Words of the Mouth and Meditations of the Heart

 Sermon for Trinity Sunday, 2024, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: John 3:1-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard, read, or have seen that quote from the Gospel of John, I would be a rich man. It is at once a neatly packaged statement of Christian faith and a sentence so familiar that we are prone to give it only passing attention. Because of its familiarity and importance, it tends to draw our attention away from what is discussed between Jesus and Nicodemus in this appointed reading. This reading was chosen specifically for this Trinity Sunday, yet what it has to do with the Trinity is not clear. So, I want to set aside for a moment God loving the world and sending Jesus to it, and search for this connection with the Trinity. Nicodemus has come to Jesus at night to talk about who Jesus is and what he’s been doi

Sermon for Easter VI, 2024, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville. KY Text: John 15:9-17 Hearing this week’s Gospel reading, it is clear that we are not done with the word “abide.” It appeared in last week’s reading eight times, and we hear it three more times this morning for a total of eleven times. That’s a lot of abiding, or living in Jesus. And even though we have read these passages over two Sundays, they are part of one continuous thought. Last week , we heard that we are a branch of a vine, tended by God, supported by Jesus, with us producing the fruit. This fruit is not like any other fruit we may make because it comes from living in and being a part of Jesus. So, this is ultimately God’s fruit that we bear, nourishing others around us who are hungry for the good news that Jesus has brought. This concept of abiding, or living, continues this week and leads to a conclusion where we have been elevated beyond just being faithful followers or disciples of Jesus

A few weeks ago, Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. to protest the fate of Gazan citizens at the hands of the Israeli armed forces. His death joins similar acts of protest going back decades. That someone would die by setting themselves on fire is horrific, and it raises questions about what leads to such drastic steps, and what it means for the cause they died for. There is more to Aaron’s story that hasn’t been part of the discussion around his death as we respond to it and to the desperate situation Gazan civilians find themselves in. This article will explore those responses. When I first heard of Aaron’s death, it reminded me of another young man’s death in 2018. John Chau was an evangelical Christian who felt that God was calling him to contact and save the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island, in the eastern Indian Ocean, from the devil and from hell. As John grew up in the 1990s, he was enamored with stories of adventurous mis