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“He is not here; He is risen!”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “What makes this night different from any other night?”           In a few weeks that important question will fill houses all across the world.   As our Jewish friends celebrate Passover, the youngest of each household begins the Seder with this question.   As the special meal progresses, the story of the first Passover (Exodus 12) is retold.   When God’s people were slaves in Egypt , the angel of the Lord God “passed over” the homes marked with Lamb’s blood.   Only the Egyptians and their animals suffered that day.   And, finally, at long last the king set God’s people free.           To this day, our Jewish brothers and sisters obey God’s command to remember the Passover in a yearly celebration.   Theirs is not a passive remembering of some distant event which happened to ancestors far removed.   Nor is the story som...
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"Life is like a Garden" **Sermon for 3 Lent C 3/23-25**

  1-2  I’ll sing a ballad to the one I love,     a love ballad about his vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard,     a fine, well-placed vineyard. He hoed the soil and pulled the weeds,     and planted the very best vines. He built a lookout, built a winepress,     a vineyard to be proud of. He looked for a vintage yield of grapes,     but for all his pains he got garbage grapes. 3-4  “Now listen to what I’m telling you,     you who live in Jerusalem and Judah. What do you think is going on     between me and my vineyard? Can you think of anything I could have done     to my vineyard that I didn’t do? When I expected good grapes,     why did I get bitter grapes?             Gardens and vineyards are a common image in the...
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Lent

The season of Lent is almost upon us.  Soon we will hear again the call to a holy Lent. It is usually around this time of year that I am asked how the dating of Easter is determined.  Unlike Christmas, Easter is not a fixed date on the calendar.  Easter does not adhere to an on the third Sunday of March or April pattern, either. The early Church did not have a common date for celebrating Easter.  There were different dates. most notably between Western (Rome centered) and Eastern (Constantinople centered).  King Oswy of Northumbria gathered clergy and other scholars in 664 at the Council of Whitby. Among other items, the Council was to determine which dating system would be used to determine a common date for Easter.  Representatives from both side presented their cases.  At the end of the Council, Oswy elected to use the pattern that was in use in the Western (Rome) church: 1) The first Sunday 2) After the first full moon 3) After the vernal equinox T...
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**Sermon for 16 February 2025** The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C

                                                                             You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all. God’s kingdom is there for the finding. You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry. Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal. You’re blessed when the tears flow freely. Joy comes with the morning. Luke 6:(MSG)             What does it mean to be “Blessed”?   I am sure many of us have different answers to that question.   Our answer might be linked to what kind of day we are having.   Was the day stressful at work, for example?   The response may even depend on when in our lives we are asked.   A young parent with a career and family would, undoubtedly, an...
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"Answering the Call" **Sermon for 5 Epiphany C, 9 February 2025**

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”             Now, it has probably been a long time since someone asked you that question.   Perhaps as far back as elementary school or even high school.   Common answers, especially in elementary school include police officer, firefighter, teacher, and doctor. Do you remember what you answered?   Maybe your answer even changed over time.   Perhaps your career may have changed over time.   Gone are the days when people devoted 40 years to one company or to one career.   Second and third careers are much more common             This morning, we hear the call stories of the prophet Isaiah and of Jesus’ first followers.   Normally we tend to think of calls in relation to clergy and the religious.   Such vocations are a calling.   Monks, nuns, and priests and deacons are not the only calls...
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The Presentation

This past Sunday (2 February) was the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple.  Forty days have passed since the celebration of Jesus' birth.  Mary and Joseph now bring their infant son to be dedicated in the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus' dedication was in keeping with Jewish Law (see Leviticus 12:1-4) .  So here Mary and Joseph show themselves to be obedient, Law-keeping Jews.  We also learn of their social status, or lack thereof.  They offer two turtledoves or two pigeons (see Luke 2:24 and compare Leviticus 12:8). As God's Son, Jesus did not need to be dedicated or set apart.  Jesus, by divine nature, was already set part as holy.  Jesus was also fully human.  So He undergoes the human rituals of the people He was born into (circumcision, dedication, and Baptism) as a way of fully identifying with our human nature. (Although, on a note, Baptism was understood differently in Ancient Near East Judaism.) Simeon and Anna are wi...
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A New Creation **Sermon for The Conversion of St. Paul (1/25/25)

  Before marriage            after marriage Before children             after children Before cancer                after cancer Before divorce              after divorce Before retirement          after retirement                                                                  Before heart surgery     after heart surgery               These are just a few life-changing events.   I’m sure you can name events that have transform...
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