it.

They say it’s better to give than to receive, and I believe that’s absolutely true.

Because something happens to us over time when we let go of the need to care only for ourselves and focus more of our energy and time on giving to others—especially those in need.

And the best word I can think of to describe it is joy.

There’s joy in living a life of service to others.

There’s joy in not needing to stop and wonder whether or not someone is worthy of God’s love.

There’s joy in knowing that God is able to use us as instruments of his love and compassion in the world, even in the smallest ways.

In my sermon last week, I talked a lot about the ministry of John the Baptist and his message of repentance.

I also talked about some common understandings we have about the word, “repentance.”

A lot of times, we think it means, “feeling bad for doing bad things” or needing to turn back toward God when we’ve lost our way.

And, while these can certainly be helpful understandings of the word, the actual meaning of “repentance” is to change one’s mind or point of view.

True repentance is less about feeling guilty about the things we’ve done or left undone and more about opening our minds to new ways of thinking.

Our Gospel lesson for this week is a direct continuation of our lesson from last week about John the Baptist and this crowd who comes to him for baptism.

His message to them is a call to repentance.

It’s a call to prepare a place for the one who is coming after him, a call to amend their lives and to open their minds to new ways of being in the world.

The people ask John, “What then must we do?”

“How do we bear fruits worthy of repentance?”

Or, an even better way of saying it might be this:

“How do we live as God is calling us to live?”

John doesn’t mix words.

In fact, he doesn’t hesitate in telling the people exactly what they need to do.

“If you have two coats, give one away.”

“Do the same with your food.”

To the tax collectors who came to be baptized and asked what they should do, he said, “No more extorting the people for more than they owe. Collect only what is required by law.”

To the Roman soldiers who came for baptism and asked what they should do, he said, “No more shakedowns. No more blackmail. And be content with your rations.”

John’s answer is simple.

Don’t be selfish.

Be fair and just.

Take care of one another, and do good.

As I was reading our lesson for today, one thing really stood out for me that I’ve never noticed before about these particular instructions John gives to the people when they ask him what they should do in order to bear fruit worthy of repentance.

Every single one of them is about how we’re called to treat other people.

We tend to think of repentance as turning away from things we consider sinful, as if it has nothing to do with anyone else.

But, John has other ideas.

John teaches us that, in order to bear fruit worthy of repentance—in order to live as God has intended us to live—we have to focus our lives on other people and the way we treat them.

It isn’t easy.

The easy thing to do is to focus only on ourselves.

But God, in God’s wisdom, has shown us the way to experience true joy and peace in our lives.

It can’t be bought or earned or received.

It can only be found in giving.

This is how we really celebrate Christmas.

This is how we prepare to welcome the Christ-child into our midst, by giving of ourselves and recommitting our lives to the work that God has called us to do.

Amen.

Citizens of God’s Kingdom

A Sermon for the Last Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 29, Year B)
The Baptism of Palmer Wrenn Spivey
November 24, 2024

Text: John 18:33-37

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last Wednesday, I attended an ordination at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Dothan, Alabama. Our good friend, Pam Christian, was being ordained as the newest priest in the Episcopal Church.

It was a beautiful ceremony.

The Bishop was there, of course, leading the service, and there were other clergy from around the diocese there as well, supporting Pam in her new role as a priest.

The music was absolutely stunning.

The choir sounded like angels from heaven.

And, of course, the part of the service where the Bishop laid his hands on Pam and prayed for the Holy Spirit to make her a priest in Christ’s Church was incredibly moving.

That part of the service always reminds me of my own ordination and the vows I took as a new priest almost ten years ago.

But, there was one other part of the service that really stood out to me, and it’s been on my mind ever since.

At the beginning of the service, there was an older member of the parish who got up to read the first lesson from the Book of Isaiah.

She had short, white hair.

She looked to be in her late seventies or early eighties, and she had to walk with a cane in order to make it up the steps to the lectern at the front of the church.

For a person her age, I expected her reading voice to be soft and maybe a little hard to understand.

But, that’s not at all what happened.

Instead, she made her way to the lectern, introduced the lesson like we normally do in church, and proceeded to deliver one of the the most animated and enthusiastic readings from Scripture that I’ve ever heard.

She read Isaiah 6:1-8, which is one of the customary readings appointed for an ordination.

This is the part where the prophet Isaiah describes his glorious vision of God sitting on a throne in the Temple, with six-winged seraphs flying high above him.

It sounded sort of like this:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’”

And this is the part that really stood out for me—the very last line of the passage.

The woman read, with all the eagerness she could possibly muster—“Here I am! Send me!”

I couldn’t help but smile and be moved by the woman’s reading.

It was almost as if those were her words that she was reading at the end of the passage.

And you could tell that, without a doubt, she meant every single word.

This reading was personal.

She was called by God to serve, and her answer was, “Here I am! Send me!”

She didn’t preach a sermon that evening, but she might as well have.

Because I doubt there was a single person in the church that night that wasn’t inspired by her enthusiasm and deep love for God.

It made me wonder for a moment what kind of life this woman must have lived.

What inspired her to read that passage from Isaiah in such a Spirit-filled way?

Had she been baptized from a young age and raised up in the church?

Had she been taught to love and read the Scriptures as a young child.

Had she been brought up in a church family and supported by her parents and fellow Christians who taught her how to live as a follower of Jesus?

Had she spent her entire life devoted to the work of God, in her church and community?

Or, was she a new Christian and still on fire for God in such a way that only a new Christian can be?

I wanted to share this story with you because I think it’s a good example of how all of us—no matter who we are or where we come from—are called by God to live our lives in such a way that we inspire others with our love for God and our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We may not be called to inspire others through our public reading of Scripture, like the woman did last week at the ordination.

But, God calls each of us to serve in our own way and to be an example of his love in the world around us.

What we do with our lives—as individuals and as a church—really does matter.

It may not always feel like it.

Sometimes, it may feel like we’re wasting our time or not making a very big impact at all, but the things we do and say and the decisions we make—no matter how small—have the power to change peoples’ lives in ways that we may never know.

As Christians, what we do and say and the decisions we make matter to God.

Because, no matter where we go in our lives, God has the power to work through us and use us as instruments of his love and mercy.

All we have to do is be willing to show up for Jesus and then get out of the way.

God, working in us through the power of the Holy Spirit, will take care of the rest.

I see it all the time, not only in my ministry as a priest, but also in the work that goes on here in our parish.

I see it each month at Laundry Love and our Rice and Beans Ministry.

I see it in our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, which we’re getting ready to do again this year.

I see it in all the volunteers who’ve shown up over the past few weeks to make sausage rolls for our Holiday Jubilee.

We do so much as a church, but we don’t do it for ourselves.

We do it because of our love for God and because it’s what God calls us to do.

People tell me all the time how amazing it is that we do so much for our community.

But, then I stop and think to myself, “What else would God have us do? It’s what we’re here for!”

It’s what we were created for.

We’re here to love and serve others, to work for the building up of God’s kingdom on earth, and to let the whole world see and know that, through Jesus, all things are being made new.

It’s really that simple.

In our Gospel lesson this morning from John, which takes place not long after Jesus is arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to stand trial, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, interrogates him and asks him if he is indeed the King of the Jews.

Jesus doesn’t give Pilate a “yes” or “no” answer.

Instead, he says to Pilate, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Jesus has no concern about being an earthly king, as Pilate accuses him of being.

He has no desire to rule over anyone or to be worshiped and adored.

His purpose is clear and simple.

He came to “testify to the truth.”

He came to teach us how to live our lives as God has called us to live.

He came to show us how to love others as God loves us.

Jesus came, not to rule as a fierce king, but to tear down the walls that divide us and help us heal our broken relationship with God.

His kingdom is one of justice, mercy, and peace.

And, as Christians, God has called us to be citizens of that kingdom.

We’re reminded of that every time we have a baptism at church and every time we have the opportunity to renew our own baptismal vows.

In the sacrament of Baptism, we turn away from the old life of sin and death, and we’re made a new creation.

We promise to live no longer for ourselves alone but also for others, and God gives us the strength and wisdom we need by the power of the Holy Spirit to live as followers of Jesus.

In just a few moments, we’ll celebrate the sacrament of new birth as we welcome Palmer Wrenn Spivey as the newest member of the Body of Christ.

Together, with her parents and family, we’ll promise to lift her up and support her as she grows older in age and begins to explore her faith.

As a church family, we’ll promise to always be there for Palmer—to help guide her and nurture her and, when the time comes, to help her answer questions she may have about God and what it means to be a Christian.

And together, we’ll renew our own Baptismal Covenant with God—those same promises and vows we once made to turn toward Jesus.

Palmer is too young to understand what’s about to happen.

But, one day, she will.

One day, when she’s old enough, she’ll understand what it means to be baptized.

And, God willing, she’ll make the choice to be confirmed, to claim for herself those same promises and vows that were made for her today by those who love her.

She’ll be anointed with holy oil as a sign that she is sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever—a seal that will never disappear or fade away.

She’ll be welcomed as one of our own at St. Mary’s—a member of the Body of Christ and a citizen of God’s kingdom.

And, one day, when she gets real curious about all the beautiful, colorful banners hanging in the Parish Hall, she’ll find her’s hanging there as well, and she’ll know that she’s part of something so much bigger than just herself.

She’ll know that—above all else—she was loved into being by the God who created her and that she’ll always have a home here at St. Mary’s.

And, who knows?

Maybe one day, many years from now, she’ll find herself at an ordination, slowly making her way up to the lectern to read a lesson from Scripture, and inspiring another priest to write a sermon about what it means to live a life in service to God and God’s people.

Amen.

The Widow’s Offering

A Sermon for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27, Year B)
November 10, 2024

Text: Mark 12:38-44

Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As a priest, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful and faithful people in the course of my ministry. And, as I’ve moved over the years and served in different parishes, I’ve carried all their stories with me wherever I go.

At the Church of the Holy Spirit in Alabaster, where I served before coming to St. Mary’s, there was a lovely couple named Mike and Judy.

They were the kind of parishioners you could always count on to be at worship on Sunday mornings and to get things done around the church that needed to be done.

And, they always greeted me at the end of the service with a big hug and told me how much they enjoyed my sermon that day.

Not long after I arrived at Holy Spirit, Judy pulled me aside one morning and shared with me the story of how she and Mike got started making the coffee every Sunday morning before the 8:30 service.

On one of their first Sundays at the church, they walked inside and discovered the priest making the coffee, and they thought to themselves, “He’s the priest! He shouldn’t be the one making the coffee!”

So, they walked up to him and offered to start making the coffee so that he could pay attention to other things that needed to get done before the service.

And week after week, year after year, they kept doing the same job. Even when we started coming back to in-person worship during the pandemic, Mike and Judy were there, ready to start making the coffee again.

That’s the kind of people they were.

Always ready to help, even in the smallest ways.

After about a year into my ministry at Holy Spirit, my family and I were on vacation during the summer.

One morning, I started receiving strange text messages from some of our parishioners.

They were asking me if I was the one who sent them an email asking for their help with money and gift cards to give to people in need.

Of course, I had no idea what they were talking about.

So, I quickly called around and tried to figure out what was going on.

And, what I discovered was that several members of the church had received an email from someone who was pretending to be me.

They had my name and my position at the church.

They had an email address that was very similar to my actual work email.

They even used a picture of me in the email, making it seem more believable.

They had all the things they needed to try and trick our parishioners into giving them what they wanted, which was personal information and money.

So, I called our secretary at the church and told her that we needed to get the word out to the parish as soon as possible so that no one became a victim of this terrible scam.

Thankfully, most of the people received the message in time and just deleted the fraudulent email.

But, that’s not what happened to Mike.

Mike didn’t receive the message in time, and he genuinely believed it was me asking him for money to help another person in need.

So, without even questioning it, he sent the person who was pretending to be me a thousand dollars.

When I found out, I was heartbroken.

And angry.

I was heartbroken for Mike and Judy because they lost so much, and I was angry at the person who had used by identity to take advantage of their goodness and generosity.

In the long-run, Mike and Judy would be fine. It was a lot of money but nothing that would cause too much of a hardship.

Mostly, I was just frustrated and upset by the fact that the person who scammed them was able to use their kindness against them.

The person who scammed them knew exactly what they were doing when they sent those emails out to the members of our parish.

When I got back home from vacation, I apologized to Mike and Judy.

Even though there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening, I felt so bad that this person—whoever they were—had been able to take advantage of them like they did.

Mike and Judy, of course, handled it with such grace.

And, they were much more forgiving than I would’ve been in their situation.

As infuriating as it was at the time, when I look back on what happened to Mike and Judy, I think it was a wonderful testimony to the kind of people they were—always thinking about others and looking for ways to help.

They legitimately believed that what they were doing was the right thing to do.

They believed that their priest was asking them for money to help another person in need, and they responded without even thinking about it.

Some may call them naive.

Some may call them foolish.

But, I think they were faithful.

Despite the fact that they didn’t actually help someone in need, their intentions were good, and they gave from their heart.

Faith means putting your whole trust into something you believe in—even when you might not be able to see it or understand it.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus said to Thomas soon after his resurrection, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Now, I don’t believe that God wants us to be harmed or deceived in any way because of our faith like Mike and Judy were.

But, I think there’s something to be said about having faith and putting our whole trust in God.

And, we have a good example of that this morning in our Gospel reading from Mark when we hear the story of the poor widow who comes to make her offering in the temple in Jerusalem.

In the time of Jesus, it was required of all adult Jews, twenty years and older, to come to Jerusalem each year and make an offering to the temple treasury.

These offerings would be used to maintain the operation of the temple and support its ministries.

The required amount was a half-shekel—a single coin—which is what most people brought to the temple for their offering.

The treasury—the place where these offerings would be made—was located in a part of the temple called the Court of Women, which was the only gathering place where all Jews, both men and women, could congregate.

When we read in the Gospels about Jesus teaching in the temple during the last week of his life, the Court of Women is likely where these teachings took place.

It was the only place where everyone could gather to hear Jesus speak.

It’s probably also the location where our Gospel lesson for this morning takes place.

Jesus is teaching in the temple.

And, he begins to criticize the scribes, saying, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The scribes were religious leaders in Jesus’ time who were well-educated in Jewish law and responsible for making copies of the scriptures.

They were also highly respected members of society.

Jesus criticizes them for only being concerned about personal gain and drawing attention to themselves, which was a clear misuse of their power and privilege as religious leaders.

Then, he sits down near the treasury and watches as all sorts of people come by, one by one, making their yearly offering to the temple.

He watches as rich people come by and put in large offerings.

And, then he sees a poor, old widow walk by, carrying what appears to be two small, copper coins.

These coins were called mites, or leptons. They were the smallest denomination of Jewish currency, and they were only worth about 1/64 of a Roman denarius, which was a day’s wage for a common worker.

Today, a mite would be the equivalent of about an eighth of a cent.

It wasn’t much.

But, it was all this poor widow had to offer.

Jesus watches as the woman comes into the treasury, puts in her two coins, and quietly walks away.

Because of who she is and her station in life, he’s probably the only one who notices the incredible sacrifice she just made.

He calls his disciples over and says to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

A closer translation to the Greek in this passage would be, “Out of her poverty, she’s given her whole life.”

She’s put her whole trust in God because it’s something she believes in.

By drawing attention to the widow’s offering, Jesus teaches us in this lesson that it’s not the amount we have to give that’s most important.

It’s the intention behind our offering that matters most to God.

Unlike the scribes, who are only concerned about themselves, what God wants most is for us to be faithful, for us to put our whole trust—our whole lives—in his hands.

I think it’s also worth mentioning here that God doesn’t expect us to give more than we’re able to give.

Some people use this story about the widow’s offering during stewardship season as a good example of how much money we should give to the church.

But, that’s not really the point of the story.

God knows we have to have money to buy the things we need.

God knows we have families to take care of and other financial obligations to fulfill.

God doesn’t expect us to give to the point where we sacrifice our well-being.

God wants us to be faithful, like the widow in our story who gave out of her poverty, trusting that her offering would be used to the glory of God.

God wants us to be faithful, like Mike and Judy, who I mentioned earlier, who gave their money because they believed they were helping someone who desperately needed it.

God wants us to be faithful, and what that means for each of us is something we have to work out between us and God.

At the end of the day, it’s not really about the amount of money we give or the amount of time we spend serving others.

Being faithful means showing our love for God and putting our whole trust in him.

Our offering, whatever that may be, represents our faith in God and our trust that God will take all that we have to give and use it to his honor and glory.

Amen.