Proclaim by Word and Example

  This sermon was preached for the fifth Sunday of Lent, Sunday, March 26, 2023 at St. Mark's in East Longmeadow. The texts for this sermon were: Ezekiel 37:1-14,  John 11:1-45, and  Psalm 130. “Lord, if you had been here…” If only. If only, Martha of Bethany says to Jesus. If only, says her sister Mary. If only you had been here, my brother would not have died.  The sisters had sent a message to Jesus - he had had enough time to come to heal their brother. The world in which Jesus had come in time, the world in which their brother had not died, was so close the sisters could almost taste it.  If only.  There’s a scene from one of my guilty pleasure romance films, 500 Days of Summer, in which the protagonist sets out to reconnect with the girl he loves. Tom walked to her apartment, the narrator intones, intoxicated by the promise of the evening. He believed that this time his expectations would align with reality. The screen suddenly splits - on one h...

  This sermon was preached for Sunday, March 19, 2023 for the fourth Sunday in Lent at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in East Longmeadow. The texts for this sermon are: 1 Samuel 16:1-13,  John 9:1-41, and  Psalm 23. The sermon retells the children's book "The Rabbit Listened" by Cori Doerrfeld  which was shared as the children's message for the day. The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld  Through it all the rabbit never left. And when the time was right, the rabbit listened to Taylor's plan to build again. Jesus is walking along with his disciples when they encounter a man who was born blind. The disciples’ reaction is to see the man as an opportunity to discuss a complex theological issue.  They want to know from Jesus: What's the connection between sin and illness? Why has someone who has clearly done nothing wrong - a tiny little baby - been punished with a difficult physical condition? Jesus rejects the notion that the man’s condition is because he des...

This sermon was preached for Sunday, March 5 for the second Sunday in Lent. The text for this sermon were: Psalm 121 and John 3:1-17. I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. During my internship with an intentional community a few years ago, we did some contemplative exercises that really stretched me spiritually. In one, we all sat across from a partner, facing each other. The exercise was very simple. Your partner asked you the question, “What do you want?” The first time I was asked it I had a pretty sophisticated answer, probably about my various goals for the future. But then our partners asked us again, “What do you want?” This time I dug a little deeper. The third and fourth times I was asked the same question, “What do you want?” something broke open inside me - and not just me. When we looked around the room, we saw that by the fifth time of being asked what we wanted, what we really wanted - an...