Sermons

The second Sunday after the Epiphany

January 16, 2022

This morning, Jean Brown, who is a community member of the Dayspring Church, told the story of Sky Woman as recounted in the book Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She reminded us that stories help us findour place in the world, and how the scriptures function in that way. Asking what seeds we might be carrying in this season, she spoke of her own story about discovering the Church of the Saviour, where small groups deeply listened to one another, in the spirit of remaining open and deeply present to the places where they found one another.…

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Epiphany/Baptism of Jesus

January 9, 2022

Let me start off with an apology: I’m not preaching about the wise men or the star or anything in the gospel reading you just heard! When I reached out to Deborah about preaching, I hadn’t realized we would be celebrating Epiphany this Sunday and would not be reading from the normal gospel selection from the lectionary. Deborah encouraged me to go ahead – and if I had any lingering doubts about sticking with this sermon, they were put to rest when I discovered Marjory had shared a gospel reflection for Inward/Outward yesterday on the very same theme, without either of us knowing what the other was thinking.…

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Christmastide

January 2, 2022

Invincible Summer
Let the bells be silenced
Let the gifts be stillborn
Let cheer be muted
Let music be soundless
Violence stalks the land

Howard Thurman

That’s a quote from one of the Inward/Outward readings this week, and that’s about how I feel, a lot of the time.

We are in the midst of winter.  It’s a new calendar year, but the Earth has not renewed herself yet.  For us in the northern hemisphere, in the United States, the days are short, the light feeble.  And what a strange winter it’s been – tornados, floods, brushfires.  It’s enough to make a person despair of anything ever getting better. …

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Christmastide

December 25, 2021

Good morning.  I usually start off by saying “if you remember one thing I’ve said today, then I’ve done my job.”  So I’ll start off by saying:  AA’S Third Step says, “Made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God.”  My will is my thoughts and my life are my actions.

A week ago Saturday, I said goodbye to one of my dogs.  His name was Empty.  It was a sad moment for me, but my conscience is clear.  It was his time, and that was the last act of love that we did for him. …

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Advent 4

December 19, 2021

In our lectionary text for today, we pick up the story of Mary and Elizabeth at its dramatic climax: the six-months -along baby in Elizabeth’s womb “jumps for joy” when Mary arrives on Elizabeth’s doorstep, newly pregnant by the holy spirit’s divine intervention.

Both women are given prophetic speech by Luke. First Elizabeth, who says (in a loud voice), “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why am I so favored, that the mother of the Messiah should come to me?”

Elizabeth’s question is rhetorical — she already knows that Mary is carrying “the Messiah.”…

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