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…
Pentecost XIX October 11th, 2020 Exodus 32:1-14 Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 22:1-14 What a confusing parable we heard from Matthew’s Gospel! Here are the two things that bother me the most. Firstly, the king sends his slaves to issue the invitation to the high-born citizens of the realm. When they turn him down – sometimes violently…
Pentecost XVIII OKTOBERFEST October 4th, 2020 Exodus 20:1-20 Philippians 3:4-14 Matthew 21:33-46 When I celebrated communion for the first time in St. Esprit on this Sunday in 1994, little did I know that all these years later I would still be here at the same altar celebrating an Oktoberfest! During the course of those years,…
Pentecost XVII / AGM September 27, 2020 Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 Today, we are marking an extraordinary time with an extraordinary General Meeting of the church, postponed from our normal date on the first Sunday in May. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary leadership, and it’s with sorrow that one of the reasons…
Pentecost XVI – Rentrée Sunday September 20, 2020 Exodus 16:2-15 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 I suppose of all of Jesus’ parables, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is one of the most appropriate for today: Rentrée Sunday of our French classes, and the Sunday before our Annual General Meeting. It is also an…
PENTECOST XV September 13th, 2020 Exodus 14:19-30 Romans 14:1-12 Matthew 18:21-35 It was a Friday afternoon in late October when I made my first official visit to a Mosque as the Bishop of London’s Consultant on interfaith dialogue. Even though a friend had invited me to join the study group at the little mosque in…
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 6, 2020 Exodus 12:1-14 Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20 When people who are unfamiliar with Christian communities hear the word “Church”, they respond in many different ways. I’ve heard some people saying “The church – they may start out nicely, but don’t worry, they’ll get to you in the end –…
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost August 30, 2020 Exodus 3:1-15 Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28 Many botanists have identified the burning bush through which God spoke to Moses as a plant called Rubus sanctus, a small thorny bush that grows near desert wadis and survives on very little water. It grows to about sixty centimeters (two feet).…