Here I Am
December 23, 2012
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas
Advent 4, Year C – Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)
Good morning, I’m so excited to be here today. There are so many familiar faces… Not just those I’m related to… it seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in the pews alongside you… In some ways at least. But, I know that can’t be, because there are some unfamiliar faces, too… which is always a good sign for a church!
I remember several years ago, when I was one of those unfamiliar faces at St. Andrews. One Sunday I showed up anticipating Barbara’s sermon, and there was this young guy who got up to preach. I could tell that many in the congregation were excited to see him, but I had no idea who he was… I was a little disappointed I wasn’t getting to hear Barbara, but, that’s the way it goes sometimes…
This guy who was preaching that day was Kevin Schubert. He, like me now, had just returned from seminary, and was newly ordained… I now understand what the fuss was all about! As I stand here with eager faces before me, welcoming me back into the community that has been an important part of my journey.
I came to St. Andrews about seven years ago, while I was on the path to discerning my vocation. I had been in Banking for twenty years, and although I feel that some people are called to a vocation in banking, really I do, I also know very confidently that I am not one of them. It’s not that I wasn’t good at it, it just wasn’t what I thought I was supposed to be doing any longer… And so, I began listening for what was next. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
