November 29, 2020 - The First Sunday of Advent

Lectionary Readings

O come, O come, Emmanuel. Amen.

            “Be careful what you wish for.” We’ve all heard that nugget of wisdom from Aesop’s Fables. Well, the first Sunday of Advent ought to come with a similar caution: Be careful what you pray about. The name of this season comes from the Latin Adventus, which simply means “coming” or “arrival.” Though our focus is on Christmas, Advent is not primarily a season that focuses our attention on that coming of Jesus. To be fair, yes, Advent does help us to receive with joy the celebration of the Word becoming flesh on Christmas. But the main thrust of Advent is really about the Second Coming of Jesus. As we’ll hear later in this liturgy in the best hymn of all time, “Lo! He comes, with clouds descending… Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.” It is that arrival that Advent helps us to prepare for.

November 26, 2020 - Thanksgiving Day

Lectionary Readings

Blessed are you, God of Israel, for ever and ever,  for yours is the greatness, the power, the glory, the splendor, and the majesty. And now we give you thanks, our God, and praise your glorious name. For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. Amen.

            Well, this is certainly a different sort of Thanksgiving. I imagine that many of you are home instead of traveling to be with family and friends. Thank you for making that sacrifice for the good of us all. What a year this has been – one of the most active hurricane seasons in recent memory, raging wildfires in the West, struggles for racial justice, a nasty election that is still dividing us, and, of course, a pandemic that has taken the lives of over 250,000 Americans, isolated us from one another, and wreaked havoc on our economy. Yet, even in the midst of all this, we say, “thanks be to God.”

November 22, 2020 - Christ the King

Lectionary Readings

Almighty God, we give you thanks for making us inheritors of your Kingdom and ask that you would make us worthy of that gift ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            This is our third Sunday of considering the parables of judgment in Matthew 25. These three parables of the Ten Bridesmaids, the Talents, and today’s Parable which is either called the “Judgment of the Nations” or “the Sheep and the Goats” are told in the final days of Holy Week. Jesus’ arrest is just around the corner and so these parables speak to the waiting that his followers will experience: the wait between his death and Resurrection and between his Ascension and his coming again in glory. These parables of anticipation and judgment culminate in the well-known scene that heard this morning.

November 15, 2020 - The Second Sunday before Advent

Lectionary readings

Gracious and loving God, as we await the day of your coming, grant us, even now, to enter into your joy ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            We continue the steady march towards Advent, and as we do, our Gospel texts from Matthew 25 bring into focus the coming again of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Last week, we heard the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids and today we hear what is often called the Parable of the Talents, in which Jesus takes us deeper into the truth that to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be expected.

November 8, 2020 - The Third Sunday before Advent

Lectionary Readings

Grant us patience, O Lord, that we might be ready to receive you when you come in glory ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Just as Dorothy takes in her surroundings and declares “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” it might seem that this liturgical space isn’t what it was just a week ago. Our Collect prays about Jesus coming into the world to destroy the works of the devil, about us purifying ourselves, and alludes to his coming again in power and great glory. And this theme of Jesus’ coming again runs throughout the Gospel text, a parable that is introduced with “Then the Kingdom of heaven will be like this.” The hymns – “Lo, he comes” and “Sleepers, wake!” also are disorienting, as we tend to think of those as Advent hymns. And, to be clear, I had nothing to do with choosing those hymns – that was Matt’s wisdom, not my affinity for “Lo, he comes.”

November 1, 2020 - The Feast of All Saints

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the God who adopts us as children that we might flourish in his love ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

“November 3, 2020 is Election Day in the United States. The Sunday prior is November 1, the Feast of All Saints. You are the rector of a congregation in a community that is made up of people all along the political spectrum in terms of both involvement and affiliation. While there have not been open conflicts in the congregation around political issues, a climate of anxiety and political tension is weighing on people. You have discerned that your sermon on All Saints’ Day needs to address this situation. Assume the readings are the appointed ones and that a Baptism will be celebrated. In approximately 1,000 words, briefly identify and elaborate on two pastoral issues which you would address in a sermon.”