St George's Sermon Blog

  Matt 14:22-33 So last week while I was away you all got to hear the story about Jesus feeding the 5000 with only 5 loaves and 2 fish.   And you learned that God is Good, all the time and will always provide what we need.   And then today we pick the thread back up and hear this story about Jesus and the storms on the sea.   And it provides with yet another great opportunity to think about how God is present with us in good times and bad. At the beginning of our story, after accomplishing this great feeding miracle Jesus is very worn out, so he makes the disciples go on ahead of him to the other side of the sea.   And this is a bit of an interesting choice, because in the Gospels crossing to the “other side” of the sea is almost always a metaphor for going out to do ministry in the midst of new people in the world.   Often among gentiles or less receptive crowds.   And so in this way, it is not so different than other stories we have heard in our ...

  Sometimes Thinking…, Proper 13 (A) – 2005 July 31, 2005 Ken Kesselus Sometimes thinking in the Episcopal Church is too sophisticated. Sometimes, we tend to miss simple truths, stated plainly and simply. How many of us would feel comfortable in a congregation where the people express a form of the old time religion? One such church developed a kind of chant that expressed a simple truth. The preacher would shout, “God is good.” The congregation would enthusiastically reply, “All the time.” It was their way of affirming truths about the power of God to provide for God’s people. Is this a fundamental truth of the Christian Gospel? Today we learn anew from today’s Gospel that God is God—that God will provide what we need. We re-learn, in the midst of the Body of Christ, that God will lift up among us resources to accomplish holy and life-giving purposes. In today’s Gospel we encounter hungry people being met by a suggestion from the disciples that Jesus send them away to get somethin...