Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood…” these are the opening lines from Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. It has to do with choosing and decision making. According to some psychologists, a person makes several thousand choices or decisions a day. The reading from Old Testament story with Jacob and Esau has to do with choices, in particular the choice that Esau makes. To paraphrase from an Indiana Jones movie, “Esau, you have NOT chosen wisely!” The passage in Romans has to do with choices, our choices, whether we choose to live according to the Spirit or to the flesh. And the Gospel has choices as a theme as well.
Now some would say the parable in Matthew 13 is really not about choices, but more about simply telling what happens when God’s word is spoken. And that is true if one looks at the parable from the perspective of the one sowing the seeds. But that is not the perspective I would like to look at this parable. Continue reading ‘Sermon – Sunday 10 July, 2011/The Rev. Lance Wallace’ »

I want to start off this morning with a little history quiz:

In 1754, what colonel of Virginia Militia surrendered Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania to the French? (George Washington.)

In 1775 what Virginian, appointed by the Continental Congress, took command of the continental army at Cambridge, MA? (George Washington.)

In 1863, this famous civil war battle culminated in a famously failed charge of confederate forces under the command of General George Picket. (Gettysburg.)

For sports fans, in 1962 this man became the first African-American to be inducted into the national baseball hall of fame. (Jackie Robinson.)

All these events happened on this very day, 3 July.

You did very well. You remember where we have been.

Where are you from? It is a simple question really. How many times have you been asked that by an acquaintance, or a friend?

Where are you from? It is actually a very significant question, a question that will reveal you to another, gives them a sense of who you are, what has shaped you and formed you.

How you answer that allows another to understand you better; it builds relationships, allows for greater intimacy of conversation. Or not!

When we first came to Florida and people would ask me: Where’re you from, I would say Connecticut because that is where I spent most of my early childhood. And immediately I would be classed as a Yankee which had a whole catalog of qualities and characteristics attached to it by polite southern folk.

Or to the less polite, I was a Yankee with an adjective preceding that would imply that either my origin or destiny was related to the infernal regions where the devil and Bill Sherman presided.

So I learned. When good southern folk ask me: Where are you from, I say Connecticut but southern Connecticut, and it seems to make a difference!

When I was a child there was a series on TV – whose name I cannot now remember – about a man who awoke one day and could not remember where he was from. He had amnesia. He was rootless and thus identity-less. He didn’t know who he was and how he fit in, and the show went on weekly with him trying discover his roots, who he was. Continue reading ‘Sermon preached Sunday July 3, 2011/The Rev. Richard C. Marsden’ »

A mother and father were having an argument, hot and heavy. Words were stabbing the air fast and furious. Junior came in unnoticed, jumped up on the table, held up his arms, and shouted, “Peace, be still.”

Astonished, the parents directed their gaze to the peacemaker and both burst out laughing. “Where did you hear that?” Mother asked. “I learned at Sunday School that our Lord spoke like that at the roaring of the waves and they kept still.”

The Gospel we heard today isn’t what we would expect to hear from our Lord. It isn’t what we want to hear. It isn’t what we think we need to hear. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” What about the message of the angels, who proclaimed at Jesus’ birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men?” The song that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, sang in anticipation of the coming of Christ, says that Jesus “will guide our feet into the way of peace.” In another place we read Jesus’ words to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my own peace I give to you.” And after his resurrection, as he met with his disciples, the first words he spoke were, “Peace be with you.”

Continue reading ‘Sermon – Sunday June 26, 2011/The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson’ »

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Today is one of the most awesome feasts in the Christian faith. It is the day we celebrate the reality I just affirmed in the opening prayer.

Isn’t that exciting? Can I get an alleluia! That’s not very enthusiastic!

Why is it that this feast day doesn’t get the same level of excitement and involvement as say Christmas, or Easter, or even Pentecost? This is one of those feast days that just sort of happens; we do it. There is no real excitement. Many of us really wonder why we do it. We wouldn’t miss it if we didn’t celebrate it.

In fact, this feast day is the foundation of every other feast day in the Christian calendar; it is the seed bed out of which the rest of our more well-known feast days spring to life. In fact, this day celebrates the bedrock of the Christian faith itself. It is the day we celebrate God in himself. We celebrate and acknowledge the very identity of God as he has revealed himself to us: one God, three persons, the Holy Trinity.
Continue reading ‘Trinity Sunday – June 19, 2011/The Rev. Richard Marsden’ »

Long, long ago there was nothing except God. God wasn’t lonely because he was within himself three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His nature was such perfect love that he was love itself. God did not need an object for his love, for he was not only the One who loved, but also the One who was loved.

He was pure Spirit, but he wanted to make something tangible to express his love. He planned it well. It would be grand, with almost infinite facets. Continue reading ‘Sermon The Day of Pentecost, Sunday June 12, 2011/The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson’ »

At a recent meeting, just after I returned from my two weeks away, someone remarked,

“ You’re preaching this weekend? ” I nodded my head replying, “ Yes, but I still haven’t been hit yet by any big revelational lightning bolt.” My friend looked at me quizzically and I even wondered now what did I really mean by that remark? Thinking about it some more I knew right away that I had meant to say that so far I had no clue at all about what or how I might preach. I was starting to get a little nervous. Every preacher, any speaker
all teachers, (of course Frs. Marsden, Robinson, Wallace and all of you here excepted) knows exactly of what I speak. Nevertheless, I was determined to keep searching.

The next day I found and reread a little from a classic homiletics/preaching book called The Witness of Preaching written by The Rev. Thomas G. Long. Some of the book’s words spoke powerfully to my predicament and I also believe that they do to all of us at many different times and moments in our lives.

“Imagine we see the preacher (teacher, student, or prayerful individual)) as one who searches for, sees and hears and then witnesses to the Word of God as he/she found in a Scripture text? They are listening for, looking for a presence, hope for an experience with God…… But, until that encounter happens, there is really nothing to say! In the same way, week after week, the congregation sends their preachers back to Scripture on their behalf. Each week, the preacher must preach and witness in such a way that we can all feel God’s presence, hear God speaking to and calling us again in our lives. Then, we may rediscover Him and our very selves. Again and again, the question becomes how can we live out our lives, in word and action, rooted in the love, spirit and witness of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Continue reading ‘Sermon – Sunday 5 June, 2011/The Rev. Richard Lampert’ »

This is the fortieth day of Easter and, as Holy Scripture tells us, our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven on the fortieth day. It is an article of both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. Other figures in the Bible were assumed into heaven. That is, their earthly lives ended by their being taken up into heaven. Enoch was one of those persons, as was Elijah, and there is an ancient tradition that the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed into heaven. Yet, none of these persons’ assumptions into heaven are mentioned in the creeds, only the third of which is not scriptural, and therefore not required of us to believe. I believe we could safely say that Enoch’s and Elijah’s assumptions into heaven, while interesting, bear little if any relation to our relationship with God. Jesus’ ascension into heaven, on the other hand, is crucial to that relationship.

Do you remember when, a few years ago, it was fairly big news that astronomers had discovered that the universe is much bigger than anyone had imagined? Continue reading ‘Sermon – Ascension Day June 2, 2011/The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson’ »

The gospel reading we heard this morning is part of a larger discourse in John’s gospel, and if we were to make this discourse into a movie, this portion would make a part of a very moving and poignant scene.

The hero, who you know is going to his doom, is giving his followers his final pep talk. He is warning them of what is about to happen, knowing that it will be brutally tough on them, knowing that they will struggle and doubt, knowing that he will fall in this great battle before them, but encouraging them, bolstering their courage; their fortitude in the face of what will seem like defeat; encouraging them to look beyond the immediate events and see a victory that is promised if they remain but true to him and his call.

The scene would have stirring, haunting music that would move the soul, the camera would pan to the faces of his listeners and you would see their tears, the look of commitment and determination in the midst of a subdued grief as they tried to steel themselves for the coming storm.

This I think is the right tone to hear this portion of the gospel; as Jesus is sitting with his disciples in that short, emotionally loaded time between the last supper, where he washed the disciples’ feet, and when he is arrested and his end – yet his ultimate victory, unimagined by his listeners – draws nigh. Continue reading ‘Sermon Sunday May 29, 2011/The Rev. Richard Marsden’ »

Easter 5
A very overweight man went to the doctor. The doctor put him on a newly discovered diet and told his patient that this diet would really help him lose weight. He told him to start eating these special meals on Monday, then skip on Tuesday, eat the special meals on Wednesday, skip on Thursday, eat the special meals on Friday and to skip Saturday and Sunday then pick the pattern up again for the next two weeks and then come back and see me. By that time you should have lost at least five pounds. When the patient returned in three weeks the doctor was shocked because he had lost almost 60 pounds. “Wow, that’s amazing. Did you follow my instructions?” His patient replied, “Yeah, I thought I was going to die by the end of the first week though.” His doctor was a bit puzzled, “Why, because you were so hungry?” Continue reading ‘Sermon Sunday May 22, 2011/The Rev. Lance Wallace’ »

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

I love the dramatic change in our liturgy between Lent and Holy Week and Easter. The church is transformed from the austerity of Lent, with no flowers, images covered, vestments plain; to the festive burst of Easter, with multi-colored flowers and the beautiful white and gold vestments. Perhaps the greatest change is in the music, when we move from the minor keys of Lent, with texts that focus on penitence and self-denial, to the major keys of Easter, with lots of alleluias and texts that emphasize our Lord’s victory over death.

One of the things I love about our Easter liturgies is the Troparion of Pascha. It’s also one of the more unique aspects of our liturgy at Redeemer, because you won’t find it in the Book of Common Prayer or in the Hymnal. Therefore, you won’t find it in most Episcopal churches. We borrowed it from the Eastern Orthodox liturgy. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life. A troparion is simply a stanza of religious poetry. Pascha is the word which most Christians around the world use for Easter. It means Passover. Christ has defeated death through his death on the Cross, and has given eternal life to those in the tombs. Continue reading ‘Sermon – 8th May, 2011/The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson’ »