St Benedict’s Day
We were fortunate to have Brother Adam McCoy, Prior of Mount Calvary in Santa Barbara, Order of the Holy Cross, for our guest speaker at our patronal festival. His talk is available as an audio file only.
Jesus the Christ
Today we come to the second part of our sermon series on the Nicene Creed and we’ll be looking at the relationship between God the Creator and Jesus the Christ. As I explained in my last sermon, this was a very difficult and contentious issue in the first few centuries of the Christian church, and became such a problem that it caused a big split. One of the reasons it was so divisive was that people thought that wrong belief…
Being an Apostle
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 “The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him…” In Greek, the word for ‘he sent’ is apesteilon which has the same root as the English word apostle. When we talk about “the apostles” we are usually referring to the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, when they were sent by Jesus to preach the gospel. But in today’s gospel reading, we see that apostleship is not limited to twelve men; 70, or some…
Putting a hand to the plow
Galatians 5:1,13-25 Luke 9:51-62 On Friday I went to a class at the gym. One of the benefits of taking a class is that you get to spend an entire hour looking at yourself in a full-length mirror. Consequently, as I was driving into San Luis afterwards I wondered what exactly it is going to take for me to lose weight again. Clearly, I thought, I am going to have to re-examine what I’m eating because I don’t have…
God Who Heals, Luke 8
sermon on June 5, 2016: God Who Heals Luke 8
The Contemplative Mind
Here it is: Trinity Sunday Sermon
Breaking Through Barriers – May 15, 2016
Today we celebrate the day of Pentecost. Pentecost or Shavuot was a Jewish harvest festival celebrated fifty days after the Passover. Along with the Passover, this was one of the three great pilgrim festivals that brought devout Jews from all over the known world to Jerusalem in order to give thanks and praise to God. Repeated conquests had led generations of the people of Judea to flee to other countries. Consequently, hyphenated identities had evolved — Jewish Egyptians and Jewish…
We Believe
Today we start the first of a series of sermons, one a month, which will be covering that difficult issue, the Nicene Creed. The Creed is difficult for us for a number of reasons; it was written at a specific time and place to solve specific problems, and although it remains the one creed that is accepted by the Orthodox, Catholic and most Protestant churches, it turns many of us off. I have had people tell me they don’t come…
Practicing Peace
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5 John 14:23-29 Today our Easter journey with the resurrection Jesus nears its end. This Thursday is the feast of the Ascension which marks the end of Jesus’ appearances to his disciples and in a couple of weeks we’ll be celebrating Pentecost and the beginning of the Church’s ministry. You will remember that Jesus’ ministry started after his time of prayer in the desert and his temptation. In Matthew’s account we read, “the devil took him to…
Redeeming the Planet Through Food
I am a third generation vegetarian. My grandparents were 19th Century food reformers completely vegetarian and a bit cranky; my mother ate meat once in her life and didn’t like it. But my father loved meat and so we were all brought up as omnivores; roast meat on Sunday which reappeared in different forms for as long as my mother could eke it out and fish on Wednesday (because that was the day the fishmonger came to our street. )…