October 31, 2021 - The 23rd Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, grant us to know your abundant love for us that we might respond by loving you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            The English novelist E.M. Foster is oft-quoted for his line, “Only connect.” In one novel he writes, “Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.” In Ephesians, St. Paul writes that “Christ is the plan for the fullness of time, the means by which God will gather all things up” and in Colossians, he puts it this way, “Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” All of these are different ways of speaking of integration, of saying that everything belongs, of pointing to the reality that all things are connected because we are the Body of Christ.

October 24, 2021 - The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, there are so many things that make us blind to your love, grant us to see your abundant and amazing grace ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Over the past two Sundays, we’ve been in the midst of a sermon series on stewardship, considering both the why and the where of giving. We’ve seen just how powerful money can be and the simple truth is that either we have some control over our money and give it away, or we serve money as a slave. In giving to places like St. Luke’s, we put our treasures here in the hopes that our hearts will follow as we grow in the difference that Christ makes. Today, I want us to consider the how of giving.

October 17, 2021 - The Feast of St. Luke

Lectionary Readings

Gracious God, we give thee thanks for this wonderful parish, for its people, its legacy, and its future; and we pray that we might be worthy of the name of our patron, Luke, who proclaimed the healing power of Jesus ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            There’s a hymn written by an African-American hymn composer that opens with “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, and I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord.” Indeed, as Sherlock Holmes might say, “something is afoot,” and it’s the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in this special place we call “St. Luke’s.”

October 10, 2021 - The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Lord Jesus Christ, you have told us that with God, all things are possible; grant us your Holy Spirit that we might do the seemingly impossible and live by your economy of grace ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Starting today, we are officially in our stewardship campaign to support our 2022 budget and the sermons for the rest of the month are going to engage with the Scripture readings by asking the basic questions of the what, how, why, and where of giving.

September 26, 2021 - The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O God, we give you thanks for salting us with your grace and pray that might always have peace with you ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            I pray that this sermon series on “What is the Church?” has been fruitful. The idea was that as we were emerging out of the pandemic and trying to re-establish some sense of normal, we needed to get back to the basics to build on a solid foundation. So we’ve considered questions about the purpose of the Church, why we should come to Church, and what words like discipleship and faith are all about. Which leaves us with one last question – what should we even be Christian?

September 19, 2021 - The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, we are your children, give us the faith to receive your grace and love fully in our lives ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Thus far in this sermon series about the Church, we’ve seen that the Church is a Eucharistic community – meaning that all we are and do is rooted in the way in which God brings us together, nourishes us in grace, places before us the story of our salvation, and summons us to follow Jesus in the way of the Cross. Now, that’s a very short summary, and so if you’ve missed any of the sermons so far, I’d encourage you either read or listen to them online. Today, the question is “what is faith?”

September 12, 2021 - The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Gracious and loving God, mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Truly, it is good to be back with you all this morning. Even a great whale, which can swim for long periods of times in the depths, needs to come up for air periodically. That’s what I did last Sunday and the week prior – I spent some time where I didn’t check emails or worry about projects so that I could more fully rest and be present in prayer and breathe in God’s grace. Certainly, it’s not only clergy who have been exhausted by this pandemic – we all have. So make sure you’re taking time to come up for air as well.