The Cauldron’s Call
August 14, 2016
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
13th Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 15
Isaiah 5:1-7; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
(Gospel Text provided below)
This Sunday morning we find ourselves just past the midway-point of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. I grew up watching the Olympics, and have been watching more than my fair share this year. I can pretty much watch any event, but the one that has taken most of my attention so far, besides watching the amazing U.S. women’s gymnastics team, has been swimming.
Katie Ledecky at the age of nineteen is a swimming phenom. Her strength is long-distance races, and she holds the world-record in the 400, 800, and 1,500 meter freestyle. When she races, her goal isn’t to beat other swimmers. Her goal is to beat herself – to BEST herself. She keeps beating her own records, including this past Friday night in the 800, when she beat her own world record by almost 4 seconds – proving that she’s not content to just hold onto what she’s already accomplished.
Leah Smith, after finishing 2nd behind Ledecky in the Olympic Trials last June said, “I’ve never been able to see her feet before. That was exciting.” This has become the new measure of success when competing with Ledecky.[i] What’s more, Ledecky just goes about her business in a quiet and humble way. No grandstanding, just focused on doing what she is purposed to do.
Prayer: Back to the Basics
July 24, 2016
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
10th Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 12
Luke 11:1-13
(Gospel Text provided below)
Today I’ll be sharing the pulpit with a couple folks who will be talking about Stewardship of Relationship. One is a member of Daughters of the King and the other is in the Order of St. Luke – both are prayer ministries at Christ Church. I don’t think the date was chosen based on the lectionary, so the fact that we’ve been provided with the quintessential gospel text for prayer gives some extra creds to the Holy Spirit!
And while prayer is certainly a way that we can be stewards of relationships with one another, it’s also a good way to be stewards of our relationship with God.
So with that in mind, what does this passage from Luke’s gospel tell us about prayer?
Prayer, in its simplest definition, is a way of connecting with God. Yet interestingly, the passage points out that it’s not instinctive. Prayer is actually a learned behavior. Even the disciples, these learners that are following Jesus, ask to be taught how to pray.
Summer Lessons from Luke
June 5, 2016
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Third Sunday After Pentecost – Proper 5
1 Kings 17:8-24; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 7:11-17
(Gospel Text provided below)
As you may know, I am one of five kids in my family. Before we came along, my mom was a 3rd grade elementary school teacher while Dad was in law school. By the time Dad finished, they had had their first child and the rest, including me, weren’t far behind! So, when my parents moved back to Houston, my mom stopped teaching… in the classroom at least – she had plenty of her own pupils underfoot!
When we reached elementary school-age, Mom knew from her time as a teacher that it’s hard for kids to retain over the summer what they learned the previous school year. So at the beginning of each summer, she’d load us into the wood-paneled station wagon and we’d head to the Teacher’s Supply Store. Each of us would get two workbooks – one English and one Math – and we’d be expected to spend time each day doing workbook exercises. So, although it was summer break from school, it wasn’t a total break from learning. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gift that Keeps On Giving
May 15, 2016
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Day of Pentecost
Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, 25-27
I’d like to see a show of hands… how many of you have a birthday that falls during the summer months? I have a summer birthday. It’s in late July.
Summer birthdays are different than school-year birthdays. If you were like me, your birthday parties probably had fewer school friends, who were scattered for the summer. Instead, you’d have kids from the neighborhood pool and family. When I was young, I always wanted a school-year birthday because it seemed like they got more attention. I contend this isn’t just true for our personal birthdays, but also for the birthday of the church.
That’s what today is after all – Pentecost Sunday! The Birthday of the Church.
Now, unlike our birthdays which fall on the same date each year, Pentecost falls on different days because it’s always 50 days after Easter and Easter moves around. This year Easter was pretty early, so while Pentecost is usually a summer-birthday-kind-of-day, this year it’s been upgraded to a school-year birthday! So instead of a lot of folks being scattered, we’re all here to celebrate together!
We’ve got our festive red outfits on, our flamed-ribbon-sticks in-hand, a dove flying in the procession, special music – the works! It’s quite a birthday celebration for the Church!
But why is Pentecost considered the birthday of the church?
jodygreenwood 