The Wedding Banquet
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11 I’ve always been in awe of quilters. Their ability to construct beauty from small bits of fabric amazes me. Ann-Lining Smith, an amazing quilter who also happens to be an Episcopal priest and who often took our services in the interim period before Mary Elizabeth was called as rector, made us the three quilted hangings for the Long Green Season. When I visited Ann-Lining in the middle of her creative process, she was surrounded by…
Encountering the Christ
Matthew 2:1-12 A few weeks ago we read some of Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth and I mentioned that some scholars think we can look at these early stories as a kind of prologue to the gospel itself; a narrative that sets out the key theme of the gospel. Today we hear from Matthew. Matthew starts with a genealogy to show that Jesus was descended from Abraham and then David through the male line even though he too makes it…
Transformed into Christ
I. Images A. Once again we encounter these timeless passages for Christmas, not so much hearing the words, as seeing the images, the great and timeless images of this most lovely and powerful season. — — — 1. Every year waxes and wanes, the good and the bad happens to us and our world, and then fades into memory. — a. We are tempted to wonder, is life simply a circular cycle that comes and goes, lives and dies, our…
Peace and goodwill to everyone?
Earlier this week I went to buy a bottle of wine for a gift. I really don’t know much about wine so it’s always a bit of a challenge to guess from the outside what the wine in the bottle will taste like, especially if I want to buy something that costs more than my normal $5 budget. As I was wondering around looking at wine labels, a man came up to me. He knew who I was and he’s…
Mary’s Song
Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) Today is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, the season when we prepare for the coming of the Christ, both at Christmas and in the second coming. Over the past three Sundays we have heard from the prophets – those who are given God’s visions. But today prophecy comes home. Specifically it comes to the doorstep of the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah in an unnamed town of Judah. There, Elizabeth greets Mary. There, the yet…
Prophets: True and False
Have we become a nation led by ‘false prophets’? (In the history of Israel, a prophet was someone who brought the word of God to the people. A false prophet was someone who told the people what they wanted to hear.) The day after the San Bernardino shootings, I was driving downtown and thinking about the unending violence in our nation and our world. In my mind I was hearing the cacophony of national voices pretending to be prophetic, shouting…
Did Luke hit his head?
Luke 3:1-6 A couple of weeks ago I hit my head rather hard. In order to establish how hard it really was, I was asked several times to name the President. In this morning’s gospel, Luke starts by telling us who is President, and lists the key players in both the political and the religious hierarchy of the time. The Emperor was Tiberius, the Roman Governor was Pontius Pilate, and the Jewish rulers were Herod, Philip and Lysanias. The high…
The Reign of Christ
THE REIGN OF CHRIST John 18:33-37 Last Sunday in Pentecost Year B November 22, 2015 Rev. Sharon G. Dalrymple May Jesus the Christ, Lord of Lord and King of Kings be present with us here in this moment, and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in His sight. On our liturgical calendar, today is celebrated as “Christ the King day”. I was thinking about “kings” doing some research for this sermon…
A Revolution of Hope
Jeremiah 33:14-16 Advent 1 – C 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 I. Two ways to see the Apocalyptic A. There is a painting by Vincent van Gogh done in 1889 that captures the mood of the apocalyptic text from the end of St. Luke’s Gospel that we have just heard. 1. It is called, “Starry Night.” a. It’s his most famous and one of the most well known images in modern art. 2. The painting exhibits the bold colors that van Gogh…
The Widow’s Mite
PDF: The Widow’s Mite Mark 12:38-44 Risking all she frees herself of her last small treasure. As the coins clatter away her heart beats with fear and joy. The widow flings her poverty in the face of power. As some of you know, last month Rob and I were on a cruise in the Mediterranean. If you ask Rob what was the best thing about the cruise, he’ll say, “The food!” And it’s true – we both have wonderful memories of…