Sermons

June 28, 2020

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Good morning everyone!  My mission group knows that Zoom meetings have been challenging to me—Sitting on a chair for two hours without the walk into the sanctuary, the standing for hymns and all of the distractions of many faces makes me less attentive than I should be.  But in honor of this technology that allows us to be together, I will make an effort to talk slowly in case one of us has one of those glitches that slows word transmission.  I also have found that switching on Speaker View in the upper right of your Zoom Screen, and even switching off your own video, is what helps me concentrate on Sunday mornings and if you want to do that, I won’t be offended.  But come back for the reflection time so we can see your face!

The Shocking Story of the Near-Sacrifice of Isaac

When you heard today’s lectionary or read the complete selection on line, which one stuck in your head?  Was it Psalm 13:  “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?”

I doubt it.  It was that Abraham and Isaac story.   I had only heard the kid’s version of this story for much of my life.  A man was trying so hard to listen to God, that he was willing to offer up his own son in sacrifice to God.  At age 34, I started seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary.  I had two young children, and Julia was on the way.  My first impression of reading this story in depth in seminary was:  “What kind of father would take his son up a mountain to sacrifice him?  A monster?  A sadist?  Someone mentally ill?”  I saw the act in my mind’s eye as in Rembrandt’s famous painting of Abraham’s Sacrifice.

June 21, 2020

Third Sunday after Pentecost

[The following is a transcript from the recorded sermon]

Good morning, everyone. I’ll be glad when this is over. I have to say right now, but I want to start off. You know what Jesus said? Jesus said, “You can’t hate people and love God at the same time.” I believe that is absolutely true. And so right now, can everyone just kind of take a moment of silence so that everyone can lower their expectations of me today, because it is what it is.

I believe that my good friend, Father Michael, said to me, “Every congregation remembers one thing that you said during your sermon. You’ve done your job.” And I believe that is true. And so today, hopefully, I must say a number of things that you guys will remember.

I’m going to start off with something a little bit quirky, something I got off the Internet. I didn’t see it myself, but it did happen. And it was on a game show, “The Wheel of Fortune.” And I’m sure at some point time everyone has watched the game “Wheel of Fortune” where you put letters on the board. You win lots of money. And so the category was “occupation.” And so that’s the category. Here was the answer. The answer to the public puzzle was “clam digger.” You can see all the letters on the screen here. But when the final contestant got the board, there was one letter missing.

June 14, 2020

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus is my Savior. I’ll talk some theology this morning, but what matters most to me is my relationship with Jesus. Like Paul and the gospel writers I do not have any direct memories of Jesus and am dependent on what his close followers and then the authors thought was important.

I’m going to help you get to know Jesus a little better, but first I’m going to stop talking for a a moment so that you can think about some questions. What would you like to be saved for? What would you like to be saved from? Is Jesus your Savior? Do you feel like you know who Jesus was and why he could matter so much to you?  What about Jesus turns you off? What might turn you on to Jesus?

June 7, 2020

Trinity

This week, our pandemic isolation has been upended by massive protests against systemic racism in this country. It feels like Pentecost to me. Something new is being born.

During the day, the slow-moving walks have been largely peaceful – a powerful demonstration of our First Amendment Rights by people who still trust that our legal structures will survive this President. At night, there has been some vandalism and violent clashes with police, but I also hear new strength in local leaders like DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Bishop Marianne Budde. Something new is being born.

May 17, 2020

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Our five previous sermons of the Easter season, it seems to me, are all of a piece, offering us tools and ways of thinking that we need to continue to live and move forward in the age of the corona virus pandemic.  From Marjory: Don’t be afraid and Follow your call;  from Erica:  Be radically honest; from Dave:  Notice that Jesus might be walking right beside you; from Mark:  Wail loudly about the hurts and injustices that you and the world experience and expect to be listened to, and, from Brenda: Remember that the Body of Christ is us – mismatched, flawed, throw away stones that we are.

This morning, I’d like to continue the conversation about moving forward, a phrase the importance of which came to me one morning about a month ago when I, too, realized that “going back” or “returning to normal” was not something that any of us should aspire to.