Social Distancing: A Means but Not the Dream
March 15, 2020
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
3rd Sunday in Lent – Year A
John 4:5-42
(gospel text provided below)
Not part of my vocabulary just five days ago, I’ve now used the phrase social distancing at least a dozen times in the past twenty-four hours. In response to concerns about the spread of the new COVID-19 virus, we’re embracing the call to limit in-person social interaction in the hope of “flattening the curve” (another newly adopted term) of the virus’s reach. 
And while social distancing may be new to our vernacular, its existence is as old as time. Perhaps not so much the mitigating risk kind we’re enacting today, but the kind that results when we exclude others because of who they are, what they’ve done, or how they live.
The story told in John’s gospel about Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman demonstrates social distancing on multiple levels. Read the rest of this entry »
Jesus our Life Preserver
March 8, 2020
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
2nd Sunday in Lent
John 3:1-17; Psalm 121
Listen here:
Sermon Transcript
“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.”
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February 26, 2020
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
Ash Wednesday
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Listen here (transcript below):
Sermon Transcript:
We heard words from the Prophet Joel this evening. He was speaking to a people in the midst of the ruin of their country. “Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sound the alarm on my holy mountain!” I heard an echo of this proclamation in a video that was shared by our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry this week, sounding an alarm. Read the rest of this entry »
Listening Every Step of the Way
February 23, 2020
Church of the Servant, Wilmington, NC
Last Sunday after Epiphany
Matthew 17:1-9
Listen here (transcript below):
Transcript of sermon:
Today is the last Sunday after Epiphany, which makes it the last Sunday before Lent, Each year on this particular Sunday we hear the story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop. Read the rest of this entry »
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