Impatient: 3/14/21
The people became impatient. I don’t know about you but I have certainly become impatient. It’s been a year. Enough already. How much longer will be in this wilderness of Zoom? How much longer before we can once again gather safely indoors to share the eucharist? I don’t know the answers to those questions. I have become impatient. The poisonous snakes have been biting for a year and we are still looking and waiting for God to deliver us. And…
“Wiser is Humbler” – Rev Mike Eggleston at St Benedict’s
I Corinthians 1.18-25 Guidance from God can be found anywhere, because God is everywhere. Me, I most often get insights from God either through nature or through scriptures and church tradition. That’s good because those two, nature and torah, are the two forums of God which are praised in Psalm 19. “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple.” But the start of this sermon comes from a…
Radical Acceptance
Mark 8:31-38 I admit it. I’m mortal. Just like all of us. And that of course is the reminder of Ash Wednesday, that we are entirely dependent on God for every breath we take. And just in case we missed it on Ash Wednesday with this year’s self-service ashes, the loss of our beloved sister Karin this week brought it home powerfully. We are mortal. We are not gods. We are humans. And so it’s not surprising that we see…
Sacred Water
Genesis 9:8-17 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:9-15 I’m sure that you, like me, have been praying for the people of Texas this week and for the other southern states hit by freezing temperatures. It is appalling to imagine having no power for days in the middle of a powerful freeze, and then to lose water. Looking at the news this morning I see that over 14million people are still without safe water. The problem is not restricted to Texas – …
Transfiguration – 2/14/21
Two weeks ago, I talked about Dimension 5+ and how we can no more imagine what it is like to live outside of the space/time continuum than a fish can imagine living out of water. Both mean death, death to life as we, or the fish, know it. But we get glimpses. We get glimpses of a different reality – a reality we call heaven where the reign of God is 100% realized. Today’s gospel reading shows Jesus and the…
Treated as a Person The Rev. Susan Plucker
5th Sunday After Epiphany February 7, 2021 Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147: 1-12, 21c 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39 Let us begin by hearing the voice of Mary Magdalene. Seven demons possessed my soul Seven Marys lived inside of me One Mary was chaste, another carnal, A Mary elated, a Mary tormented, A frightened Mary, a lone one, And one that hated God. I stood on the hill throughout the day. Watching the procession to Golgotha Seeing the crosses…
Question Authority
Mark 1:21-28 Remember the bumper sticker that was popular for a while – “question authority”? The founding of this nation comes out of rebellion, out of questioning the authority of the British and the French and it is a strong strand in our collective psyche. Here in Los Osos we questioned the authority of the Regional Quality Water Board for decades, and even St. Ben’s once challenged the authority of the diocese. So questioning authority is nothing new to us.…
The Time has Grown Short
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20 I confess that I procrastinate. This will not be news to most of you. Before my brain really kicks in to get something done, I have to develop a sense of urgency. Today’s readings all have a sense of urgency – “the appointed time has grown short”, “the time is fulfilled”. You would think that even someone as dedicated to challenging deadlines as I, would get that something is up. But…
God Is Calling
1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20) John 1:43-51 When I was in my late teens and wondering what to do with my life I was told by lovely people that God’s will for me was clearly laid out in the Bible. I was frustrated by that because no matter which way I read the Bible it did not tell me the answer to my burning question: what was I to do with my life? We tend to think about Christian vocation as being…
Steeped in the River of Humanity
Mark 1:4-11 What a week it has been. I am sure that like me you were shocked and sickened by the scenes of people storming the Capitol and even more so by men who should know better inciting the crowds with inflammatory rhetoric. Whether this is the end of something or the beginning of something we can all agree that it is not the way we expect people to behave in this society. Over the past few years, the norms…