Proclaim by Word and Example

This sermon was preached on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at St. Andrew's for Ash Wednesday. The readings for this text were:  Isaiah 58:1-12 ,  2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 ,  Matthew 6:1-6,16-21  and  Psalm 103 or 103:8-14 . A few months after Kate Bowler received her terminal diagnosis of stage four colon cancer at age 35, she did what one might expect a Duke Divinity professor of Christianity to do: she wrote a New York Times Op-ed piece , which turned into a TED Talk , which turned into a book called Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved . She looked at her suffering and journey with cancer through the lens of her academic passion:  the Prosperity Gospel. The American theology that tends toward believing that we get what we deserve, that everything happens for a reason, and that willful, positive thinking brings God's blessing. She tells a little story in the book about searching for a church service on Ash Wednesday after her doct...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, February 16 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Wellesley, MA for the occasion of the Holy Baptism of Grace Vera Gaede. The texts for this sermon  Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ,  1 Corinthians 3:1-9 ,  Matthew 5:21-37 , and  Psalm 119:1-8 . When Paul refers to the church in Corinth as people of the flesh, and as infants in Christ, he does not mean it as a compliment. The tone of Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth is oftentimes exasperated, chastising. He contrasts them with people who live by the spirit, who would not be as squabbling and indulgent as the Corinthians. Paul means to remind these folks in Corinth of their own spiritual immaturity and how far they have to go. Today, our parish will baptize an actual infant into Christ. So perhaps today is a good day to be reminded of our spiritual infancy, our need for milk. Lent is just around the bend, after all—forty days of challenging and growing our spiritual maturity. Pa...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, February 2 at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Holliston, MA for the occasion of the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord. The texts for this sermon were:  Malachi 3:1-4 ,  Hebrews 2:14-18 ,  Luke 2:22-40 , and  Psalm 84 . It's been such a joy for me to work with St. Michael's and the teens and adults of my church who are going on the Appalachia Service project together this summer. I'm so grateful that you have already been showing us the way and teaching us how to prepare for our trip. The trip preparations have also been bringing me back to my own experiences from high school volunteering with the Appalachia Service Project with my home church. My first trip in particular as a freshman when I was just 14 holds for me very vivid memories. See, the Appalachian Service Project mission trip that summer was my first really intimate encounter with the heart-breaking effects of chronic, generational poverty. I remember walking i...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, January 5 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Wellesley, MA for the occasion of the Feast of the Epiphany. The texts for this sermon were:  Isaiah 60:1-6 ,  Ephesians 3:1-12 ,  Matthew 2:1-12 , and  Psalm 72:1-7,10-14 . Once, when my sister and I were little, we came to my father locked in a vicious argument.  One of us had given something to the other, but the other had not reciprocated. We looked to our dad to arbitrate. But rather than act as judge, my father taught us a principle with which to resolve this and future disputes. A gift, he said, is freely given. The giver relinquishes their say to what the recipient will do with it, or do in return for it. A contract, however, explicitly states the obligation and holds the other what is expected in the exchange. Ask yourselves, was this a gift or a contact? We quickly picked up on this principle, but it also somewhat backfired. It became a game of tricking the other int...

This sermon was preached on Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The texts for this sermon were:  Isaiah 62:6-12 ,  Titus 3:4-7 ,  Luke 2:(1-7)8-20 , and  Psalm 97 . The way I thought about Christmas completely changed for me when I watched my sister give birth to my nephew in November of last year. I’ll spare you the details but I will say this: watching one human you love give birth to another human being is an incredibly sacred experience. No one had warned me, though, for the moment right after my nephew arrived. He was blue and unmoving when they placed him on my sister’s belly and I swear my heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe until he did, slowly stirring into life. In that moment, I felt how just thin the veil is between life and death, how much we all just hang in the balance. Now this will not come as surprise any of the parents here. My nephew had only been in the world for a few heartbeats. The only thing he’d at this...

This sermon was preached on Sunday, December 22 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Wellesley, MA. The texts for this sermon were:  Isaiah 7:10-16 ,  Romans 1:1-7 ,  Matthew 1:18-25 , and  Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 . Last spring, the Boston Handel and Haydn Society orchestra was just finishing up another spectacular performance of a Mozart piece. As the final notes of the opus faded away, the customary hush fell over the audience, everyone holding their breath. But then “Wow!” – a small child’s awestruck voice broke the silence. The whole auditorium titters, then laughs, then breaks into heartfelt applause. They’re caught up with him, with that small child, in his “Wow!”  After the concert, the president of the orchestra was so charmed by the moment that he tracked down the child to thank and meet him. Turns out he’s a nine-year-old boy on the autism spectrum who is absolutely in love with classical music. His grandfather explained that his grandson’s autism mea...

This sermon was preached for All Saints' Day at St. Andrew's in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The readings for this sermon were:  Daniel 7:1-3,15-18 ,  Psalm 149 ,  Ephesians 1:11-23 , and  Luke 6:20-31 . 1908. Okinawa, Japan. My husband’s great-grandfather, just nineteen at the time, lay dying in a hospital bed. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he heard his doctors declare him a hopeless case. He felt a nurse try to find his pulse and fail. But then, Hisanori Kano felt a sense of calm, a vision of light. “What I saw became God, to me,” he said later. Hisanori’s condition dramatically improved. His doctor, a Christian, proclaimed it a miracle. After his recovery, Hisanori sought answers in the Bible, in Christian classmates at school. Although raised Buddhist in a country that was less than 1% Christian at the time, Hisanori was baptized Hiram Kano that next year. From that moment on, Hiram was determined to follow God’s purpose for his life, the life h...