Sermons

February

12, 2012

Dr. Carol

Franklin

"Community"

Today (at the 10:30 service) we are baptizing a baby.  I love baptisms because they are an affirmation of life and of community.  As we repeat the baptismal covenant we are linked to a rich heritage of faith and to generations long gone and generations yet to be born.   Who knew such wonder awaited us when we walked into church this day?   For most of us our thoughts were likely full of the here and now, busy reflecting on our own lives, our own happiness and small discontents - content to be of the world and of the living.  But all of that changes for us today and we will never be the same for through the water of baptism we become one people, God’s people - part of a tangible community of believers all made in God’s image.  

As I prepared some thoughts for the day it was at first hard for me to reconcile the joy of baptism with our lessons.   A couple of weeks ago Rev. Greer preached about how each of the scriptures during epiphany have been little epiphanies in themselves helping us to learn who Jesus is.  For me the epiphany on this Sixth Sunday of Epiphany was one common theme – community. Through baptism we find inclusion in community.  In both the Old Testament and the Gospel we find people forced into in the shadows and the outskirts of community.  Then as He reaches out and touches the other we learn that Jesus Christ brings renewal of community. 

The shadows that our lessons bring into our midst focus our attention squarely on the other.  Though leprosy is not common among us, there are other forces at work in the world that isolate and foster that sense of otherness that makes some outcasts.  There have been and are countless examples of people being separated from community, treated as untouchable or at least as 2^nd class citizens.  Many are the shadows in which lurk things we can’t or won’t deal with, artifacts of history that we seek to ignore and things that frighten us

There is a saying that Byrdie repeats to any listening ear - you can’t tell where you’re going, if you don’t know where you’ve been.  With these words she is affirming the importance of embracing and understanding our past if we have any hope of creating a different and better future.   That means we’ve got to be willing to look into those shadows and to confront ourselves.  That lesson was brought home to me as I walked through the holocaust museum in Jerusalem and looked in the shadows created when a people are isolated and demonized because they are seen as different.  Millions brutalized and millions killed among them 1.5 million children under the age of 16 swept away from the arms of those who loved them.   And it is reaffirmed on this second Sunday of Black History month as I reflect upon the sojourn of people of African descent in America who because of the color of their skin were considered to be and treated as less than human, relegated to the shadows by slavery and bigotry, segregation and discrimination.  

Whether it be the Ghettos of Warsaw or L.A., the tragedy of Darfur, the killing fields of Rwanda, or the forced removal of Native Americans on the Trail of Tears, it is in those shadows that the unthinkable happens.  When we allow our political rhetoric and social discourse to isolate, marginalize and even demonize others that is when the cross of Christ can become a symbol of hatred as it burns in someone’s front yard.  Today there are those who deny the holocaust every happened and there are countless others who continue to embrace an ideology that espouses hatred for and violence to those who are different because of skin color or creed or culture or gender or sexual orientation.  If you don’t know the history, you are doomed to repeat it.    

Last Sunday Peter encouraged us to think about what we have in common and what it means to follow the witness of Christ.   When we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” In the Lord’s Prayer we are supplicants asking God to choose to act on our behalf.  Just as Naaman and that leper and all those on the outside looking in we are all seekers wondering what decision God will make for each of us.  We may not be asking for our skin back as does the leper, but we are asking for our lives to be redeemed and renewed.  And in Jesus we find God’s response - the end of isolation and a return to community.  If we are to follow the witness of Christ we are called to speak out, reach out and carry the light of Jesus where there has been no light, making a way out of the darkness. 

There is a famous quote or poem that has several different iterations but has its origins in a sermon or speech by Martin Niemoller a German pastor sometime in the late 1940s or earlier 1950s that poignantly details what happens when a community fails to speak out.

First the Nazis came…
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me —
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Silence, silence will be the death of us all.  Like Martin Niemoller who in another sermon said that “We must openly declare that we are not innocent of the Nazi murders.” we must acknowledge that we are not innocent of the evils done to others in our name or the acts that isolate or belittle others within our community, be it our neighborhood, our city, our state, our nation or the world.  We are called to reach beyond boundaries and breach the shadows beyond which the Trail of Tears and that peculiar institution can reside and like Jesus proclaim that singular truth that we are all God’s children.  We are called to create a community in which there is no us and them, just we the people living together in peace.

This Sunday’s epiphany is not about leprosy or about what separates us one from another, it’s about community.   It’s about renewing and remaking community and reaffirming that we are all one people made in the image of God.  I don’t know if you’ve seen that commercial on the USA cable channel where the channel’s stars as well as just plain folks assert “I won’t stand for” – hatred or bigotry, violence or abuse, or any number of evils that have been visited upon the other.   I think if Jesus were alive today he would be among those “characters united,” as the USA channel tagline goes, against the shadows and for a community big enough to encompass all people.  His whole life, His very reason for coming into and being in the world was about breaching barriers and loving the unlovable and touching the untouchable.   

Last Sunday Peter reminded us that we have an obligation to do the things of the gospel, to practice compassion for others and self, and to follow Jesus.  Every time we baptize someone or repeat that baptismal covenant we affirm our place in that community of “characters united” that won’t stand for others being marginalized, stigmatized or relegated to the shadows in which evil can thrive.   We are the body of Christ in the world and it is up to us to love and to heal and finally to help make that world and the people in it whole again.   Amen.

Click here to download the sermon. 

February 5, 2012

“Go and DO likewise.”

Lately I have been speaking about the need for we Christians to focus less on belief in the deity of Christ - as expressed in the Church’s creeds and doctrines - and more on following the example of the human Jesus that we have revealed to us in the Gospels. My comments have passed as either benign ones with little reaction or have caused heads to jerk up. I recently mentioned this need to refocus our theology in a presentation I did at Fresh Start – which is a program for newly ordained and employed priests - two weeks ago. I am convinced that one of newly ordained clergy in the Diocese was so shocked by my comments, that he is now convinced that I am a heretic! Maybe you feel equally as scandalized by my statement.

But there is good reason for this re-focusing. And I am not alone in this conviction.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonGoAndDoLikewisePDF.

“First-Class Treatment"

“The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.” Through the call of Jonah and of the first disciples in the Gospel, our lessons for today present the themes of repentance, the coming reign of God, and the mission for us to bear witness to God’s word.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonWrongSideTracksPDF.

January 15, 2012

“Wrong Side of the Tracks.”

“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil— a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”

Can anyone identify that quote?

It comes from the novel “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen and is uttered by the character Mr. Darcy.

Mr. Darcy’s statement about each of us having a tendency to some particular evil hits upon an essential truth about human nature: Prejudice emanating by our pride or conversely pride rooted in our prejudice is one of the less attractive manifestations of the human condition. Regardless of whether pride precedes prejudice or prejudice pride, they are both manifestations of that particular evil, that natural defect, which Mr.Darcy speaks about. That evil in the human disposition was one Jesus frequently encountered and addressed in his ministry.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonWrongSideTracksPDF.

January 8, 2012

“It Changed Everything.”

Before departing for our parish pilgrimage to Israel this past October I asked our group of pilgrims to be alert as to which sites on our itinerary they found to be spiritually significant? Or better put, what places would be those Celtic thin places where the curtain between the holy and them became palpably permeable and thereby transformative?

I did this to set the stage for us be reflective about the spiritual component of our travels, as well as to foster conversation with one other as we traveled through the Holy Land.

In retrospect I also think I asked our pilgrims to do this because on my first trip to Israel in 1994 those places that I anticipated being spiritually transformative—like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher—by in large were not. Conversely those places I gave little thought too as being spiritual were among the most profoundly thin places I encountered. My request was somewhat of a test to see how the pilgrim’s experiences meshed with mine.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonItChangedEverythingPDF.

"Following the Star"

For the past two years I have been praying with a daily online Advent Devotional called Following the Star. I enjoy this devotional for a number of reasons: there is wonderful instrumental music that accompanies the meditation, the reflections are thoughtful and thought-provoking, and it doesn’t take too much time to pray through it each day. This last one is especially important to me in a season when on most days I feel as if I am barely hanging on by a thread to accomplish everything I need to do. But what I find most attractive about Following the Star is the graphic on this website, which is a star set against a dark purple/blue sky, that moves a little more to the East with each click of the page through the mediation. Following that star are three colorful, abstract figures of kings who follow it.

The progressive movement of the star with the Magi following for me symbolizes our own movement and journey in life.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonFollowingTheStarPDF.

Holy Name, Saturday,

Dec. 31,

2011

Holy Name Homily

“After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”

This evening we celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. As the Gospel of Luke tells us, Jesus’ parent honored the Jewish Law and on the eight day after his birth they had their baby boy circumcised. At this ritual Joseph and Mary conferred upon the baby the name Jesus, which was the name the Angel Gabriel had told Mary at the Annunciation the child in her womb was to be called. Jesus in Hebrew means, “the one who saves.”

I am sure it comes as no surprise when I say to you that the name of Jesus has accrued a lot of baggage in two millennia. Much of that baggage is very good and sadly much of it is not. The good has accrued to his name in large part due to Jesus himself and the Good News of his life as recorded in the Gospels. The bad that has accrued is due mostly to the behavior of Jesus’ followers, some really poor Biblical interpretations, and the manner in which the Church has manipulated the good news over the centuries to its own needs and not the needs of God’s children.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonHolyNamePDF.

Christmas

Day

Dec.25, 2011

“Yearning to Journey to Bethlehem”

I left organized religion when I graduated high school at the age of eighteen. For the following twelve years the only connection I had to the Church was to attend the occasional wedding or funeral. I refer to these years as my wilderness period or my
pagan years.

Christmas in those days had a specific pattern for me. On Christmas Eve I would gather in the late afternoon with a small cadre of close friends for a champagne party. The requirement for this party was that each guest was required to bring an authentic bottle of French champagne, what we called the “good stuff!” The champagne had to be French and it had to be brut. Heaven help the person who showed up with some Spanish or American knock-off. They would be ridiculed without mercy. And they certainly were not getting any of our good stuff.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonYearningForBethlehemPDF.

Dec.11, 2011

“Preparing the Way for the Ones Who Are Not Here Yet.”

How many of you have heard the expression “going viral?”

It sounds like a medical term that an epidemiologist would use to refer to a biological virus. Yet the expression actually finds its genesis in the world of the Internet. Going viral is when information posted on the Internet has the ability to spread copies of itself very quickly. Going viral is the way to describe how thoughts, information and trends move into and through a human population via the web.

Do you remember the rather plain, shy, Scottish woman, named Susan Boyle who competed on “Britain’s Got Talent” in April of 2009? On the surface Susan seemed like what is referred to in Yiddish as a nebbish – a person who is pitifully ineffectual, timid, or submissive. Because Susan appeared to the judges on “Britain’s Got Talent” to be a nebbish they were pretty dismissive of her when she walked on stage to compete.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonPreparingtheWayPDF.

Nov. 20, 2011

Shaker

Community

Thanks-

giving

Service

“Offering Thanks in Times of Despair”

Those of you who are Facebook members – or as the case may be Facebook junkies like me- have most likely noticed the increase of poster-like graphics and photographs that have appeared all over the Home page lately. I had a friend recently post the following: “Hey, what’s with all the posters on FB all of a sudden? It’s beginning to look like my old college dorm room!” Now that’s a powerful memory I can identify with.

I’m still undecided if the abundance of all this poster art is a boon or a bane to Facebook’s look, but since my last name is Faass and not Zuckerberg, I suspect that I have very little say in the matter.

Having said that, there was one particular poster of a Thanksgiving cartoon posted this past Monday that gave me a really good laugh. The cartoon depicted a Thanksgiving turkey and Santa Claus. Behind them there is a calendar with the month of November showing. The turkey is clearly all riled up by Santa’s presence. “Hey! Hey!” the turkey yells at a startled Santa, “November is my month. What are you doing here? Oh! Wait! Wait! No, it’s okay Santa you can stay. That’s fine. Take November!”

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonOfferThanksTimesofDespairPDF.

“Remember Your Saintliness”

Last Sunday our Israel pilgrimage group landed at Newark Liberty airport after a long twelve-hour flight from Tel Aviv. Because of the Nor’easter that hit the New York region the day before our flight had already been delayed three hours. Couple the long flight and the delay with our having awakened in Jerusalem that day at 5 am Israeli time and that we still had hopes of catching the 8:15 pm connecting flight to Cleveland and you can begin to imagine how tired, stressed and anxious we pilgrims were.

Before making that connecting Cleveland flight we still had to pass through U.S. Immigration and Customs. The immigration officer who I encountered was a pleasant young man in his thirties who, as he read my passport, asked me what I did for a living. “I’m a priest,” I replied, and then for clarification added, “Episcopal.” “Really?” he said. And then he asked me a question which I heard as, “who is the shortest person in the Bible?” Okay, so call me crazy but encountering an immigration officer who wants to administer a Bible content quiz to a jet-lagged, tired, foggy-brained and stressed out American citizen is not what I was expecting to encounter as I re-entered the country. But God is good.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonRememberYourSaintlinessPDF.

“Religion is Never a Private Enterprise”

Let’s take a little impromptu poll with a show of hands.

How many of you believe that your religion and faith life are a private enterprise that should never enter into the public realm?

How many of you responded yes to that question based on what you believe the Bible says about the role your faith should play in the secular world?

How many of you responded yes, based on what you believe the U.S. Constitution says about the separation of Church and State?

And finally, how many of you responded yes because you are weary of extremist religious ideologues and politicians who want to make this country into a theocracy, a theocracy made in their image of God?

If you responded yes to the question that you believe that your religion and the rest of your life are mutually exclusive realms, your opinion would be at odds with the Hebrew prophets and with Jesus.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonReligionNeverAPrivateEnterprisepdf.

“Oh, What A Banquet of Joy!”--Rector’s Stewardship Sermon

Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, "Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.”

In this parable we hear that a wedding dinner for a King’s son was cooked and ready to be served. The prime ribs of oxen and the crown roasts from the fatted calves were fragrant and juicy. The green salad was crisp, ready to be tossed with raspberry vinaigrette. The green beans were cooked to al dente perfection and the oven-roasted, red skinned potatoes with rosemary, garlic and olive oil, exquisitely browned and fragrant.

Yet when the king’s servants inform the invited guests that dinner is ready to be served, instead of making haste to dine at this luxurious feast, what happens? People don’t show up. They make light of the invitation and turn their noses down at the sumptuous meal ready for their dining pleasure. Instead they go about their business.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonOhWhatABanquetOfJoypdf.

“Interconnected Web of Life”

Last week I was at a CREDO Conference in Delray Beach, Florida. CREDO is an intense clergy renewal program sponsored by the Church Pension Fund. My time away was a marvelous experience in many ways. This conference provided me with clarity of purpose to work on issues like my vocational direction, my physical and spiritual health and my finances. The final product of my CREDO week was to develop three goals to achieve as I begin to look towards retirement in nine years.

There was one drawback to the conference though and that was that it took place in Florida. Now I do not have a problem with Floridians and the state does have spectacular beaches. The drawback of Florida for me can best be summed up in the title of the 1970’s Jim Stafford song, “I Don’t Like Spiders and Snakes!” I really don’t like creepy, crawly things and you know Florida is not only invested with creepy, crawly things, but they are super-sized as well.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonInterconnectedWebOfLife pdf.

“Its About Compassion”

A lot of people have very negative responses to parables like the one we have just heard of the Laborers in the Vineyard. The story defies our understanding of what we believe is just and fair behavior. Who in their right mind, we think, would pay the same exact wage to someone who worked for one hour as is paid to someone who worked twelve hours? No MBA worth their salt would ever run a business that way. No labor union leader would ever advocate for that in contract negotiations. This may be one thing these two, often adversarial groups can come to agreement on!

But Jesus tells these disturbing parables that jangle our pre-conceived notions of what is right and wrong, intentionally. Known as Parables of Great Reversal, they are meant to turn things upside down and inside out.

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonItsAboutCompassion pdf.

“10th Anniversary of 9/11”

On September 11, 2001 I was the curate at Trinity Church in Torrington, Connecticut. As the stark reality of the terrorist attacks unfolded that morning I felt as helpless and frightened as I have ever felt in my life. The anguished cry of the psalmist was my own; “Do not be far from me [O God] for trouble is near and there is no one to help. “ (Ps. 22:11)

The sidewalks of the busy intersection where the church was located were filled with people who were equally as helpless and frightened as I was. In this moment of terror and uncertainty we were people seeking comfort, a word of hope, a place to be together.

Read the entire sermon...or download the Sermon10thAnniversary9-11 pdf.

"What I Did Over My Summer Vacation. "

One of the nicest things about summer vacation is actually having the time to read some of those books and magazines I accumulate in ever-growing stacks throughout my house! Not only does that endeavor entertain and enrich me, it helps assuage my guilt about the amount of money I spend on subscriptions and Amazon.com!

One particularly thought-provoking essay I read while on vacation was in the Christian Century magazine and written by Martin Thielen who is a United Methodist minister. The article was titled, “The Answer to Bad Religion Is Not No Religion but Good Religion.”

Read the entire sermon...or download the SermonMySummerVacation pdf.

“Wheat and Thistles”

All the world is God's own field,
Fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.

Yes, [at 10:30] we [are singing] [did] sing[ing] “Come Ye Thankful People Come” a traditional Thanksgiving hymn for our Gradual. But singing this hymn in the middle of July is not really as out of context as you may believe. Every Sunday we Episcopalians gather for Eucharist which is the Great Thanksgiving, so a hymn of thanksgiving is always appropriate for our worship.

Plus, I needed “Come, Ye Thankful People Come” for the sermon illustration, so I asked Justin to replace it in lieu of the hymn already scheduled. Sometimes it’s good to be Rector!

Read the entire sermon...or download the Wheat and Thistles Sermon pdf.

“Rejecting Jesus: Why the Children Leave Church”

Let me ask two related questions to those of you who have teenage or older children in your life. This includes any young person who has “graduated from church” - a rite commonly referred to as Confirmation – and older. (If you don't have any children in your life in this demographic, bear with me, because this sermon is for all of us.) The two questions are related because you have to consider the first one in order to answer the second, which is where the heart of the matter is found.

First, are you satisfied with the religious faith commitment of these children in your life? If your answer to that question is an unequivocal yes, then you don't need to answer the second part. But if your response is anything less, than consider this second question: To what degree do you blame yourself for the state of their current religious commitment?

Read the entire sermon...or download the Rejecting Jesus Sermon pdf.

“Being a ‘Dayenu’ People”

In the Hebrew liturgical calendar the feast of Pentecost was originally an agricultural festival known as the Feast of Weeks. The number of weeks it commemorated was seven – or forty-nine days – which began with the feast of Passover when the seed of the first spring planting was sown. That seed would have been mostly leafy vegetables and other quick growing produce that were harvested during this springtime festival. Last spring in northeast Ohio we had an example of how quickly grown produce like Swiss Chard, leaf lettuce and radishes, planted around Easter, were ready for harvest at Pentecost. With this year’s cool, wet weather we will be lucky to harvest any of these vegetables before July 4th!

Read the entire sermon...or download the Pentecost Sermon pdf.

“Imprint in the Plaster”

Back in 1960 when I was in the first grade I recall doing an art project in our class. It actually was a project to make gifts for Mother’s Day. The gift we were crafting involved a disposable foil pie plate into which we poured plaster of Paris. We then quickly took both of our out-stretched hands and plunged then into the plaster leaving impressions of those little six year-old hands. These days I would need two extra large deep-dish pie plates to get imprints of these paws.

After we made our impressions each child took a Popsicle stick and wrote his or her name in the plaster below the handprints.

As we gazed on those prints with our names, I know that in our young minds, we were immortalized. To complete the project we were given a choice of paint colors; I remember selecting a royal blue.

Read the entire sermon...or download the Easter07 Sermon pdf.

“You’re Chosen! Really?”

Hey, I know. I’m as surprised to see you here today, as you must be to see me. I mean the Rapture was yesterday and we’re still here! Yesterday was the day the saved, the righteous believers, were supposed to be swept up into heaven. Those left behind were to experience Armageddon, a time of great tribulation until Christ comes again and the world as we know it ends. But as the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies tune say, “I’m still here!”

You know being here today means one of two things, either we are among those left behind or Harold Camping of the Family Radio Network who calculated May 21st as the day of the Rapture was wrong. Though I read that Camping is about 80 million dollars richer since he broadcast his calculation. Not a bad take for a ruse. I’ll leave you to your own conclusions about the Rapture. But ask yourself this: Anyone you know been missing as of yesterday?

Read the entire sermon...or download the Easter05 Sermon pdf.

May 18, 2011

Trinity Cathedral

Evensong Service

The Martyrs of Sudan

What comes to mind when you hear the word martyr? The first thing many of us may think of is the satirical expression, “Oh, what a martyr!” For full effect it is necessary to say this expression with an exaggerated, campy rolling of the eyes and a hand flung up on the forehead. Using the term, “Oh, what a martyr” is to describe a person who is always pointing out just how sacrificial they are on your behalf. They tell you this with a barely disguised sub-text of just how much suffering they are enduring and with a good dash of guilt thrown in for good measure. I call this tactic yanking my chain for sympathy.

Read the entire sermon...or download the Evensong Sermon PDF.

The Gospel that Provides Prosperity versus the Prosperity Gospel!

Two weeks ago I was at the Maumee Bay Convention Center attending the final workshop for the Calvin Institute Study that Christ Church has participated in this past year. Astoundingly when I arrived I learned that the conference center charges $7.00 per day for Internet access. Astounding because Internet access is free now a days at most places. As I am a thrifty Dutchman – read cheap here - I decided not to pay the additional fees, which would have totaled $21.00 for the time I was there.

Waking up on Tuesday morning I made coffee. Java in hand I went to my laptop to read The Plain Dealer and The New York Times. Oops! No Internet. What to do?
Well, there was a large plasma flat-screen television in my room, so I found the remote and clicked it on. I am not a big television morning news fan but I can do CNN Headline news and feel reasonably informed.

It was less than forty-eight hours after Osama bin laden had been killed and the talking heads were having a feeding frenzy. Once I had my fill of the news I began channel surfing.

Do you realize just how much Christian programming is on at 7 am on a weekday? Lots! There’s ...

Read the entire sermon...or download the Easter04 Sermon pdf.

Hearts Burning Within Us

[Pick up GPS unit]

Let’s see, “Navigation.”

Oh, a Warning. “Do not enter data or work the software controls while operating a vehicle.” Sure, okay. After all, I would never talk on my cell phone while driving, it’s way too dangerous, so why would I program my GPS while driving. Press, I Agree.

Ah, there it is, Menu. Then Destination. Address. City First. Type in the name of the town. E-M-M-A-U-S. Hit OK. Oh, what’s that, there’s no Emmaus listed. Hmmmm, must be too small a place to be picked up on the GPS.

Well, the Biblical text says Emmaus was seven miles from Jerusalem. Let’s see if that works. I can always ask for directions to Emmaus at some gas station in the Holy City. J-E-R-U-S-A-L-E-M. Yes! There’s Jerusalem. Press OK. What? No, not Jerusalem, Ohio! Jerusalem, Israel. Oh, great this GPS only finds locations in the USA and Canada. How I am going to get on the road to Emmaus so that I can encounter Jesus if my GPS can’t get me there?

Read the entire sermon...or download the Easter03 Sermon pdf.

Choo Choo, Choo Choo, Ch'boogie World

Every Good Friday I play CD’s of music appropriate to the solemnity of the day in the Great Hall. The music gently wafts through the building and is a suitable accompaniment to those praying at the Altar of Repose in the Chapel. Signs on all our entryways request that people engage in a respectful silence when they are in the building as well.

Together these two things create a subdued ambience in which to reflect on Jesus’ passion and crucifixion. It creates a subdued tone, befitting the day our Savior died.

This past Friday Miserere mei, Deus, “Have mercy on me, oh God,” a paraphrase of Psalm 51 by the seventeenth century Italian composer Gregorio Allegri, was playing. Suddenly I felt the urge for a cup of coffee. As many of you know my second office is the Starbucks across the street and so off I went for my caffeine fix.

Entering Starbucks I encountered a reality radically different from that at the church. That joint was jumpin’! Evidently people with Friday off needed a place to hang out and they were there in droves. Animating this exuberant scene further was the music coming through the speakers: Choo choo, choo choo, ch'boogie! Read the entire sermon...or download the EasterDaySermon pdf.

Good Friday: Feed Me This Day, by Nat Cooke

Oh, feed me this day, Holy Spirit, with
the fragrance of the fields and the
freshness of the oceans which you have
made, and help me to hear and to hold in all dearness
those exacting and wonderful words of our Lord Christ Jesus, saying, Follow me.

That is one of my favorite poems by Mary Oliver.

Peter Faass came up to me at the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and asked if I would do the Good Friday Homily this year. After a couple of stupid remarks on my part, I agreed. Later that evening, while washing more dishes than I had ever seen in my life, I started to ask myself why did he ask me, why did I agree and what, in the Lord’s name (to coin a phrase) did I have to say?

I never did answer the first question but realized that I did have something I wanted to say and that’s why I agreed. I believe that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried. Those that know me will recognize that that statement is almost, but not quite, the only thing that I agree with in the Nicene Creed.

Read the entire sermon...or download the GoodFridayHomily pdf.

Love versus Literalism

Have you ever seen a placard like this one? Where? It’s almost impossible to watch a professional football game without spotting at least one of these being held up by a fan in the stands.

Do you know the Biblical verse from John the placard references? We heard it a moment ago in our Gospel for the day.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”

Martin Luther called this verse “the Gospel in miniature.” Marcus Borg calls John 3:16, “the Heart of Christianity,” this love of God for the world and Jesus who is the embodiment and revelation of that love. Read the entire sermon...or download the Lent 2 Sermon(pdf).

Score One for the Serpent

The rubrics – or instructions - concerning the service for the liturgy of Holy Baptism require that prior to the service, “Parents and godparents are to be instructed in the meaning of Baptism, in their duties to help the new Christians grow in the knowledge and love of God, and in their responsibilities as members of his Church.”  ...

Many godparents and parents are more than a little perplexed and even a tad amused when we review the three renunciations of evil they are required to make as part of their commitment to the person being baptized. There reactions remind me that as a whole society does not take evil seriously. Read the entire sermon...or download the Lent 1 Sermon(pdf).

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday evokes some very powerful, negative feelings for people inside the Church. It also evokes some powerful reactions in people outside of the Church as well, but that is a result of their being unfamiliar and unknowledgeable about what Ash Wednesday signifies, well, that is, other than the arrival of Hot Cross Buns and pzacki doughnuts.

Have you experienced appearing in a public place with ashes on your foreheads and drawn some quizzical stares or even a gentle admonition from a nice person telling you that we have a smudge on your face? Read the entire sermon...or download the Ash Wednesday Homily(pdf).

Transfiguring Touch

At one point or another in your Christian journey you will hear the scriptures described like an onion with an infinite number of layers to be peeled, each revealing God’s meaning, or multiple meanings, found in the text. Those who have engaged in adult education at Christ Church have certainly heard me describe the Bible in this way. Well, sometimes even the teacher/preacher is brought up short by how true this simile is. Read the entire sermon...or download the "Transfiguring Touch" Sermon(pdf).

Deal!

How many of you know who Sue Sylvester is? Sue Sylvester is the cheerleading coach on the award winning, hit television show “Glee.”

Glee’s plot revolves around the lives and antics of the student glee club at William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. Glee’s conductor and the school Spanish teacher is Will Schuster, aka Mr. Schu. Will is a passionate man who labors tirelessly to turn the Glee Club into a first class competitive ensemble.

Sue Sylvester is Will’s nemesis. She hates the Glee Club –actually she hates just about everything - and virtually each episode of Glee has Sue plotting some despicable, dastardly deed against Glee and Mr. Schu. Read the entire sermon...or download the "Deal!" Sermon(pdf).

City on the Hill

“Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything.” (Matthew 5:13)

As many of you know I love to cook. And if there is one thing that cooks learns quickly it is that salt is often the fulcrum upon which the success or failure of a recipe rests. Too little and the dish is bland, having not reached its full flavor potential. Too much and the dish is inedible…

Jesus is speaking about salt as a symbol of faithfulness as well. If you have lost your saltiness, he says, you have lost your ability to be faithful to your relationship with God. God desires us to be robust and savory as we meld and add flavor into the recipe of building up God’s reign. Salt is symbolic of our fidelity and faithfulness to that relationship with God in making that recipe successful. If we have lost our saltiness the full flavor of that relationship fails to develop; it is bland. Read the entire sermon...or download the "City on the Hill" (pdf).

Blessed are the Meek

The American humorist and journalist, Donald Marquis, once quipped, “Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  Marquis’s tongue-in-cheek comment plays off of one of Jesus’ beatitudes we have heard this morning; “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”  

Humor is the high-pressure valve God designed in us to allow for a safe release of our anger, fears or frustration in times of difficult circumstances.Read the entire sermon...or download the "Blessed are the Meek" (pdf).

The Good News or the Bad?

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.”

We are reminded in today’s message from Matthew that the gospel is good news.  The good news is what Jesus proclaimed in his ministry; in fact it was its singular purpose.  The good news is the reason for Jesus’ birth and it was the cause for which he died. The word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell , meaning "good news" or "glad tidings."  It is a word-for-word translation of the Greek word euangelion  (eu- "good", -angelion "message"). Read the entire sermon...or download the "Good News Bad News?" (pdf).

Shouldn’t You Be Doing This?

There recently was an amusing television commercial that was sponsored by the investment company of Edward Jones. In the ad a doctor dressed in scrubs is speaking on the telephone. He’s giving instructions on where to make a surgical incision. The scene suddenly switches to the other end of the phone. A man with a worried look on his face is standing in his kitchen with his tee shirt held up around his abdomen. In his hand he is holding a household knife, asking “shouldn’t you be doing this?” Read the entire Baptism of Jesus sermon...or download the "Shouldn't You Be Doing This?" (pdf).

A Light to Enlighten Us All

Forty days after the birth of a first-born male, it was the requirement of Jews in Jesus’ day to present that male – whether beast and human – to the priests at the Temple as a thank offering to God. Animals were sacrificed on the altar. Human males were spared, having a purchased animal sacrificed as a substitute. Scripture tells us that Mary and Joseph fulfilled this religious requirement after Jesus’ birth. When Jesus’ parents walk into the Temple to perform this duty they encounter an elderly prophet named Simeon. Upon seeing Jesus, Simeon exclaims to God, “These eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see. A Light to enlighten the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” Read the entire sermon...or download the A Light to Enlighten Us All (PDF).

Home for the Holidays

“An angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Clearly Joseph’s dream was not of a White Christmas or visions of sugarplums dancing in his head! We don’t know if Joseph said anything in reply to the angel’s news – quite possibly he was rendered mute by the overwhelming, fearsome magnificence of the angel. But if he did say anything, I imagine it was something like this, “The child Mary is carrying was conceived by whom? You’re pulling my leg? You have got to be kidding me, Bro!” Read the entire sermon...or download the Home for the Holidays (PDF).

St. John the Baptist and St. Nicholas: The Saintly Odd Couple

An amazing art exhibition titled, “Treasurers of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe” is currently being displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I spent a lovely two hours last week, wondering as I wandered through this exquisite collection of reliquaries.For those unfamiliar with the term, a reliquary is a container for relics, which are the physical remains of saints, such as body parts, bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints and other religious figures. Read the entire sermon...or download the St. John the Baptist and St. Nicholas: The Saintly Odd Couple (PDF).

Biblically Literate . . . or not?
During the 2004 presidential primaries I lived in New Hampshire. One of the Democratic candidates – and New England's favorite son at the time – was Howard Dean, a former governor of Vermont. During one particular interview Dean was asked to name his favorite book in the New Testament. The hapless Dean hemmed and hawed and finally blurted out, "Job!" A book located for centuries in the heart of the . . . Old Testament. Read the entire sermon... or download the Biblically Literate . . . or not? (PDF).

All Saints Sermon
Jean Paul Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher. Existentialism believes that the focus of philosophical thought is to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and his or her emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts. Read the entire sermon... or download All Saints Sermon (PDF).

Luke versus Leviticus
Carol King sang, "I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down." How about you, do you feel the earth moving under your feet, a seismic shift causing you to wobble, or loose your balance? Is the sky tumbling down around you? Do you want to run into the street like Chicken Little crying, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" Read the entire sermon... or download Luke versus Leviticus (PDF).

The Nudnik Widow
The squeaky wheel gets oiled. Have you ever heard that saying? The squeaky wheel refers to a person who complains incessantly until they get the attention they need or the thing they want. We all know people like that. Some of us admire squeaky wheels for their persistence in obtaining what they need. Read the entire sermon... or download The Nudnik Widow (PDF).

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You
One of my favorite authors writing about the intersection of faith and life is Anne Lamott. In her book Traveling Mercies Anne writes, "here are the two best prayers I know: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Read the entire sermon... or download Thank You, Thank You, Thank You (PDF).

The Memo
Did you get "The Memo?" Oh, don't tell me that you missed the memo. It was sent to all of you. Look it says so right here in the, sent "To" line of this memorandum, to All People Who Believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And here it says whom it's from: Dives the Rich Man, that's me! Yep, that's what it says. So please tell me you got it. Read the entire sermon... or download The Memo (PDF).

Making God Rejoice
A Jewish story tells of the good fortunes of a hardworking farmer. The Lord appeared to this farmer and granted him three wishes, with the condition that whatever the Lord did for the farmer would be then given double to his neighbor. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for a hundred cattle. Immediately he received the hundred cattle and he was overjoyed until he saw that his neighbor had received two hundred cattle. Read the entire sermon... or download Making God Rejoice (PDF).

Counting the Cost
Has anyone ever tried to help you clear up a conundrum or major decision that you are facing in your life by saying hey, go and "do the math?" In other words take an inventory of all the facts, both the positive and the negative, then add them all up and see what you get? Doing the math means assessing whether or not you have the resources to successfully accomplish the task before you. If you do then by all means proceed forward. Read the entire sermon... or download Counting the Cost (PDF).

Hello and Goodbye
"We are here to worship a wonderful God. Don't come as slaves, come as those made free in Christ Jesus. Don't come as the unworthy, come as invited guests of our Lord...Come as the joyful, come as the eager, come as the thankful, come as the recipients of amazing grace." For me the Rev. Fairchild's words exude a sense of inclusion and welcome, just the right intro for a sermon on hello and goodbye. Read the entire sermon... or download Hello and Goodbye (PDF).

A Contemporary Parable of the Good Samaritan
Once upon a time there was a traveler named Cleveland. Cleveland had seen much during his life's journey. He often recalled with great fondness his halcyon days; a time of amazing prosperity, success and stability. Cleveland longed for those days to return to him again. Read the entire sermon... or download A Contemporary Parable of the Good Samaritan (PDF).

Soccer Silence
Read the entire sermon... or download Soccer Silence (PDF).

We are Ahab
Read the entire sermon... or download We are Ahab (PDF).

Divining an Act
Read the entire sermon... or download Divining an Act (PDF).

Are We Going to Get Any Better?
Read the entire sermon... or download Are We Going to Get Any Better? (PDF).

Dining with the Divine?
Read the entire sermon... or download Dining with the Divine? (PDF).

Easter Sermon: The Kind of Son Every Mother Has Been Looking For
Read the entire sermon... or download Easter Sermon: The Kind of Son Every Mother Has Been Looking For (PDF).

The Man from Nazareth: a Meditation
Read the entire sermon... or download The Man from Nazareth: a Meditation (PDF).

The Donkey
Read the entire sermon... or download The Donkey (PDF).

God is Not Fair!
Read the entire sermon... or download God is Not Fair! (PDF).

Via Media Sunday
Read the entire sermon... or download Via Media Sunday (PDF).

Ash Wednesday Sermon
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We Are The Net
Read the entire sermon... or download We Are The Net (PDF).

No Inalienable Status
Read the entire sermon... or download No Inalienable Status (PDF).

State of the Parish Address
Read the entire sermon... or download State of the Parish Address (PDF).

Add The Emoticon
Read the entire sermon... or download Add The Emoticon (PDF).

A Scandalous Revelation
Read the entire sermon... or download A Scandalous Revelation (PDF).