Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Some of you prepare for our worship together on Sunday mornings by reading the lessons appointed for the day ahead of time. If you do that, you realize that we are in the time of the year when we are reading the Gospel according to St. Luke in sequence. Thus, last week we read from Chapter 10 the story of Mary and Martha. Today we picked up where we left off, with the beginning of Chapter 11, where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. One of the things I love about the lectionary is that if you never open a Bible at home—which I don’t recommend, by the way—if you come to church every Sunday and every major holy day, you are going to hear most all of the New Testament and a good deal of the Old Testament.

As was his custom, Jesus had been praying. His disciples were aware of that fact, and when he finished praying, they asked him to teach them to pray. That was the occasion when he gave them what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer. St. Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, as you probably noticed, is a little different from St. Matthew’s, which is the one that is better known. Today I will just deal with St. Luke’s version.

The disciples’ request, “Teach us to pray,” is a request commonly heard by priests and pastors today, as it must have been in every generation. It is asked in a variety of ways: What is prayer? Why should I pray? What is the best way to pray? Continue reading ‘Sermon - 25 July 2010’ »

Sermon Preached by The Rev. Lance Wallace

According to the dictionary a hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds and noble qualities. We admire heroes. We want to be like them. Typically movies are around heroic figures that through some act of bravery and self-sacrifice save the day or the city or the country, or the world. Or they may overcome some big obstacle and achieve something great.

Frequently we think of soldiers, or policeman, or fireman as heroes for bravery and for self-sacrifice. Sometimes we think of people like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King as heroes because they stood for noble causes and were martyred for those causes. In the Bible there are different types of heroes and we learn of one in today’s reading from Genesis.

The Genesis reading tells the story of the occasion when the Lord visits Abraham and Sarah at the Oaks of Mamre to tell them that in about a year Sarah will have a child. That’s pretty exciting news! What is Sarah’s response to this announcement? Did she drop down to her knees in gratitude and thanksgiving? Does she begin to weep with joy? No, Sarah laughed. Continue reading ‘Sermon - 18 July 2010’ »

Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The 7th Sunday after Pentecost

We love the Parable of the Good Samaritan, don’t we? For most everyone here, it is a parable we could tell from memory, unlike so much of the rest of the Bible for most Christians. We can barely utter the word Samaritan without adding the word good. Because of this parable, the two are synonymous.

Yet, the people who first heard this parable would not have liked it at all. No doubt, some who heard it might even have thought, “Jesus, I would have liked you a whole lot better if you hadn’t told that story!”

You see, Samaritans and Jews were mortal enemies. In our own Civil War times, it would have been as if Jesus had told the Parable of the Good Yankee, if he was in the South, or the Parable of the Good Rebel, if he was in the North. Or in our own day, it might be the Parable of the Good Muslim Terrorist. Why couldn’t he tell a nice story, with the good neighbor being someone we want to like, rather than someone we want to hate? Continue reading ‘Sermon - 11 July 2010’ »

Sermon by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

What did we say at the end of the Gospel? Praise to you, Lord Christ? Did you really mean that? Did you really hear what the Gospel was saying? What we heard in the Gospel appointed for today is what I call some of the hard sayings of Jesus.

Where is the tender Christ who suffers little children to come to him? The comforting Christ who gives hope to the poor? The Christ who cares more for the one lost lamb than the 99 safe in the fold? Where is the Jesus who cries when he hears the news that his good friend Lazarus is dead? These are the images that come to mind when we think of our Lord and our relationship with him. Continue reading ‘Sermon - 27 June 2010’ »

The Rev. Richard Lampert
Pentecost 4
Father’s Day

“What is your name? My name is Legion, for we are many!” Lk. 8.26-39

Mother’s Day (the Second Sunday in May) was always greeted with much enthusiasm in the early 1900‘s. Father’s Day was met with laughter and ridicule by many people and newspapers. Some called it just another campaign to fill the calendar with “mindless commercial promotions.” Some days it’s tough to be a Father, a Mother or a Kid!

Thanks be to God for Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington! In 1909, while listening to a sermon about the newly recognized Mother’s Day in The Central Methodist Episcopal Church, she decided that fatherhood also needed to be honored! She wanted a celebration that would respect fathers like her own. William Jackson Smart (a Civil War veteran) raised his family of six by himself after his wife died giving birth to their last child. Since Sonora’s dad was born in June, she chose to celebrate Father’s Day on June 19, 1910. Today, Father’s Day is celebrated in 55 countries on the third Sunday of June. Today, we honor fathers (and mothers and kids too)! Continue reading ‘Sermon - 20 June 2010’ »

Sermon Preached by the Rev. Richard Marsden
Proper 5 (10) RCL

Luke 7: 11-24

This day some many years ago was a very lonely day for one man; possibly the loneliest of his life.

Some hours before he had made a crucial decision—a decision that was his and his alone to make. This decision put hundreds of thousands of lives at stake and would indeed, he knew, cost hundreds if not thousands of lives. He felt the responsibility for those lives.

It is not far fetched to say that on his one decision the life of nations depended—the future of the world itself rested on this man’s yes or no. Continue reading ‘Sermon - 6 June 2010’ »

Sermon Preached by the Rev. Richard Marsden
Pentecost 10

John 14:8-27
Acts 2:1-21

I know some of you are a bit confused about what just happened. The gospel lesson was read in a number of different languages—and it probably felt a bit like this on that day we celebrate today, so many years ago –where untrained, common men—in the days before Rosetta Stone—proclaimed the gospel miraculously to the world. This holy day reminds us of an amazing event, and an amazing heritage that maybe we don’t give enough attention to these days. Continue reading ‘Sermon - 23 May 2010’ »

The Rev. Richard Lampert
Easter IV

Ps.23-J. 10-Hymn 645

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I shall fear no evil: for thou art with me …..

Today, in churches all over the world is Good Shepherd Sunday! The 23rd Psalm, its companion story in The Gospel of John chapter 10, the beloved Hymn 645 may all well be among the most cherished biblical stories and musical scores found anywhere in our Christian liturgical tradition. Listen to the familiar comfortable words: “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,…(John); The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, he makes me lie down in green pastures, ….., he restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake; Yea, though ….(Psalm); The King of love my shepherd is, whose goodness fail–eth never… (hymn) Who amongst us here today when we hear these so treasured words does not feel our own very heart jump for joy? I think no one! I trust none of us! Continue reading ‘Sermon - 25 April 2010’ »

Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Third Sunday of Easter

On a cool, fall day two old duffers were seated on a river bank, fishing. Not a single bite for a couple of hours. Along came a little boy, who sat down between them and caught one fish after another. “How do you do that?” asked one of the old boys.

The lad mumbled something, but the men couldn’t understand what he was saying, so one of them admitted, “Son, I’m hard of hearing. What did you say?”

The little fellow spat several worms out of his mouth into his hand, and practically shouted, “You got to keep your worms warm.” Continue reading ‘Sermon - 18 April 2010’ »

Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Easter Day

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
“Hail, Thee, Festival Day, blest day that art hallowed for ever; day whereon Christ arose, breaking the kingdom of death.” This is the day that turned the disciples of Jesus from being fearful, defeated human beings into powerful proclaimers of the Gospel. This is the day when sin and death are defeated, and we are reconciled to God. This is the day when “Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.” This is the day that changed the course of history. We are here today because our lives have been changed for ever because of the risen Christ who is alive and lives in us. Alleluia! Continue reading ‘Sermon - 4 April 2010’ »