Proclaim by Word and Example

This sermon was preached on August 23, 2015 at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, MA. The texts for this sermon were:  1 Kings 8: 22-30, 41-43 ,  Psalm 84 or 84:1-6 ,  Ephesians 6:10-20 , and  John 6:56-69 . For those of you who’ve been wondering whether I’ve been these past three weeks—or even if you haven’t noticed I’ve been away—I’ve been working with my fellowship program preparing for the arrival of new batch of Life Together fellows. Just over a week and a half ago, nineteen adults in their early twenties descended on our headquarters in Brookline for an eight-day orientation into their year of service and communal living. The first thing we did with the diverse group was to welcome them, each of them, all of them, wholly. We welcomed the fellows from California, Kentucky, and Missouri, the Christian, Buddhist, atheist and questioning fellows, the gay, straight, trans and bi fellows. We welcomed fellows who identified as African-American, Asian-American, Euro...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, June 14, 2015. The texts for this sermon were:  1 Samuel 15:34-16:13,  Psalm 20 ,  2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17 , and  Mark 4:26-34 . I was forced to watch a horrendous remake of Cinderella on a plane ride recently. It’s possible the film may have been more enjoyable had I forked over the five bucks for a pair of headphones, but I figured I knew the Cinderella story well enough already that I didn’t need to hear the dialog. We all know the Cinderella story—the meek and gentle child forced to do chores while everyone else goes off to a party to compete for the chance to become royalty. It’s a classic underdog story. And it’s pretty tempting to read today’s passage from the first book of Samuel that way, too. Poor little David isn’t invited to the party when the famous prophet Samuel comes over to anoint the next leader of Israel. While all the rest of his seven brothers audition to be king, David’s assigned to sit off in the ...

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...

This sermon was preached on April 19, 2015 at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, MA. The texts for this sermon were:  Acts 3:12-19 ,  1 John 3:1-7 ,  Luke 24:36b-48 , and  Psalm 4 . At the end of a major holiday or even a minor one like this strange Massachusetts thing called Patriot’s Day I’ve been hearing about, I am often left with a profound sense of “Well, now what?” I think that emotion is heightened after Easter and Holy Week, the climax of our faith, come to a close. On Easter, the empty tomb is filled to the brim—with joy, triumph, meaning, and new life. But after the day itself fades and the lilies from the altar are given away one by one, the emptiness of the tomb begins to weigh heavy on my heart. Christ is risen, but now what? The truth is that Jesus is still gone to me, in so many ways. The Gospel passage from Luke today brings Jesus’s presence back to us. It is the second appearance of the resurrected Christ in Luke’s Gospel. In the first, Jesus walks...

This sermon was preached on Saturday, April 4, 2015 for the Great Vigil of Easter. The texts for this sermon are found here . Everyone loves a good comeback story. When, at the last minute, just when all hope seems lost, our hero overcomes the villain, the underdog surges ahead, the ball soars through the net as the buzzer sounds. We heard several stories tonight celebrating moments of the salvation story just like that, when God stepped in at the last moment to deliver his people. We heard how the animals clambered onto the ark as the rains began to fall. We heard how Abraham’s knife was stayed by an angel right as he was about to bring it down on his son. And we heard how the waters of the Red Sea crashed in over the pursuing Egyptian chariots just as the last of Israelite refugees scrambled safely onto the shore of the other side. The story of Easter is part of that story. It is the same story and it is also a different story. This time all was lost. Despite the mockery of th...

This sermon was preached on April 4, 2015 for Holy Saturday at Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, MA. The texts for this sermon were:  Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24 ,  1 Peter 4:1-8 ,  John 19:38-42 , and  Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16 . Today we are gathered at the darkest moment of the Christian faith. The body hangs still and brutalized on the cross, Christ’s most loyal disciples have scattered. The nightmare of Good Friday is over, but the night lingers on. Jesus is dead. Into this moment, enter our two characters from the John passage today. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, wealthy, privileged and powerful elites of Jewish religious sects, people who had the most to lose by associating with Jesus. Indeed, John tells us that Joseph’s fear of the Jewish authorities kept him from revealing his discipleship to Christ. And yet here, right at the moment when he has everything to lose and nothing to gain, Joseph asks Pilate for permission to bury Jesus’s body. Nicodemus, who firs...