Deepening our Rootedness
December 2, 2012
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Sermon on Luke 21:25-36, given while serving as seminarian
Advent 1 – Year C (RCL)
Jeremiah 33:14-16, 1Thessalonians 3:9-13 & Luke 21:25-36
Good morning! Welcome back into the sanctuary of Christ Church!
What an exciting way to begin a new church year… with a new look, though not completely changed. A familiarity, yet some things have changed. Not just the colors of the altar coverings and vestments this year, but transformation of the sanctuary itself.
For those of you who were able to be with us for worship in the Youth Center the past few Sundays, you have a double change – you might actually be missing the fall leaves as the backdrop to the altar, as nature enhanced that worship space. Or, for some who have attended Christ Church for a long time, the changes made in this sanctuary might take some getting used to, not because they aren’t wonderful and welcome, but simply because they are different.
You see, each new beginning is always accompanied by the ending of something else. Even when that “something new” is desired – it could be a new job or school, a new relationship, a new community to live in, or the new look of the sanctuary. These are things we embrace and welcome, yet still there is an adjustment and something left behind.
Other changes may not be of our choosing… to live without someone we’ve lost, either to death, divorce or distance; or we may find ourselves unemployed, losing not only the security of a paycheck, but interaction with colleagues and a life-structure we had grown accustomed to. The upcoming holidays can make these unwanted changes even more difficult.
On this first Sunday of Advent, the gospel reading itself is unfamiliar and jarring. As we are beginning a new church year, the apocalyptic message foretells dramatic, catastrophic ending of things. Jesus speaks of signs in the sky, and on the earth that will cause distress among the nations. He warns his disciples that “people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” and even the “powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Read the rest of this entry »
A Decision of Faith
April 15, 2012
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Sermon given while serving as seminarian
First Sunday of Easter – Year B (RCL) – Acts 4:32-35, Psalm 133, 1 John 1:1-2:2, John 20:19-31
On Labor Day morning eight years ago I got a phone call from my parents telling me that my older sister Kathy had been taken to the hospital, and that they were going there to check on her. It didn’t sound dire at the time, so I was shocked when I received another call just twenty minutes later, telling me that she had died.
My first need was to find out what had caused the death of my 41 year old sister – the sister I had just seen a few weeks earlier at my parent’s house as we gathered to celebrate our nephew’s birthday. What was a “pulmonary embolism”? … I needed to know.
Next, I needed to DO something. So, I offered to call my twin sister, Nancy, to tell her of Kathy’s death. This was the first time I delivered the unwelcome and shocking news to another person, but not the last. I began to call other relatives and family friends, telling each what little I knew…
In hindsight, I realized that I needed to say the words “Kathy has died.” It was in the repeated telling that I came to believe that it was true.
Over the course of the day, people started gathering at my parent’s home in Houston. My younger sister and I headed to the house. My brother made the three-hour drive from San Antonio. Nancy quickly packed a few things and caught a flight from Georgia. My aunts, uncles and cousins began rearranging their lives so they could come to Houston for the next few days…
And so, we gathered together.
Prayerful waiting for the Holy Spirit
June 5, 2011
Emmaus House Episcopal Chapel, Atlanta, GA
7th Sunday of Easter – Year A (RCL) – Acts 1:6-14, Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36, 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11, John 17:1-11
For those who don’t know it, I have a twin sister whose name is Nancy. When we were seniors in high school, one of the biggest decisions we each had to make was what college we would go to.
Now, unlike some twins, neither Nancy nor I cared about going to the same school as each other, but as it turns out, we both wanted to go to the same school. We both wanted to go to Sewanee – in Tennessee. And we were both happy when we were each accepted. It wasn’t until later that we found out that this was a problem.
My parents knew that college was an important time to find your own way in the world – to discover who you are as an individual. Twins going to a small school on top of a mountain was not a good idea, and one afternoon in March of our senior year, my father said as much. So, since Nancy had chosen Sewanee first, it was incumbent upon me to find another place to go.
I knew if I stayed in Texas it would be very easy for me to fall back into the comfortable care of my youth-group friends and family spread out across southeast Texas. In light of this, going out-of-state seemed to be a better option.
After some direction from my mom, I settled on Wittenberg University, a small Lutheran liberal arts school in Springfield, Ohio. My uncle had worked there when I was very young so we spent many summer vacations with cousins running around the empty campus – this element of familiarity was a plus considering that I’d be so far from home, so Wittenberg was the choice.
In early September, the time had come to leave for school. My mom decided that it would be best for her to fly with me as opposed to me traveling alone. She realized that I wasn’t experienced enough to make that trip by myself… and she was right. Read the rest of this entry »
Making room for new things
April 3, 2011
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Given while serving as a seminarian
Fourth Sunday in Lent – Year A (RCL) – 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41
We often joke when talking about going to therapy that at some point it always boils down to the realization that “It’s all our parents’ fault.” For anyone who thought that this was a NEW concept, you need to look no further than today’s gospel when some two thousand years ago we hear the disciples ask Jesus, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Now for some of the parents out there, the ones who are inclined to carry this kind of guilt, and you know who you are… this question may have been enough to send your mind wandering, so you probably missed Jesus’ response. I’ll repeat it for you because it is good news, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”
Then Jesus precedes to make mud, mixing dirt with his own saliva, spreading it on the eyes of the blind man and telling him to “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” The beggar went and washed and when he returned he was able to see, but Jesus was nowhere to be found. This man was now, on his own, having to explain what had happened.
His neighbors, those who had seen him everyday begging in the street, weren’t even sure this was the same person. Even when the man himself was saying “I am he,” they continued to question if this was truly the blind beggar. Read the rest of this entry »
jodygreenwood 