Sermons
Willingness by Amma Susan
I spied the man as I rounded the bend on the river trail. “What are you looking for?” I asked. “Gold”, he answered. He was poking around the bushes with a stick, whistling, as if hunting for something he might have lost. “Gold!” the sprightly senior retorted again, smirking and with a belly laugh that…
Vision Quest by Amma Susan
Baptized. Tempted. Sent. These are the three acts in today’s gospel drama.Baptism was the catalyst. Proclamation was the result.But the mystery unfolding, the challenge, the testing before something changed, when transformation took shape; that was wedged somewhere in the middle, and that’s where our gaze is focused – on The Vision Quest of Jesus.
Cross of Water
As I thought and thought, “what can we do ‘virtually’ in the moment when ashes would ‘normally’ be imposed? What would be most helpful to us, in these ‘not-even-close-to-normal’ times?
Verbo (Christmas 2020) by Tom Ward
Today’s Gospel of John has always been one of my favorites. As a boy, it thrilled me with an air of mystery and even magic – especially when intoned near the end of a Festival of Lessons and Carols or in a darkened church at Midnight Mass. I liked it way more than Luke’s cute…
Humpty Dumpty (Christmas Eve 2020) by Amma Susan
If sin means separation from God, then yes, of course Jesus was sinless, because there’s no distance between Jesus and God, and God and Spirit. And, when Jesus was born among us, as I preached last week, that’s the invitation for us to see and grasp that there it’s possible for us too, to know…
God Contained? (Adv4 Yr B) by Amma Susan
What can hold our God? It’s just mind-boggling to me, that The Creator of all things, The one who created heaven and earth and whom earth and even heaven itself cannot contain, would willingly go to the point of complete self-emptying, to be contained within the womb of a young woman.
Sleepwalking (Adv1 YrB) by Amma Susan
Sonambulism involves performing tasks that require a high-state of consciousness but are acted out often repetitively, in a low-state of consciousness; doing things of which we aren’t aware and don’t remember. It’s true on a theological level as well. Sonambulistic faith deflects rather than engages, turns away from what our Lord beckons us to see….
Ten Talents by Tom Ward 11-15-2020
Complacency is evil. Do-nothingness is evil. Lack of belief that God cares what we do is evil. We must act, even when action involves risk – like taking years of savings and spending on the Temple. God holds us to account for inaction. I’m reminded of what we said together as part of the Confession…
Wearing Light by Amma Susan Nov. 1, 2020
“Knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Christ.” This Collect so beautifully distills the essence of All Saints’, a day to pause and remember our inherited tradition dating back to at least the 4th century. More importantly, we remember that we are joined together, all saints: past, present,…
You Shall by Amma Susan Oct. 25, 2020
You shall, love God with every fiber of your being. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On this hangs all the law and prophets. No divided camps. One camp – the people of God. Jesus points out that it’s a win/win situation. Why seek to divide? Instead, reach across the aisle and invest in…