Words of the Mouth and Meditations of the Heart

Sermon for Ash Wednesday, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 , Matthew 6:1-6,16-21 In August of 1993, I started an intense year of study in Medical Technology School that changed me in many ways, and I was a different person when I graduated. I had to quickly figure out how to put together and master a large amount of information and then apply it, and whatever academic or analytic weaknesses I had were exposed from day one. The director and instructors of the program were sympathetic and supportive, but we as students had to confront our successes and failures on our own, and take responsibility for them. Lent has been a somewhat similar experience for me, not that I have a huge amount of material to learn that I’ll be graded on, but that it is a time of discovery of who and where I am. It is a discovery of my weaknesses and gifts and where they are leading me. Traditionally, Lent has been focused on sin: our brokenness an...

Sermon for Epiphany IV, 2024, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 and Mark 1:21-28 Have you ever been this close to running out of patience, where you say “If I hear that one more time…?” Whatever it is, you can’t bear to hear it again or you will lose it completely. That’s what the Hebrews are saying to Moses in the reading from Deuteronomy, except that they are not running out of patience, and they are not angry. They are in fact afraid, afraid that if they hear God’s voice again or see a holy fire, they will die. This is not a moment of drama that they are creating to get Moses to do what they want. It is a legitimate fear that has precedent. In the book of Exodus, we read that Moses was pushed into the cleft of a rock as God passed by, so that he would not see the face of God and die himself. So it would appear that the closer God was to people, the closer death was, and there had to be some form of protection, not from God, but ...

Sermon for the first Sunday in Epiphany, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Genesis 1:1-5 , Acts 19:1-7 , Mark 1:4-11 We’ve heard a lot about John recently, from a mention last Sunday in the beginning of the Gospel of John as the predecessor, to John the witness in the Gospel of John on the third Sunday of Advent, and then on the Sunday before that as John the baptizer. And it is the same story, where John announces that the Messiah is coming to bring the Holy Spirit. I’ll tell you a spoiler: Jesus does bring the Holy Spirit to the disciples, and to us, and we celebrate that at Pentecost. But, this Sunday’s reading takes us a little farther in that story to hear God proclaim, like John, that Jesus is from God, not of men, and that he is full of the spirit that he passes on to us. And God proclaims this at Jesus’ baptism, an epiphany for the world. Baptism has become a central part of our faith over the past 40 years with the 1979 prayer book, and ...

Sermon for Advent IV, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY. Text:  The Song of Mary ( Magnificat ) , Luke 1:26-38 In this morning’s first reading we heard, My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your victory. There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly; let not arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. If this sounds familiar, but not quite right, you are correct. This is actually the song of Hannah, one that Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have known. Hannah was the wife of Elkanah, and had not borne any children to him. In deep sadness, she went to the temple, and fervently prayed to God for children.The temple priest, Eli, assumed that she was drunk. He berated her, and she replied th...

Sermon for Advent III, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 and John 1:6-8,19-28   This is the third Sunday in Advent, and we are drawing close to the birth of Jesus. The church is adorned in rose colors this morning, not because it looks fashionable, but because we are halfway through this season of preparation and celebration. Advent has an air of mystery surrounding it, because we celebrate the birth of the Messiah, the Christ child, a baby. We have all been around babies, and as adorable as they are, it is hard to conceive how a helpless baby can accomplish as much in the world as Jesus did. Only two of the four Gospels talk about Jesus’ birth and the other two start with his ministry in his adult life. Compare that to the adults we watched grow up, and it is a mystery how they live adult lives when we remember them as infants. This mystery is underscored by the beginning of winter, when we prepare for Christmas in the dark o...

Sermon for Advent I, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Mark 13:24-37 Winter is approaching, and the last of the leaves fell into my gutters at home, meaning that it was time to climb up on the roof and clean them out. And, as long as I was up there, I also put up some Christmas lights. The trees are bare and standing starkly against the cold sky, but in the Gospel reading, Jesus talks about the fig tree putting out new leaves. There has also been the familiar drop in temperatures and shortening days, but Jesus talks about summer approaching, with its warm temperatures and lengthening days. Some of this generation has passed away contrary to what Jesus says, notably my mother last January, and Maxine and Glenn Davis, members of this parish, and family members of St. Paul’s congregants. For some of us, this is our first Christmas season without them. Yet, Jesus’ words persist, and there is joy and anticipation when he talks about being the Son of Ma...

Sermon for Pentecost XXIV, 2023 Delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 , Matthew 25:1-13 Several times in my life I have had a recurring dream that I have discovered others have had, too. In it, I am wandering around some school, a high school or a college, and I’m desperately looking for a classroom that I am supposed to be in. I am filled with dread because it is finals week, and I haven’t been to class at all, and I worry about how I am going to pass the final exam. By the time I find the classroom and go in to sit down, I wake up, so I don’t know how badly I did on the exam. It’s a feeling of being unprepared like the five foolish bridesmaids in Jesus’ parable in this morning’s Gospel reading from Matthew. But this feeling that I have goes beyond just feeling unprepared to feeling like I missed out, and it’s my fault. I don’t like that dream when I have it because it leaves me feeling anxious and guilty. I wonder how those five br...

Sermon for Pentecost XXI, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Matthew 22:15-22 We’ve been decluttering at home recently, which means a trip to the Meriwether electronics recycling center and a drop off at Goodwill. There’s usually no one around at Meriwether to check what I've brought in, but there’s always someone at Goodwill asking me if I want a receipt for the things I donate to the store. I never have said yes to a receipt because to me it wouldn’t be a true donation if I could lessen my annual taxes with my offerings. I have to give without receiving anything in return to feel that I am truly showing God’s love and giving things away. There’s another reason, though, and it comes from this morning’s Gospel reading where Jesus says the phrase that we hear every now and then: give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. What I give to God is my material possessions and what I give to Caesar is my taxes. It can be a little difficul...

Sermon for Pentecost XVIII, 2023, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Matthew 21:23-32   The Gospel reading this morning reminds me of an Islamic parable of sorts that I first heard a long time ago. It involves Nasrudin, a Mullah or a learned leader in the Islamic faith. The story goes like this: One day the people in a village thought they would play a joke on Nasrudin. As he was supposed to be a holy man of some indefinable sort, they went to him and asked him to preach a sermon in their mosque. He agreed. When the day came, Nasrudin mounted the pulpit and spoke: “O people! Do you know what I am going to tell you?” “No, we do not know,” they said. “Until you know, I cannot tell you,” said the Mullah, overcome with indignation. He descended from the pulpit and went home. Slightly chagrined, a deputation went to his house again, and asked him to preach the following Friday, the day of prayer. That day, Nasrudin started his sermon with the same question as...

Sermon for Pentecost XV, 20203, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Matthew 18:15-20   If there is one thing that I have learned well during my time as a productive, contributing adult in our society, it is that when you have at least two or three people gathered together, for whatever reason, there will be politics. A leader will emerge, and as the group grows from two or three, an anti-leader may emerge to keep the leader in check and advance another operating philosophy of the group. This is not always a Good Thing, because where contrast and difference can be a productive influence, it can also be a destructive force. You can’t avoid politics and leadership, and how they are dealt with depends on the individual members and the reason for the group. So it isn’t too much of a surprise to have Jesus addressing this in the Gospel reading this morning. It’s one of the few passages where he is clear on what to do in a specific situation. The necessity of th...