Heart and Mind Transformed
April 15, 2018
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
3rd Sunday of Easter
Luke 24:36b-48; Acts 3:12-19
Listen here:
Gospel Text:
Jesus himself stood among the disciples and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Be Silent No More
April 1, 2018
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
Easter Sunday
Mark 16:1-8
Listen here:
Gospel Text:
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Bursting Bubbles of Darkness
March 11, 2018
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
4th Sunday in Lent
Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21
Listen here:
Gospel Text:
Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
A link to the video op ed mentioned in the sermon: Video Op Ed
Footnotes/Sources:
Anthony Smith, “Brittany Packnett: This is how we talk about the black victims of gun violence in America” March 6, 2018 https://mic.com/articles/188318/brittany-packnett-this-is-how-we-talk-about-the-black-victims-of-gun-violence-in-america#.i7rj3LMlK
“Episcopal House of Bishops meeting in retreat accepts statement on gun violence,”
The Episcopal Church, March 7, 2018. https://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/episcopal-house-bishops-meeting-retreat-accepts-statement-gun-violence
“Do you live in a bubble? A quiz,” PBS News Hour, Economy, Mar 24, 2016 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/do-you-live-in-a-bubble-a-quiz-2
Living the Cross
February 25, 2018
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
2nd Sunday in Lent
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38
Listen here:
For those interested, here’s a link to Kenny Chesney’s “Noise” – enter at your own risk:
Gospel Text:
Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Source: The Rev. John S. Bunting, The Secret of a Quiet Mind: The Building of the Life Within, Fleming H. Revell Company, 1929: New York, Kessinger Legacy Reprints.
