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Tag Archives: baptism
Woe to you who are self-satisfied
Be the blessing that will bring us closer to the kingdom of God that Mary and Hannah sang of. Do the good in this moment, at this time and in this place, that will let others know the enduring love of God, who feeds us on bread and wine. Listen, heed the warnings that Jesus offers to those who think that they are untouched by the needs of others. Love God, love your neighbour, change their world, change our world. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged All Saints, All Souls, baptism, fulcrum, Jesus, Magnificat, SNAP, solidarity
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Greatness
The body remembers, quakes away a frisson as though the cool river ran still from your shoulders beneath the treacherous sun, hollows out a growl as though still hungry enough to break your teeth on stone, suffer the delirium of … Continue reading
Pentecost: fear and tailfeathers
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) “I do not … Continue reading
Posted in current events, holy days, sermon
Tagged baptism, gun violence, Holy Spirit, Jeremiah 6:14, John 14, LGBTQ, mass shootings, Ohio, Pentecost
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Promise and practice
Promises require practice. It is our call and our promise to bring comfort to the broken-hearted, to make peace without sacrificing justice, or mercy, for peace cannot survive without them. … It is our call, and our promise, to resist evil, to proclaim the gospel by word and practice, to serve our neighbour as Christ himself, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. And God promises us eternal life and an end to this separation, this wrenching of the spirit, not because we do these things, but because Christ does these things. Continue reading
Posted in current events, holy days, sermon
Tagged All Saints, baptism, beatitudes, COVID-19, election, grief, Matthew 5:1-12, Romans 8:38-39
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Trinity Sunday, 2019
Within God’s perfect being is the reconciliation of relationship, the interplay of love, the communication of difference and solidarity. Those aspects of God promise that we are understood, that we are accepted in all of our difference, diversity, struggle, and longing; that within the heart of a God who knows all about it from experience, we are healed. Within the heart of a God who knows even brokenness, betrayal, the shadow sides of love, we are recognized, accepted, restored. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, sermon
Tagged baptism, connecting communities, hope, Trinity Sunday
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Keeping promises
I have no doubt that God was with me in that river, whose banks Jesus knew, whose rapids perhaps he had played in. I have no doubt that God would have stayed with me, whether I lived or died that day. But in order to remain alive, in that moment, I also needed my people, the little community of foreigners with whom I had set out that morning in a black tyre inner tube to float down the river towards the Sea of Galilee. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged baptism, baptismal covenant, community, Isaiah 43:2
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Our own devices
Small victories, born of God, have a profound effect on the people who encounter them. Small victories born of God, born of love, grow up to conquer the world Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon, story
Tagged 1 John 4, baptism, beloved community, Constantine, cross
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Resurrection
In Jesus’ day, around one in five Jewish women bore the name of Mary, so it is not that much of a coincidence that the two women named returning to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning share the same name. Continue reading
Marked men
Later, they sit silent as the grave side by side,
watching a late sun set over the Jordan… Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation
Tagged baptism, Dead Sea, Jesus, John 11:1-45, Jordan, Raising of Lazarus, Resurrection, Year A Lent 5
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Advent light
A sermon for the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2016, at the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio. Year A Advent 1: Isaiah 2:1-5 Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44 When we have finished the act of Baptism with water, and … Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, sermon
Tagged baptism, beacons, Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 24:36-44, Romans 13:11-14, Satan, Steve Bannon, Underground Railroad, Year A Advent 1
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over the water 