May 2013
2 posts
Amy's Prayer for Mother's Day
It is mother’s day. I don’t know about you but, for me, this time on this day often arrives with the frantic realisation that I have completely forgotten to make any plans to say thanks to either my own mother or the mother of my children. Is there a florist that is open at 8am on a Sunday? Are they going to have anything in stock? How do I make my way over to the flower shop while also allowing...
Do You Want to be Made Well?
Acts 16:9-15 Psalm 67 Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5 John 5:1-9
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Do you want to be made well?
When I was at seminary, I served on the school’s board of directors as the student representative. Sometimes those meetings were exciting and challenging and taught me a lot about how an institution such as Church Divinity School of the Pacific functions and, for that matter, how the wider Episcopal Church...
April 2013
3 posts
Do You Love Me?
Sometimes I fight with a homily. This was one of those. I abandoned some 700 words while writing it - an unusually high number for me to send to whatever the word processing equivalent of the cutting room floor might be. After preaching at the 8am service, I then abandoned another 500 or so.
It’s just as well that the deadline which is Sunday morn came, or I’d still be tinkering....
A homily for April 7, 2013.
Acts 5:27-32 Psalm...
A homily for the Easter Vigil.
March 2013
4 posts
Let the Same Mind Be in You
What a difference a verb makes.
The famous words from Philippians are tough to move into English. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” is the rendition that we hear this evening and that we know best. But here’s the trick: the word “was” is but an educated guess by our translators; there is a no verb in the original Greek. Thus, a literal, though rather incoherent translation,...
Perfume and Grief
Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8
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With the exception of committee and of planning meetings, I visit with folks most often when something big has changed or is changing in their lives. Sometimes that means a couple contemplating marriage. Sometimes that means a person wondering about what kind of vocation she might be called to. Sometimes that means a person considering...
Big Fish
A little reflection on the book of Jonah.
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Hearing the famous story of Jonah once again, I have one major question.
What does the fish think about all of this?
The big fish (in the words of James Kugel, “it was indeed a ‘big fish,’ by the way, and not a whale - that was Pinocchio”) is kind of the forgotten character in this tale. We think a lot about Jonah himself and his...
February 2013
2 posts
Remember
A homily for Ash Wednesday.
Joel 2:1-2,12-17 Psalm 103:8-14 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
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Remember.
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return
I remember when I was twenty. After three years of study at the University of British Columbia, I decided to grant myself a sabbatical and move to another city. I had grown up in Vancouver and always lived there, always...
This is a homily for the Presentation, as...
January 2013
3 posts
Who Are You To Shine?
A homily for Teens Encountering Christ 2013. I tried writing the closing words as I might a poem, but I still couldn’t capture the rhythm of the words as I spoke them. I guess you had to be there.
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So. Dying to sin.
Is there a more loaded word out there than “sin”? I don’t know about you but, for me, sin tends to conjure up images of angry folks holding up signs at anti-gay rallies, of red...
Your Image of God
A homily for the Epiphany.
Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-7,10-14 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12
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Just a little over fifty years ago, on August 14th, 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann began in Israel. Eichmann, as many of you will know, was one of the major accountants of the Holocaust – a guy whose job it was to keep the trains running on time and who did so with terrifying...
The Christmas Letter
A homily New Year’s Eve/The Holy Name.
Numbers 6:22-27 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 2:15-21 Psalm 8
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This is the season of the family Christmas letter, of the typed, one or two page update on the lives of friends, colleagues, and relatives which arrives in our mailboxes tucked inside of a card. In our house – and maybe in yours, as well – these cards and letters are now...
December 2012
2 posts
God With Us
A homily for Christmas Eve.
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Just over six years ago, our daughter, Miriam, was born. Waiting for and getting ready for a baby in December transformed the way that my wife, Phoebe, and I understand Advent, that season of expectation and of preparation. And having a new infant, a child only a few weeks old come December 25th, similarly transformed the way that we understand Christmas.
Babies may...
Here Am I
A homily for Advent 4 with a few liberties taken - because this sermon also had to work for Lessons and Carols, astute readers will notice that the Gospel reading is expanded to cover the text which we know as the Annunciation.
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It was a few years ago that a Franciscan by the name of Brother Christopher forever changed the way that I hear the story which we know as the Annunciation: the Angel...
November 2012
3 posts
Who is the Prophet?
November 11, 2012.
1 Kings 17:8-16 Psalm 146 Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44
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Here is a widow who make enormous, sacrificial gift, who gives away all of her money. In sharing this episode from Jesus’ ministry with us, Mark is inviting us to ask ourselves a question: in the story which I have just heard, who is the prophet?
I’m going to let that question sit with you for a moment. Before we...
Audio for the November 4, 2012, sermon.
Come Out and Be Free
Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 24 Revelation 21:1-6a John 11:32-44
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We have just heard a story which tells us about Jesus and Mary and Martha and Lazarus. But it is also a story which tells us about John – about the individual or about the community which gave us the fourth Gospel.
Most scholars figure that John was the last of the Gospels to be written. And that it was the last by a reasonably healthy...
October 2012
1 post
My October 7 sermon/interview with Kevin Shields....
September 2012
3 posts
Keep Your Eye on the Child
A homily for September 23, 2012
Proverbs 31:10-31 Psalm 1 James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37
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The child whom Jesus invites into the midst of his disciples today is not a symbol. The child whom Jesus holds in his arms as he teaches is a child – she is a human being.
Forgive me if what I have just said is obvious. But I think that this is where we have to begin this morning. Because the Christian...
Second Burial
It is challenge and a gift when the lectionary invites us back to the same text twice in a year - we heard this passage from Mark six months ago, on March 4. On the whole, I don’t mind such a repetition. There is so much going on in a reading such as this one, that even multiple meditations upon it cannot exhaust its possibilities. The readings were:
Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 116:1-8 James...
James and Martin Luther Sit Down for a Beer
Isaiah 35:4-7a Psalm 146 James 2:1-17 Mark 7:24-37
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James is the victim of a smear campaign.
Long before the first attack ad sailed forth on California’s airways, there was a Protestant reformer by the name of Martin Luther. Luther hung out at his desk with a quill pen in one hand and a serious dislike for the Epistle of James in the other. It is not hard to imagine the look of satisfied...
August 2012
5 posts
…and the audio for August 26.
The Ephesians Code
A sermon for August 26, 2012.
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 Psalm 34:15-22 Ephesians 6:10-20 John 6:56-69
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We encounter today in Ephesians a reading that would not be entirely out of place in a Dan Brown novel. Brown, as most of you will know, has made his fortune by writing thrillers in which we follow the world’s best symbologist, Robert Langdon, around as he decodes stuff. Anagrams, number puzzles,...
The recording equipment is now working with some...
At Wisdom's Party
A sermon for August 19, 2012. The reading I drew upon begins the homily, below.
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Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. She has sent out her servant girls, she calls from the highest places in the town, “You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,...
When Will You Give Us a Sign?
I understand that the either/or choices in the Revised Common Lectionary these days are the product of a compromise after a number of complaints - that, initially, the RCL allowed only for a sequential reading of the Old Testament and then, later, it was amended so that OT readings which sit in dialogue with the NT might be substituted. Here at St. John’s, we are making the latter choice. As...
July 2012
7 posts
What are they among so many people?
Back in Spokane after a lovely sojourn in Canada.
2 Kings 4:42-44 Psalm 145: 10-19 Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:1-21
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“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”
And Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”
I’d like to bend the rules of the homiletical form a little bit this morning. Generally speaking, a homily begins...
A Children's Eucharistic Prayer
This is the children’s Eucharistic prayer which we used on Wednesday at Sorrento.
Reproduction for local use is permitted and encouraged. If you would like to use it, I ask only two things: First, that you attribute the prayer thusly in the church bulletin or in some other appropriate place: “Eucharistic Prayer written at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Toronto; revised by Martin...
A Eucharistic Prayer
I wrote this Eucharistic prayer roughly a year and a half ago and updated it slightly for use at Sorrento this summer.
Reproduction for local use is permitted and encouraged. If you would like to use it, I ask only two things: First, that you attribute the prayer to me in the church bulletin or in some other appropriate place. And, second, that you let me know what responses you received upon...
Poetry and other resources from our week at...
A number of folks asked after the poetry and other readings which Becca Whitla and I employed July 8-13, 2012, at Sorrento Centre. They were:
Seamus Heaney’s St. Kevin and the Blackbird is at: http://greenishlady.blogspot.ca/2006/03/thursday-poem-st-kevin-and-blackbird.html
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is at...
Into the Wilderness
My closing homily (and only homily!) from the week in which Becca Whitla and I led worship at the Sorrento Centre (http://www.sorrento-centre.bc.ca/). We drew upon the texts traditionally ascribed to Solomon (Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Proverbs) and the 4 stories in which 5,000 are fed throughout the week.
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Summer camp is one of the big metaphors in my life. In the utility closet in which I...
Take Nothing With You
Ezekiel 2:1-5 Psalm 123 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Mark 6:1-13
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So. Here are the disciples, these young people lined up two by two, no bread, no bag, no money, no change of clothes. Jesus tells them they don’t need anything else: just go forth as you are.
What do the disciples think? Maybe they are excited, ready to head off on their own, to proclaim the good news or to shake the dust from...
Your Faith Will Make You Whole
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Lamentations 3:21-33 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43
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We have just told a subversive story.
In order to hear the subversion built into this account from the Gospel of Mark, we need to understand the context in which it is set. Mark, in telling us of Jesus on the far side of the sea assumes that we know the taboos and the symbols of his culture; he...
June 2012
3 posts
A Letter to General Convention Delegates
I wrote this letter to my colleagues who are representing the Diocese of Spokane at the Episcopal Church’s upcoming General Convention. If you are part of TEC, give some thought to writing something similar to your delegates.
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Dear colleagues:
I write to you regarding the Episcopal Church’s upcoming General Convention and, in particular, the proposed budget for the coming three years....
The Kingdom of Weeds
I was tickled at how lively the response to this sermon was (and, a couple of days into the week, how lively it remains). Church and fun do spend time in the same sentence every now and again.
The readings were:
Ezekiel 17:22-24 Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17 Mark 4:26-34
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With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?
The...
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
Pentecost 2. The readings were:
Genesis 3:8-15 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 Mark 3:20-35
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I remember the day on which I first knew that I was naked.
It was summertime in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver, which borders on the oppressive in its dark and wet midwinter and which is pretty close to paradise during the long and golden days of July. When the sun rose on the...
May 2012
3 posts
Remembering the Spirit
Back at St. John’s after a fabulous trip to Berkeley. The readings for the day were:
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Psalm 104: 25-35,37 Acts 2:1-21 John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
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The Holy Spirit is often the forgotten member of the Trinity.
The Spirit has no fewer than three things working against Her in our popular imagination, three things which push Her out of our awareness like an abandoned flower on...
Back at All Souls in Berkeley. I went down for...
Love Meets Fear
I promised the good folks at SpokaneFAVS.com that I wouldn’t duplicate items that I blogged there over here. So, here is a link - who knows what else you will discover on their site?
http://spokanefavs.com/politics/legislation/love-meets-fear-reflections-after-north-carolinas-proposition-one
April 2012
4 posts
Metaphor and the Good Shepherd
Easter 4. The readings were:
Acts 4:5-12 Psalm 23 1 John 3:16-24 John 10:11-18
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The theologian Sallie McFague has three words of wisdom for anyone who likes to engage in debate and anyone who likes to tell stories. In her book, Metaphorical Theology, McFague argues that, “Good metaphors shock.” Good metaphors, in other words, startle us with the images which they invite into our minds. The...
What Does it Really Mean?
A homily for Easter 3. If you haven’t seen the film I mention, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, waste no time – it is available at better video stores everywhere, or you can stream it right to your living room. The readings for the day were:
Acts 3:12-19 Psalm 4 1 John 3:1-7 Luke 24:36b-48
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This is a Billy Collins poem. It is called Introduction to Poetry.
I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to...
Baptism at the Easter Vigil
This is the night.
Insofar as any one service can encapsulate the Christian mystery, the Easter Vigil is the one. The whole arc of God’s work in the world is represented here: from creation to resurrection, from birth to rebirth, from beginning to beginning. In between these two generative events comes the great and beautiful and hard story which we know as life. It is a perfect time to be...
Into Jerusalem on a Colt
This homily is inspired by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan’s The Last Week (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/103340.The_Last_Week) and, in particular, by their speculation about what else might have been going on when Jesus entered Jerusalem. I had a lot of fun telling this story – I hope that folks enjoyed hearing it just as much.
The readings for Palm Sunday were:
Mark 11:1-11...
March 2012
4 posts
The Law in Our Hearts
In the time since I gave this homily, I chanced upon a blog comment in which the commentator was beyond adamant that God is unchanging, offering as proof the words from Malachi 3:6, “For I the Lord do not change.” My own reading of scripture, and of the Old Testament in particular, is that Malachi is offering the minority report here: the Jewish tradition, of which we are inheritors, is overall...
Remembering a Teacher on the Cusp of Ordination to...
Judith Shadford, the editor of St. John’s Chimes, asked me to take a moment to reflect as my ordination to the priesthood approaches on Friday, March 23. One experience immediately came to mind. It is a story about a teacher.
Peter Elliott is the Dean and Rector of the parish which raised me up: Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, BC. I met with Peter in early 2008 when I was at the formal...
Remembering Mark Reinert
My boss and colleague, Bill, points out that, because I gave this homily on the night before the clocks change, the reference to “this time tomorrow” at the bottom of paragraph one really ought to speak of “twenty-three hours from now.” I’ll leave the metaphysically inclined amongst you to decide whether or not he is right.
That minutiae aside, this is a homily in remembrance of my friend Mark...
On Trauma
A homily for the second Sunday in Lent. The readings were:
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Psalm 22:22-30 Romans 4:13-25 Mark 8:31-38
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Have you ever had the experience of stepping on an unexpected nerve? Of talking with a friend about your kids or your parents or your day at work or about your plans for the summer – about something that seems, well, innocuous and everyday – and finding that your...
February 2012
3 posts
Ash Wednesday 2012
A homily for Ash Wednesday. A parishioner observed that this was a continuation of my homily of the previous Sunday. On reflection, I’m inclined to agree.
Maybe I’ll take a week or two off from dying, now.
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So. What are you giving up for Lent?
I am going to begin with an admission and say that I am a little sorry about both today’s opening collect (that’s the prayer that Bill said on our behalf...
