Well, today is Ash Wednesday. It’s also my birthday today, which is awkward since Ash Wednesday is one of the designated days of fasting in our church calendar. No birthday cake for me this year. Not today at any rate. Now, because Ash Wednesday is based on the date of Easter, and Easter moves around…
Category: Sermons
A dazzling light – sermon for 03 Mar 2019
I grew up in Massachusetts, where the winters are cold and grim. The town where I grew up was mostly Irish-American. I went to school with people who had names like Sean O’Leary and Mary Callahan. I myself am English by birth. The Irish and the English have had their differences over the years, but…
Fishing – sermon for 10 Feb 2018
Fishermen of the parish, take note! Jesus is the key to a big catch. This gospel reading is St. Luke’s account of the calling of the first disciples. It is similar to how St. Matthew and St. Mark tell us the story. Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus called Simon Peter and his brother…
Fulfilled together – sermon for 27 Jan 2019
After his baptism, after his temptation and fasting in the desert, Jesus comes to his hometown synagogue where we suppose he must have grown up. He comes to the liturgy to make an announcement of the beginning of this mission. Jesus reads a portion of Isaiah, which is a missionary text. It is active. Captives…
Better wine – sermon for 20 Jan 2019
It was at a wedding in Cana of Galilee that Jesus showed his first sign. That’s a good thing to know, if you didn’t know it already. In Matthew and Mark and Luke, Jesus performs miracles. In John’s gospel, they are signs. They are miraculous events, but John calls them signs, not miracles. Does that…