Proclaim by Word and Example

This sermon was preached on May 17, 2015 at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, MA. The texts for this sermon were:  Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 ,  1 John 5:9-13 ,  John 17:6-19 , and  Psalm 1 . This past Thursday we celebrated Ascension Day--another new liturgical holiday for me. On that day, we remember how Jesus was lifted into heaven after his resurrection. But when I was asked on Thursday to describe a recent ascension experience of my own, I had a lot of trouble answering the question--or even articulating why it was so difficult. You see, to me, the act of ascension--rising above the world--seems entirely un-Christian. Ascension is the singular moment when following Jesus does not mean following his actions but following the parting directives he left to his disciples in those last days, some of which are included in our Gospel passage from today. Although John's Gospel doesn't include an account of the ascension, it does include the text of Jesus's prayer for d...

This sermon was preached on May 3, 2015 at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, MA. The texts for this sermon were:  Acts 8:26-40 ,  1 John 4:7-21 ,  John 15:1-8 , and  Psalm 22:24-30 . Yesterday, I was officially confirmed as Episcopalian along with a group of teens from our church and one other adult. When someone asked me the other day whether getting confirmed with the Episcopal Church was a recent hasty decision I had just made, I thought of this passage with Philip and the eunuch. Led by the Holy Spirit, the apostle Philip encounters an Ethiopian court official struggling to understand scripture from the Prophet Isaiah. The eunuch asks him, "I don’t get it. Who is the prophet talking about?" Philip explains the good news of Jesus Christ to the eunuch, starting from the scripture in front of them, meeting the stranger where he is and guiding him to Christ. And the eunuch gets it right away and, just like that, wants to become a Christian. Was that a hasty decisio...