February 26, 2020 - Ash Wednesday

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Ash Wednesday is a unique day in the Christian year. On every other day of the year, our focus is outward – we focus on caring for those in need, or the environment, or the Church and we focus on glorifying and praising God. Certainly, we praise God in all things, Ash Wednesday included. But today is unique because our focus is not outward, but rather inward. On Ash Wednesday we come face to face with our sinfulness, our mortality, and our neediness. It’s important that we spend one day a year doing this sort of introspection because, for one, it’s honest, but also because such reflection prepares us to receive more fully the grace of God.

February 23, 2020 - Quinquagesima

Lectionary Readings

O Father, with the eternal Son, and Holy Spirit, ever one, vouchsafe to bring us by thy grace to see thy glory face to face. Amen.

            A disclaimer before I begin this sermon. Today is Foundation Sunday, and I’ll say more about what the means later. This year, the Foundation has asked me to speak about the work of the Foundation instead of having an outside speaker do so. That means this sermon will be a bit longer as it is both the sermon and the Foundation address.

February 2, 2020 - Feast of the Presentation

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            February 2, the Feast of the Presentation, on which we remember that the infant Jesus was presented in the Temple and saw his shadow, meaning we have six more weeks of winter. Wait, that’s the wrong February 2^nd holiday. In all seriousness though, February 2^nd is always the Feast of the Presentation because February 2^nd is always 40 days after December 25. Forty days was the amount of time prescribed by the Law for a new mother to wait before coming back to the Temple for the ritual of purification in which sacrifices would be offered. Normally, when such days fall on a Sunday, they are moved to the next weekday. But the Presentation is such an important event in our faith and the story of Jesus, that the Church calendar notes that this day takes precedence over what would have typically been the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.