St George's Sermon Blog

Luke 8:26-39 So today we are having our Ministry Celebration.   A day where we celebrate our shared ministry together.   The ministry of all believers.   And especially the often overlooked and unseen ministry of folks who quietly toil away at activities inside and outside the church, that make a huge difference in the life of the church and the world but often goes unnoticed.     We wanted to take time recognize all the ways that the people of St George’s work together to make this place what it is.   And this day has been in the works for months.   We worked out the whole summer schedule, we picked a date, we planned and announced things, we got things set up.   And then a couple of weeks ago I went and actually looked at the texts for today, and they are a mess.   This is really not anything near the bible texts I would have picked in order to talk about the church’s shared mission.   So much so I seriously thought about trying ...

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Today is the Festival of the Holy Trinity.   The only week in the entire church year devoted to a doctrine of the church.   It is a festival devoted to entirely to an idea.   Unlike most of the commemorations of the church year which focus on specific events in the life of Christ or biblical events in the history of the church, Holy Trinity Sunday focus on the doctrine of the Trinity, the concept of God as Three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit united together as a single undivided God.   But the Trinity is complex, confusing and always shrouded in mystery.     We struggle to find language to even describe much less understand the nature of the Trinity.   Countless books and seminary classes and sermons and lectures have been devoted to the topic, yet many of us still struggle to understand how God can be three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and yet still one God.   And I was bad at my Systematic Theol...

  John 14:8-17 Today is the great festival of Pentecost in the church.   One of a handful of major festivals that shape the whole of the church year.   It is the birthday of the church, the festival of the Holy Spirit.   But it is also one the grates a bit against Episcopalian sensibilities.   Because 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.   Maybe that is why this is a holiday where we tend to keep our celebrations smaller.   Anyone can handle Christmas and Easter.   They deal with discrete historical events, events that perhaps most importantly happened to someone else.   We can easily 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...

  Acts 16:16-40; John 17:20-26 Now I must confess, I did sort of a mean thing to you all.   Last week we talked about the conversion of Lydia and start of Paul’s ministry in Philippi.   And I made it sound so fun and easy.   I told you all you have to do is show up and God will do the work, the Holy Spirit will change the world.   And that is absolutely true.   But what I didn’t tell you last week is that sometimes showing up is hard.   Sometimes showing up is dangerous.   Sometimes showing up can be deadly. Because Paul’s story in Philippi doesn’t end with Lydia’s conversion.   Her and her household are baptized and they invite Paul and Silas to stay with them.   And it was fine at first because Lydia wasn’t actually from Philippi and her household weren’t actually Romans and who really cares what a woman does.   But then before too long all hell breaks loose.   And that is our story today, what happens when Paul decides to ...