Proclaim by Word and Example

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...

  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 ...

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 tha...

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 m...

This sermon was preached for the fourth Sunday in Lent, Sunday, March 10 at St. Mark's, East Longmeadow. The texts for this sermon were: Ephesians 2:1-10,  John 3:14-21, and  Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22. I’m going to tell you a story. It’s one you know. I’m not changing it - it’s still true to scripture. But it might have a different emphasis than you’re used to hearing. In the beginning, God created a beautiful garden and filled it with wondrous creatures, including two human beings made from the earth in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27). God spoke with the human beings often, walked with them, cared for them. They knew themselves to be God's creation, and that God saw them as very good (Genesis 1:31). The human beings were naked and they felt no shame (Genesis 2:25). But when the two human beings ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and their eyes were opened, suddenly when they looked around they didn't see only goodness anymore. Even when they looked at...

This sermon was preached for the third Sunday in Lent at St. Mark's, East Longmeadow. The texts for this sermon were: Exodus 20:1-17,  John 2:13-22, and  Psalm 19.  Parishioner Bruce Rockwell told me once that one of the monks of Society of St. John the Evangelist believes we should pray the contemporary version of the Lord’s prayer a little differently. Instead of “save us from the time of trial,” that brother prays “save us in the time of trial.” The small change in preposition reminds him that times of trial are inevitable and not inflicted on us by God. And yet God is with us in our trials all the same, already transforming them and us into something beautiful, holy, whole.  There are so many layers in our Gospel passage from John today. The text quite literally jumps around in time. First, there’s the actual moment the passage is about: Jesus driving the money changers from the temple. As the disciples watch him flip over tables and pour out coins, they r...