Category: Sermons

August 19, 2012, Diana Bender preaching

When I was a child, my parents rarely if ever went to church, but I lived with my grandparents part of the time I was growing up as a young child then almost every summer once I was in school. My grandfather was a deacon in the Episcopal church. He often preached and frequently served communion. There was no Sunday school in summer, so I was there in the service each week. Sometimes bored, sometimes fidgety (well, let’s be honest, ALWAYS fidgety), but somehow deep in my heart I was so happy to be there in church. I suspect my grandparents thought I wasn’t paying attention at all, but something was happening for me.

August 12, 2012, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

As the parent of a toddler, I crave sleep. Just to be clear, my daughter is almost two and she’s a great sleeper. We’re lucky and we know it. But, as a busy, working mother, I crave down time. I’m nostalgic for slow Saturday mornings with no obligations or responsibilities other than letting the dog out. But now, well as you know, life is very different.

August 5, 2012, Charissa Jones preaching

Today we celebrate the transfiguration of Jesus – an account of which we just read from the Gospel of Luke. Do you try to imagine what that would look like? Do you find yourselves, like me, a little jealous of an encounter with something that seems so miraculous? Through the transfiguration, the divinity of Jesus is made undeniably clear to Peter, James, and John. In the midst of their sleepiness they see the changing of Jesus’ face during prayer. The face is both familiar and unfamiliar – recognizable as the man they know so well and yet shining with glory. Even his clothes become dazzlingly white. Jesus allows his followers to see his full divinity with sudden brilliance and clarity.

July 29, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

Here are some numbers on what it would cost to save the world’s environment:

Planting trees to reduce flooding and to capture carbon $ 23 b
Protecting topsoil on cropland $ 24 b
Restoring rangelands $ 9 b
Restoring fisheries $ 13 b
Protecting biological diversity $ 31 b
Stabilizing water tables $ 10 b

The total cost to save the world’s environment = $110 b

What do you think of that?

These numbers come from a book titled Plan B, 4.0 by Lester Brown from the Earth Policy Institute. He is a leading thinker on issues of aid, food and the environment… depending on whom you ask. Numbers and statistics always seem debatable. Rarely, do they seem a force for creating a like mind or galvanizing a future direction.

And I wonder why? Why doesn’t good research and good science serve to answer the world’s environmental problems? In school we certainly learn that there are right answers and wrong answers. So why doesn’t that play out when dealing with the great issues of our day, particularly issues surrounding the environment.

July 7, 2012, Seminarian Michael Carraccino preaching.

July 15, 2012, James Cowan preaching

We all sin. That’s one of the underlying assumptions of Christian theology. It’s why the Bible is filled with images of sin and repentance. Job cries out: “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” David laments: “My sin is ever before me.” John the Baptist proclaims: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Christ avows: “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And Paul testifies “ to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.”

July 8, 2012, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

This Sunday is when church and state collide. While we typically separate feelings of nationalism and faith, this is one Sunday that these two aspects of our community, our citizenship and our faith-affiliation, come together.

So, why talk about the nation at church? Why observe Independence Day in the pulpit?

The opening collect prays that all people of the earth are made for God’s glory with the intention of serving God in freedom and in peace. We are, all of us, God’s creation, placed on this earth with the opportunity to serve God. In some cultures and nations, this service towards God is easier or more problematic than in other places. Whether we live in a country governed by ideals of freedom and enterprise or restrictions and policies, we have the capacity to serve God. However, our method of going about serving God may differ dramatically.

July 1, 2012, The Rev Doyt Conn preaching

A lot of questions come to mind when I hear this mornings Gospel.

I wonder how Jesus knew the woman touched his robe? I wonder why Jesus made such a big deal out of it, particularly when he was on his way to attend to a dying girl. I wonder why the woman with the hemorrhage was so afraid? I wonder about the power difference between the head of the synagogue and the outcast woman? Both of whom fell at Jesus’ feet. I wonder why Jesus made the woman’s secret healing public, and yet sought to keep the public healing of the young girl secret?

I wonder where God was in this story? And I wonder where I would be or who I would be had I been there that day?

Knowing our bible is about more than knowing the stories, it’s about knowing where we are in these stories.

June 24, 2012, The Rev Kate Wesch preaching

In a world of specialties and advanced degrees,
it’s easy to defer to the “experts” on all manner of topics –
from medicine to child rearing, to public safety and technology.
Why, just this past week,
I heard a story on NPR about the two people
killed by grizzly bears last year at Yellowstone National Park.
After 25 years incident free,
it seems people have become complacent about the bears.

According to the report,
“Park officials say visitors sometimes take safety for granted,
in part because they’re used to visiting zoos and amusement parks,
where nature is much, much more controlled.
So Yellowstone is trying to get the word out about bear safety.”

Yellowstone spokesperson, Al Nash warns,
“I fear that some visitors believe that if things were dangerous,
we, the National Park Service, would somehow control it.
That’s not the case.”