Words of the Mouth and Meditations of the Heart

 Reflection for Pentecost III, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7) , Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23) Rowan Atkinson is a British actor who played the character Mr. Bean on the British television comedy show of the same name. He more recently appears in a Youtube video telling a story of an encounter he had with a fan. The fan approached him in a store and told Rowan that he looked just like the character Mr. Bean, and could make a lot of money doing impressions. Rowan explained that he was that actor, but the fan wasn’t having it. He started to become irritated with this man who kept insisting that he was Rowan Atkinson, and this went on for a while until Rowan excused himself. I laughed at the story and its delivery, and then thought, “This fan got so close to having a good conversation with Rowan Atkinson, but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe that’s who he was talking to.” Abraham had a somewhat similar experience in th

Sermon for Pentecost I, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Matthew 28:16-20 Welcome to the season of Pentecost! We started it last Sunday with a celebration of the Holy Spirit and continue with a celebration of the Trinity today. We have only two other major celebrations or feasts between now and Advent, which are Transfiguration Sunday in August, and All Saints in November. Pentecost is the longest season of the church calendar, when we put into action all that we have learned and experienced between Advent and Pentecost Sunday. In preparing this sermon, I had to check the liturgical calendar again to be sure that the Gospel reading was correct. It doesn’t fit today, Trinity Sunday. In fact, the only thing the passage has in common with the Trinity is the mention of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all three who make up the Trinity. And this is ok, because the doctrine of the Trinity was developed centuries after Matthew’s Gospel was fin