St George's Sermon Blog

  I Corinthians 12:3b-13 Today is the great festival of Pentecost in the church, one of the Holiest days of the church year.   The day we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit.   It is the birthday of the church, the festival of the Holy Spirit.   But it is also a little weird and scary.   Quite frankly Pentecost can be a little intimidating.   I mean just look at the story, rushing wind, tongues of fire, people suddenly and impulsively speaking in foreign languages, generally making a public spectacle of themselves.   This holiday can be a little hard to get behind.   Anyone can handle Christmas and Easter.   They deal with discrete historical events, events that perhaps most importantly happened to someone else.   We easily try to can sit by and stand as silent witnesses to the events of Jesus’s birth, life and death, but not Pentecost.   In a world full of spectator events, Pentecost is a full contact sport.   No one kn...

  1 PETER 4:12-14; 5:6-11   “Like a roaring lion your adversary the Devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour,” that someone could be you or me, or all of us, what is a Christian to do? Peter admonishes us to discipline ourselves, keep alert and resist ol’ Lucifer while staying true to our faith by being humble and giving up any anxiety we may feel to God’s care. He further reminds us that our brothers and sisters are facing the same kinds of situations as we are, we are not alone. Now, our undisciplined gut reaction may be to focus on amassing as much physical might as possible, where can I buy an AK-47 or a 357 magnum? Maybe I should watch a bunch of Dirty Harry movies to prepare myself for any conflict that lies ahead – ( imitates Clint Eastwood ) “Go Ahead Devil You Punk, Make My Day!” Hmmm I’m not sure if that sounded more like Dirty Harry or Reagan? As reassuring as that power trip might seem initially, it is not the disciplined response that Pete...

  Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11 by  The Rt. Rev. Carol J. Gallagher, PhD It is time for Jesus to depart from his disciples, those people who have been with him through thick and thin. Throughout our lives, we have times when we have to let go of loved ones, even when we wish we had more time together. Jesus is leaving his adopted family, the ones he cares for like a parent.  He knows them intimately. He knows them well enough to understand how quickly they can stray off course, fight with one another, and make a mess of many things. He loves them despite all their foibles, their pettiness, their greed, jealousy, and selfish ways. Human, like us, Jesus prayed for them as one who loved them completely and ached for them to have good productive lives and ministry. He wanted them to get beyond their differences and work together for the good of the world. Like Jesus, we make a constant prayer for those we love: that they are protecte...

  Acts:17:22-31 This is the last time you will get to hear from me during the Easter season, as next week is morning prayer and you will get another rousing sermon from Rev instead.   So I realized I would be remiss if I didn’t take at least some time with the other major voice of the Easter season, the Book of Acts.   I don’t know if you noticed, but for the last 6 weeks our First Lesson instead of coming from the Old Testament as it does the rest of the year, comes from the book of Acts.   Which is wonderful little book wedged between the end of the Gospels and the start of Paul’s letters in the New Testament that tells the story of what happens to the disciples after Jesus’s death, resurrection and ascension.   It follows the stories of several of them, mostly Peter and Paul as they travel around spreading the good news of Jesus and founding the first Christian communities.   And it is one of my favorite books in the entire bible, not only because it...

  John 14:1-14 So we are back today in the Gospel of John.   And our lectionary timeline has gone a little wonky again.   So we spent the first 3 weeks of the Easter season hearing stories that all took place basically on Easter day, then we took a weird detour off into the sheepfold for Good Shepherd Sunday last week and now we are going to travel back in time to right before Easter, to Maundy Thursday if you will, to the night of the Last Supper.   Where this week we get to hear the beginning of this very long speech that Jesus gives to his disciples the night before he is crucified.   It is his instructions to his disciples as he prepares them and all who will come after them for life together once he ceases to be there in the flesh with them.   And Jesus begins his long final talk with this disciples with a promise.   A very powerful promise.   Now Jesus doesn’t promise them what they might want or expect, he doesn’t promise them safety ...

  John 10:1-10 Today, this fourth Sunday of Easter is a wonderful little day each year where we get to celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.   Every year we read Psalm 23 paired with a portion of John chapter 10 about shepherds and sheep.   And it is sometimes accompanied by all manner of interesting traditions.   I had one church where they brought in a live lamb every year or another where the children would dress up in sheep costumes and sing.   But don’t worry, I am not going to get up to any crazy shenanigans here this year, but we still do have to think a bit about shepherds and sheep today. As we should, because this image of the Lord as the Good Shepherd who cares for the sheep is one of the most pervasive and beloved themes in the entire bible.    From the very beginning of the bible narrative, shepherds have played a key role.   The great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as Moses were all shepherds by trade, who shepherded Go...