Sermons

I had an incident in my life over 46 years ago that I have often thought about. Rod and I had been married almost a year and we were living in an apartment in Manhattan. One Friday evening we were preparing to have friends over for dinner and I dropped a pan of boiling water on my bare foot. Instinctively I dashed into the bathroom and ran cold water over it. It was a real mess and we had no idea what to do. We had only been in Manhattan a few months, we were from another country and did not know then the procedures in America. We knew few people, had no idea where the hospitals were and had no doctor. But we needed help. I remembered that in the apartment next door there was a man with an eastern European name who had the word doctor before his […]

It often begins with a still small voice – a whisper in the very soul of our being. At least that is how it began for Samuel in a case of what psychologists call “the cocktail party effect.” That is where your brain will hear your name being spoken even when it is uttered from across a crowded room. In other words, our brains are hardwire to be on point for the slightest mentioning of our name. In this case, Samuel’s room was filled only with sleep and possibly snoring… and then came that still small voice. Samuel’s story comes to us in an unusual time and setting. The Israelites have fled from Egypt, made their way through the desert, and are now settled in the Promised Land. In fact, they have been there for quite some time by now, but the people are not united. The people are broken […]

A flash mob is defined as “a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, and then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression.”[i] Typically, a flash mob is organized via social media, texting, or email. The first flash mobs were created in 2003 by Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper’s Magazine. Wasik said, “the mobs started as a kind of playful social experiment meant to encourage spontaneity and big gatherings…”[ii] The first attempt at a flash mob was unsuccessful as the store the mob was heading to was tipped off. That problem was avoided in the next attempt by sending people to four different bars in Manhattan where they then (and only then) received further instruction. 130 people went to Macy’s on 36th Street to all stare at one rug telling […]

Scripture readings: http://www.lectionarypage.net/ “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Last week we heard from Mark about the women approaching the tomb where Jesus had been laid and how they were worried how they were going to roll the heavy stone away from the entrance. But  the stone has been rolled away and they are suddenly afraid and are told to tell no one.  And that is where Mark leaves the story. Afraid. None of the other gospel writers leaves us in fear and silence. And over the years as the Gospel of Mark has been copied, writers have given us an alternative ending to Mark’s. They have given us the full story, like Matthew, Luke and John. Fear and silence may have been fleeting emotions but resurrection is the good news. Jesus Christ is risen. This second Sunday of Easter builds on the […]

April 1, 2018 In 1609 Galileo aimed his rudimentary telescope up to the night sky. He later wrote of that experience saying, “It is a beautiful and wonderful sight to behold the body of the moon…” That first up-close view of the moon led Galileo to question the contemporary belief of that time – that all things in the universe revolved around the earth. Yes, Galileo looked up at the heavens using a telescope and what he saw forever revolutionized our understanding of the universe. And it all began with our ordinary and quite familiar moon. As an Easter people, we can sometimes find the resurrection story has become so familiar to us that we no longer approach the narrative in awe and wonder. And yet, it is a story that invites nothing less than astonishment. Resurrection is so other, so foreign to the normal realities of life. We are […]

March 11, 2018 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. Happy Mothering Sunday. Yes Happy Mothering Sunday So the story goes that during the 16th century, people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday ie the 4th Sunday in Lent. Your mother church was either the church where you were baptized, or the local parish church, or the nearest cathedral, that being the mother church of all the parish churches in a diocese. In later times the day was called Mothering Sunday and became a day when domestic servants were traditionally given a day off to visit their mother church, usually with their own mothers and other family members, before the busy responsibilities of Holy Week and Easter. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together for […]

March 4, 2018 After hearing an escaped convict from nearby Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary only made it 8 miles into the surrounding dense mountainous forest after 55 hours on the lam…Gary Cantrell, a.k.a. Lazarus Lake, couldn’t help but mock the man’s lack of stamina. He said to himself “I could do at least 100 miles” and thus, the Barkley Marathon was born. You might have heard about his unusual race through a recent Netflix’s documentary, but for those that haven’t, the race is named after Lazarus’ longtime neighbor Barry Barkley and is limited to only 40 runners each year. At an unannounced time each year, the registration opens with each applicant having to complete an essay on “Why I Should be Allowed to Run in the Barkley” and also pay the application fee of $1.60.There are also other random requirements subject to change each year. If accepted, each entrant receives […]

February 25, 2018   Audio Version Do you know how long it takes to reenact the 1964 Christmas TV special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?” If it helps, the original show was 55 minutes long. And so any idea on how long it takes to then act it out on your own? Well when Nils Morgan Duncan, my 4-year old son, is the director, the answer is 90 minutes. Under Nils’ direction the run time is increased by at least half an hour. That’s right, the Duncan household must have watched Rudolph’s story at least 20 million times this past Christmas. So much so that one evening Nils had us all reenact the entire show. We all played various parts, but Nils played the coveted roles of Hermie the Elf, Santa, and of course, Rudolph… I believe I was assigned the part Abominable Snowman. For those not familiar with this 1964 […]

Printable Version of Sermon: Year B- Epiphany 4- St. Paul’s- 2018.01.28         Denis was the bishop of Paris during the 3rd Century and was a renowned preacher who happened to get crosswise with the local Roman authorities. As was the norm of the time, the Roman governor ordered that Denis be beheaded. According to legend, to everyone’s surprise after the gruesome deed, Denis stood up, picked up his severed head, and walked away still preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. It is said that he walked an additional 6 miles up the road in this manner before he collapsed and finally died. Today, Denis’ final resting place, where he collapsed, is where you will find the Basilica of St. Denis, dedicated to the memory of a man who would not let anything stop him from preaching the gospel. Then there is St. Columba of Scotland who, […]