A New Commandment
April 24, 2016
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
5th Sunday of Easter – 8:00 am service
Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35
Earlier this month, on April 4th, I was listening to NPR as I was getting ready for my day. They were talking about this day being the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Each year, as part of the retelling of that story, an excerpt from his final speech, given the night before, is always included.
The year was 1968 and King was in Memphis, Tennessee speaking on behalf of the sanitation workers, among other things. In his speech he shared that the flight out of Atlanta that morning had been delayed because, knowing that King would be on-board, they had taken extra security measures to ensure the plane and its contents hadn’t been tampered with. King had also heard of threats after arriving in Memphis. Yet, in his speech on April 3rd, he ended with these familiar words:
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.
And I don’t mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I’m happy, tonight.
I’m not worried about anything.
I’m not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!”[i]
Wonder Leads the Way
January 6, 2016
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The Feast of the Epiphany
Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
Tonight’s gospel reading is the familiar story of the three wise men from the East. They’ve seen a distant star and embark on a long journey to pay homage to a newborn messiah.
Christmas Pageants and Nativity Scenes include these three characters alongside the shepherds, donkeys, sheep, Mary and Joseph as they all surround Baby-Jesus in the manger. 
The problem is, in Matthew’s gospel there is no manger scene – no census; no long journey to Bethlehem; no “no vacancy” inns – there’s no stable at all. That’s all in Luke’s gospel. Read the rest of this entry »
The Future for Jesus
September 20, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 17th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 20
Proverbs 31:10-31; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8; Mark 9:30-37
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
This past Friday I spent the morning at All Saints, in Atlanta. Bishop Andy Doyle was there – he’s the bishop from my home diocese in Texas. He was talking about his new book: Church: A Generous Community Amplified for the Future.
Pointing to the future, he shared a couple of videos. These videos included images like self-driving cars, and 3-D printers that not only create parts for cars, but implantable organs for our bodies. 
We saw integrated technologies that anticipate our every need, and a tube-passenger train that gets us from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. Some of these futuristic imaginings are already underway, while others are only in their early stages – but all could be viable in the next fifty years.
Bishop Doyle pointed out that the business world thinks a lot about the future. It looks at current trends and considers shifts in cultural behavior. From there, it explores the possibilities of what is needed to meet future needs, and then begins to lead society in a direction of what the next reality will look like for us.
In our time together, Bishop Doyle challenged us, as clergy, to do some of this same kind of future-looking work in the church. He pointed out that the church isn’t historically good at this kind of future-looking work, which is probably true. But, I don’t think this is unique to our generation. I don’t even think it’s unique to Christianity. We get a sense of how difficult making shifts to new things can be, even 2000 years ago, when Jesus came to start a new thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Rest, Rejuvenation & Re-formation
July 19, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 8th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 11
2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
So, remember two weeks ago… the disciples were empowered and sent out by Jesus, two by two, with only a staff in hand and sandals on their feet. They went out to do God’s work in the world.
In today’s lesson we see that they have returned from their work. They are gathered around Jesus telling him all about their excursions! They were probably amazed by how much they’d been able to accomplish – preaching, being witnesses for God, and healing the sick – these are the things Jesus had been doing – and now the disciples saw that by trusting in God, having been empowered by Jesus, they could do it, too!
I can imagine the scene – all the disciples trying to get a word in edgewise. The pairs of disciples were likely finishing each others’ sentences as they told their stories; marveling at the work they’d done on the journey; meeting new people in unfamiliar places. They were told to take no food, no money, no extra clothes, and now they’ve come back and are sharing stories of how their needs were met by the kindness of strangers; adding to the excitement of having embodied God’s work in the world!
When you get that fired -up about things, you just want to keep going, and going and going, right? You’re touching lives! You’re making a difference! You’re on-fire for Jesus!!!
And then what happens? Mark’s gospel says:
Photo by Jody (Iona, Scotland)
(Jesus) said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. (Mk 6:31-32)
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