Proclaim by Word and Example

This sermon was preached for the third Sunday of Easter and the baptism of Joseph Matthew, Sunday, April 14, 2024. The text for this sermon were: 1 John 3:1-7,  Luke 24:36b-48, and  Psalm 4. Whenever I meet to prepare a family for baptism, I ask the parents and godparents to choose the question from our baptismal covenant that they like best and are most excited to teach their child or godchild about. In the case of our baptizand today, both his mother and his godfather had the same answer. They loved the sixth question, which is actually the most recent question added to our baptismal covenant: “Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect and restore the beauty and integrity of all creation?”  Joseph’s mother, Jenn, lit up as she spoke about teaching Joseph to cherish the littlest of God’s creatures - even the ants that get in the house! Greg lit up as he spoke about teaching Joseph to appreciate the wonder of natural phenomena. He can’t wait to bring his godson out into n

  This sermon was preached for Sunday, April 7, 2024 for the second Sunday of Easter. The texts for this sermon were: 1 John 1:1-2:2,  John 20:19-31, and  Psalm 133. In my childhood church’s Sunday school classrooms there was a chart on the wall with all of our names and little boxes with dates for putting stickers in for all the Sundays you were there in class. The stickers on my and my sister’s rows were neatly placed in just about every other column, for just about every other week, because the other weeks we attended my father’s Catholic church. I remember wondering what happened on those Sundays we weren’t there. Wondering if we only half belonged - even though my name being there on that list meant I surely did belong for real.  I’ve heard many stories over the years from folks whose Sunday schools had perfect attendance awards at the end of the church school year - and I’ve also heard other, heat-breaking stories about being shamed, subtly or not so subtly, for missing services.

This sermon was preached for Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 at St. Mark's in East Longmeadow. The texts for this sermon were: John 20:1-18, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, and Isaiah 25:6-9. So how many of you can confidently say what LOL is short for? Raise your hands. Phew, I’m relieved. Because believe it or not, LOL has been common internet and texting slang for more than thirty years - plus it was formally recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011. As it looks like you all know, LOL technically stands for “laughing out loud.” You type LOL in a comment or text to someone to indicate that what they said was funny, but here’s the thing: it really quite rarely means you actually laughed out loud - at the most you maybe let out a little huff from your nose. What a striking image for how diminished, muted, literally abbreviated joy has become when we don’t set aside time to be present and actually with one another. All of us in our separate places behind our separate little glowing s

  This sermon was preached for the Easter Vigil service on Saturday, March 30, 2024 at St. Mark's, East Longmeadow. The texts for this sermon were: Genesis 1:1-2:4a [The Story of Creation],  Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18, 8:6-18, 9:8-13 [The Flood],  Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea],  Ezekiel 36:24-28 [A new heart and a new spirit],  Romans 6:3-11,  Psalm 114, and  Mark 16:1-8. Filmmaker Orson Welles, who directed one of the most famous films of all time, Citizen Kane, had a habit of adding lines into the screenplays of his films. He added these words into the script of the 1987 film Someone to Love, for his own character: “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” After spending forty days this Lent pondering the theme of loneliness together as a parish, I can definitely say that this quote, at least from the Christian perspective, is absolute garbag

This sermon was preached for Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The texts for this sermon were: Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14,  1 Corinthians 11:23-26,  John 13:1-17, 31b-35, and  Psalm 116:1, 10-17. You know when people say “there’s no such thing as a dumb question?” I think that saying works for some people to encourage them to ask what they need to ask. What always helps me more, though, is being reminded that in all likelihood someone else in the room is wondering the exact same question you are, too. Then I’d stop worrying about whether my question was dumb or not and instead think about how revealing my confusion or doubt could actually be helpful to someone else, too.  Here’s an example of a question you might have that others might, too: why do we skip some verses here? What happens in between? This Gospel passage is part of John’s retelling of Jesus’ last supper with his disciples. We read John’s version on Maundy Thursday because it is the only Gospel that includes Jesus washing

This sermon was preached for the funeral of Mark G., on Saturday, March 23, 2024. The texts for this sermon were: Isaiah 25:6-9, 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, 16, and John 6:37-40. Jesus said, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” I want to back up a moment to when and to whom Jesus says these words in the Gospel of John.  At this point in the story of Jesus, Jesus has just fed five thousand hungry people with just a few loaves of bread and a couple fishes. Understandably, the crowds go off in search of him the very next day. When they find him, Jesus observes that they have come looking for him to fill their bellies once more. “Do not work for food that spoils,” Jesus warns. “But for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you…I am the bread of life.”  Mark Gurney loved to cook, loved to grow fresh vegetables and share them generously. By the time I met Mark, though, Mark’s