June 20, 2021 - The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Preached at All Saints' Episcopal Mission, Linville, North Carolina

Gracious and loving God, may only your truth be spoken and only your truth be heard ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            My guess is that if you had a time machine and could talk to people of different eras, most would say that they lived through unsettling times. The first followers of Jesus dealt with proclaiming a crucified and Risen Messiah. Subsequent generations dealt with persecutions. Throughout history, there have been warring tribes and foreign invaders to disrupt lives. There have been uprisings, famines, and plagues. Going from the colonies to a new nation must have been a disruptive time. The introduction of the train, then the automobile, then the aircraft had a disorienting effect on society. In our own lifetime, the rise of the internet and computers that fit into our pockets has redefined normalcy.

June 13, 2021 - The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Gracious God, may only your truth be spoken and only your truth be heard ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Have you ever had an experience that caused you to see things differently? The question reminds me of a 10-minute short film called “The Lunch Date,” in which a woman is hurrying through a train station and misses her departure. So she goes to get lunch at a restaurant in the station. She gets a salad, puts it down on the table, and then walks back to the counter to get a napkin and silverware. When she gets back to the table, she finds a man sitting there, eating her salad. She rants and complains, but to no avail. So she takes her fork and starts eating the salad as well. After a few minutes, the man goes up to the counter and comes back with two coffees – one for him and one for her. Well, she drinks the coffee and then gets up and leaves to head back to the train platform to catch the next train, but realizes that she left her bag at the restaurant. She goes back only to find her bag sitting at a table different from the one she had been eating at and on the table sits her uneaten salad. She thought this man had sat at her table and eaten her salad, when, in reality, she had sat at his table and eaten his salad. She laughs to herself in a moment of embarrassment, surprise, and epiphany. Again, it’s called “The Lunch Date” and is a poignant 10-minute film that explores what happens when we act on faulty assumptions and the grace that can come through seeing things differently. The Scripture texts this morning from 1 Samuel and 2 Corinthians help us to see things differently.

June 6, 2021 - The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life; may only your truth be spoken and only your truth be heard ☩ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Before diving into the Biblical texts this week, a larger question has to be asked about how we read Scripture. On the Sundays after Trinity Sunday, the lectionary readings start to be more chronological than thematic. In Lent and Easter, there was a fairly easy-to-spot thread that connected the readings thematically, but for the next several months we will be reading Biblical books in course. The Old Testament readings will take us through the narrative of King David and then into wisdom literature in the fall. Our Epistle readings will take us through 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, James, and Hebrews. And other than a five-week excursus into John in August, the Gospel texts will be coming from Mark.

May, 30, 2021 - The Feast of the Holy Trinity

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the holy and glorious Trinity ☩ Father, Son, and Hoy Spirit. Amen.

            Have you ever felt overwhelmed? What a ridiculous question. We’re emerging out of a 15-month global pandemic that disrupted every aspect of our lives. If any of had no prior experience of feeling overwhelmed, this pandemic has certainly changed that. But even without something as disruptive as a pandemic, life is overwhelming. Raising children, caring for aging parents, finding our identity as we enter adulthood, deciding which college to attend, receiving a medical diagnosis, dealing with conflicts, battling an addiction, struggling with debt, getting through a stressful project at work, figuring out how to reopen a church in a way that doesn’t frustrate or alienate both those who are tired of masks and those who still think masks are essential for safety, or even just watching the news – we can be overwhelmed in so many ways that it can feel like we are drowning.

May 23, 2021 - The Feast of Pentecost

Lectionary Readings 

Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire and lighten us with thy celestial fire. Amen.

            Because of the Holy Spirit, everything is different. That is the point of this sermon: because of the Holy Spirit, everything is different. In addition to today being the Feast of Pentecost, today is also Youth Sunday at St. Luke’s in which we celebrate all our children and youth and recognize our graduates. And whether you are in the church or watching online, I’m going to invite you to participate in this sermon with some call and response.

May 13, 2021 - The Feast of the Ascension

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the Risen and Ascended Lord. Amen.

            We tend to remember the firsts and the lasts. The first time we met a lover, the first time we flew on an airplane, the first time we felt God moving in our lives. Or the last time we saw a loved one before they died or the last time we went to work before retiring. Indeed, beginnings and endings are important, just ask any author or preacher about that.

May 2, 2021 - The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.

            As our former Diocesan Bishop and current Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has said, “If it’s not about love, then it’s not about God.” Amen to that. Now, I realize that it can sound trite, simplistic, naïve, and saccharine, but love really is the name of the game. It’s all about love. We heard it in the reading from 1 John – God is love. Not God is loving. Not that God is like love. Rather, God is love. Now, we’re not saying love is God; we’re not reducing God into love. But we are saying that God cannot be understood apart from love.