September 14, 2014 - Proper 19A

Lectionary Readings

Almighty God, may you guide us to seek the Truth: come whence it may, cost what it will, lead where it might. Amen.

            What a joy and honor it is to be standing here before you all today as your new Rector. I cannot begin to tell you how excited we are to be joining the St. Luke’s community. I look forward to getting to know and serving each of you. This morning, I’d like to consider the idea of the Dream of God. That is the title of a wonderful book, written by Verna Dozier. Defining what exactly that dream is can be a challenge- you might quote from Isaiah and say that is when the wolf lies down with lamb. Perhaps it is when God can again look at Creation and say that it is all “good.” Or maybe when we all “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.” I would invite you to spend some time considering how you would define the Dream of God, and figure out some ways to make that dream a reality.

Father Bob sermon

Sermon for the Funeral of the Rev. Bob McGee

Wait Chapel- Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-8; Psalm 121; 1 John 4:7-12; John 2:1-11

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

            As the Mullah Nasruddin is reported to have once said, “I’ll be surprised if I make it through this life without dying.” That was something that Bob told me a few years ago after surviving one of his near-death experiences, and it reflects the way in which his illness changed him. Some of you have likely heard the story from the Zen Buddhist tradition that Bob told in the past few years. A man walks across a field and encounters a tiger, who begins to chase after him. The man runs towards a cliff and swings over the edge, holding onto a vine. Below him, another hungry tiger has come to wait for him to drop. Two small mice then arrive and begin to gnaw on the vine, when he notices a ripe, red strawberry. Holding onto the vine with one hand, he grabs the strawberry with the other and eats it. And how sweet it tasted.

August 17, 2014 - Proper 15A

Lectionary Readings

            Almighty God, as you know, today is my last Sunday serving as a priest at St. Francis. Prayer is always a fitting response in times of transition, so what better way to spend this final time in the pulpit than in prayer? Today's reading from Genesis isn't quite about a departure, but rather a reunion between Joseph and his brothers who assumed that he was dead. Now, Lord, I know some of us complain about our families, but you sure did have your work cut out for you with this one. Those brothers wanted to kill Joseph, but Reuben convinces them to instead sell him into slavery. Well, as you would have it, Joseph rose through the ranks of Pharaoh's courts and became his right-hand man. When there was a famine in the land, and Joseph had instructed Pharaoh to build up a stock of extra food, his brothers journey from Canaan. Instead of telling his brothers who he is, he hides his identity and accuses them of being spies. As we heard today, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and the family rejoices for being brought back together. That day, the emotions ran deep.

August 3, 2014 - Proper 13A

Lectionary Readings

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

The Holy Eucharist is the principal act of worship on the Lord’s Day, or so our Book of Common Prayer tells us. As some of you may remember, when the current Prayer Book was published, there came with it a shift from Morning Prayer as the normative Sunday worship experience to that of weekly Eucharist. And with that shift, came a change of identity of who we are as Episcopalians. We are people of God who gather weekly around the altar to receive the gifts of God. Part of what makes us distinctively Anglican is the way in which our worship is patterned around the Table.

July 20, 2014 - Proper 11A

Lectionary Readings

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

            Life isn’t fair. It’s a truth we all know, but that doesn’t make it any easier. How do you respond to the fact that life isn’t fair? By having a me versus the world mentality? By pessimism? By blaming God and others when things don’t go your way? While those might be some of the first responses, they are not the sort of response suggested in today’s readings. It has been said that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Today’s gospel narrative about the farmer who awakens to find that an enemy has sowed bad seeds among his crops isn’t fair on several levels.

The Heart of Worship

I recently read two articles that have been conversing with each other in my head over the past few weeks. The first comes from the local Greensboro paper about the use of social media and technology in worship. The second argues that we have "ruined" worship by making it about us instead of God. While these two articles do not overtly contradict each other, there is a clear difference in the theologies of worship that is operative in each.

July 6, 2014 - Proper 9A

Lectionary Readings

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

          In our first reading this morning we heard the wonderful story of the first meeting of Rebekah and Isaac. Isaac needed a wife from his own people, and Abraham had instructed Laban to find a woman with a compassionate heart for his son. He finds the prescribed woman at the well one day, and they lived happily ever after. Except, they didn’t. As the story continues, we learn that Rebekah is unable to conceive a child. And though this was disheartening to the couple, it also put God’s promise into jeopardy. Abraham was promised that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars, and Isaac was the heir. The entire fate of the Hebrew people was dependent upon this marriage between Isaac and Rebekah. As we all know, life is never quite as simple as “happily ever after.” Life, for all of its joys and blessings, is also full of trials and challenges. Most of us can handle good news, but how we respond to the struggles of life will not only say a lot about who we are, but will also dictate how we experience life.