Sermons
Totally Dismissed
Have you ever felt totally dismissed?
Maybe you were ignored, treated as an inconsequential member of the public by some big politician, or worse treated like a lowly servant... to be seen but never to be heard?
The people of Jesus’ hometown were dismissive of him when he came to minister in their midst. (Mark 6) Jesus had shown himself as a great prophet and healer in Capernaum, only twenty miles from Nazareth, but in his own hometown he was nothing but a carpenter's son, a lowly servant to be dismissed.
But it is through Christ's humiliation, it is through his weakness that God chooses to reveal his redemption and salvation to the world. Remarkable.
And what is equally remarkable is that God chooses to use us as the heralds of this good news of redemption to the world, the weakest of messengers. He calls us as well to rest in our weakness for the Kingdom of God. He says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Are you content with being weak, or even being dismissed in your life for the Kingdom of God?
Fear of Widths
Steven Wright, a comedian known for his lethargic, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical, and sometimes nonsensical humor once said of fear, “A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me. I’m afraid of widths.”
The definition of an irrational fear is, of course, “someone else’s.”
But fear—genuine fear—is a very real and potentially debilitating thing.
And have you ever noticed the vast difference between being told, “there’s nothing to be afraid of”, and being asked, “why are you afraid?” The former is condescending (and wrong), while the latter leaves open the possibility that there may, in fact, be something there.
It’s the latter Jesus asks some friends in a boat—and by extension, us—in this story from St. Mark.
See you Sunday.
In a Mirror Dimly
It's not easy to see things as they truly are. The Apostle Paul says that there is a day coming when we'll see Jesus face to face and will "know fully" even as we are "fully known."
In the meantime, Paul says we "see in a mirror dimly." I wonder... if we did see things as they truly are, we might find it a bit unsettling! It sure was for the cast of characters in this week's lectionary readings...Job, the Corinthians, the disciples. Maybe knowing and being known is a bit more complicated than we think.
Thankfully, we're not left alone. Not by a longshot.
Which is why I'll be glad we're together this Sunday.
Unlearning
When I added the second “I” (Instrument) to my Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) certificate a few years ago, the process of learning to trust—literally with my life and that of a student—six little instruments when I couldn’t see even the propeller in front of me required unlearning to trust something I’d always relied on. Namely, my kinesthetic senses.
What felt like up, down, right, and left (input I’d always gotten from my eyes and inner-ears) had to be ignored, because when things got real they were unreliable. In fact, they lied.
In this week’s Epistle, St Paul uses six little monosyllabic words to describe something very similar.
Learning to walk by faith—even faith the size of a mustard seed—requires us to unlearn walking by sight.
A Seat at the Table
This Sunday is Trinity, celebrated every year the Sunday between Pentecost and the beginning of Ordinary Time.
Christians have always understood the Trinity as a community of perfect love. Andrei Rublev’s 15th Century icon “The Hospitality of Abraham/The Holy Trinity” depicts this beautifully, seeing the three angels visitation to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18 as paralleling and foreshadowing the Trinity we see in the New Testament.
The most remarkable thing about the icon, though, isn’t what’s there. It’s what’s not there: an empty place among the Three.
Rublev saw it as evoking an invitation…a seat at the table; a drawing into that loving and unselfish community.
For Abraham and Sarah in its first sense, and for you and me in its second.
The Feast of Weeks
Out of one, many. Out of many, one.
In this sermon, Pastor Ian Burgess contrasts the scattering of languages and people in ancient Babel with the unification of language and kinship in the miracle of tongues which descended on the disciples at the feast of Pentecost. Through love and faith, and through generations of faithful Christians before us, we are made one body in Christ our Lord.
The Most Thrilling Prayer
This week’s gospel reading is sometimes called the High Priestly prayer, Jesus’ own prayer to the Father at the start of his Passion. It is the longest of his prayers, and comes at the height of his ministry. Hear Bishop Julian Dobbs draw out five points on which to meditate.