Sermons by The Rev. Linzi Stahlecker

Luke 3:7-18 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does…

Gospel: Luke 21:25-36 25“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and…

The scene depicted in today’s gospel reading is a really hard one to imagine playing out today. A lone, demonstrably non-violent person, unarmed and bound, has already been repeatedly questioned and passed from one worldly power-base to another, until finally reaching the one holding most the worldly power, the representative of the Empire. That this seemingly non-threatening and unarguably physically vulnerable prisoner is invited to speak and be heard by the folks in charge is unimaginable today. That the Roman…

John 11:32-44 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how…

Mark 10:2-16 Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall…

Mark 9:38-50 – John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink…

Late Thursday afternoon, when I left church, the sky here was incredible. There was a storm east of us, and in the direction of Atascadero the sky was a heavy, dark grey-mauve – and there was this short section of rainbow schmeared across the storm clouds that looked like it was being raked by rain bands, and kind of above us, here, was the edge of the system, the sky off to the west was blue, and here the sun…

My first Sunday here with you marks the end of a whole heap of work by a lot of people in this community. As part of the effort of finding your new priest, a tremendous amount of thought, love, intention, and creativity went into compiling and writing the Parish Profile, which was posted to St. Ben’s website during the search process. This Profile was the way you all shared with the world ‘who you say you are,’ who you understand…