Last Sunday of Advent December 20th 2020 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 Since the very start of the pandemic, we have often found ourselves in the same position as Mary when the angel came to visit her: all alone in our rooms. Perhaps she is even suffering a little from her loneliness.…
Advent III December 13, 2020 Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-12 I Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28 Several years ago, the Kirkwood family in Texas prepared a cake in the shape of John the Baptist’s severed head in preparation for something called the Texas Bible Bowl. I think the bowl is a reference to something other than cooking,…
Back at the beginning of the pandemic, the Rector, Wardens, Vestry and Staff worked very hard to come up with a way of continuing the parish’s worship life while keeping all of us safe. That hard work has paid off. However, at the end of March, few of us imagined that we would still be…
Advent II December 6, 2020 Isaiah 40:1-11, II Peter 3:8-18, Mark 1:1-8 Sheep farming is a lot harder than people imagine. You can pretty much leave goats to themselves. They are very hardy, they can eat almost anything and they don’t take as much personal attention as sheep. In Israel and Judah, goats were raised…
Advent I November 29, 2020 Isaiah 64:1-9 I Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 What is the difference between the Christian life of prayer and the Christian life of watchfulness? It’s a particularly interesting question to ask ourselves in the Advent season. The twentieth century German theologian Jürgen Moltmann once wrote: “To pray is good, but to…
Thanksgiving celebration November 22, 2020 When you read the Bible, it is very hard to avoid the fact that it was written for a society that was far closer to the earth and its seasons than we are. The Old Testament is full of references to harvests and vines, to sheep and to cattle. The…
Pentecost XXIV November 15th, 2020 Judges 4:1-7 1 Thessalonians 5:1:11 Matthew 22:14-30 In last week’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compared Christians to a group of teenage girls who had been asked to be bridesmaids, and then compared God to a groom who couldn’t even turn up on time to his own wedding. This week,…
All Saints 1 November 2020 Revelation 7: 9-17 1 John 3: 1-3 Matthew 5: 1-12 This year we are lucky in one thing at least: All Saints Day coincides with a Sunday, so we are able to celebrate it on the day assigned to it in the calendar. In the late twentieth century, something called…
Pentecost XXI A recipe for Saint Esprit’s essential workers We have all appreciated our essential workers in this pandemic: grocery cashiers, delivery people, governors and mayors, teachers, factory workers, subway and bus conductors, health workers. Whether in charge or just doing their jobs, their sacrifice, dedication, humility and truth-telling have awed people worldwide. And they…
20th Sunday after Pentecost October 18, 2020 Exodus 33:12-23 I Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22 Are you the sort of person who has a good memory for names, or the sort of person who has a good memory for faces? I’m not sure why the world is divided into these two types; perhaps it’s because some…