Taking Off the Mask (Sermon, Oct 30)

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Jesus said, “For you have one teacher, and your all students.”  (Matthew 23:8)

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

We should remember from our Sunday School classes that “student” is the translation of “disciple” and that to be a disciple is to be a student, which means to learn and to grow with our knowledge. 

This is a confronting gospel, and it seems that over these last few weeks all we’ve heard are confronting Gospels.  Jesus has had his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and he is now spending the last few days teaching leading up to the last meal with his disciples.  Believe it or not, all of these Gospel passages we’ve heard come from just one day, what we would call Monday of Holy Week.  Now it’s near the end of what was a very busy day for Jesus, filled with much argumentation and conflict. 

We can see how Jesus’s patience is starting to wear thin as he points out to his students, his disciples, how the scribes and the Pharisees in the Temple making a great show of themselves to be seen by eithers teaching the content of the faith from Moses’ seat.  That’s what it means to sit in Moses’ seat – to hand on the tradition of the 613 laws and commandments given by God through Moses and that make up the Torah.  Yet, they themselves don’t even follow what they teach, so Jesus warns his disciples to listen to their teaching but not to follow their example.  We can see why Jesus said there is truly only one teacher, and we are all students!

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The Grace of Invitation, Oct 9, 2011

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"And the King said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?'"  (Matthew 22:12)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

       "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?   . . . Bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!  For many are called, but few are chosen."  And then we get to say, "Praise to you, Lord Christ!"  Sometimes we just might not want to say "Praise to you" after some of the Gospels we hear.  Is this the way we really want to think about God, as someone who would cast us off into outer darkness?

      I mean, think about it.  Isn't it a little bit unfair?  The man wasn't expecting to be invited to a wedding feast. He was just a guy on the street, and some of the King's servants pass by, saying, "The King is throwing a wedding banquet.  Come! Come!"  And all the people come, the good and the bad.  It doesn't matter how good or how bad you've been.  You're invited.  Now, that's good news.  That's gospel.  

      But then, as the King is looking around the room, all the people of the city are there. They are having this great feast, and he notices this guy against the wall, sort of hanging back, not really participating perhaps, and asks, "Where is your wedding garment?"  The guy looks at him, shocked.  How would he have had time to go get ready for the feast?  The King's servants literally just grabbed him off the street. But still, he gets banished into outer darkness.

      So, where is your wedding garment?  What is the wedding garment?  How are we to hear this parable?  How is this parable going to be interpreted as good news, as Gospel, for us in this 21st century?  I think it helps a little bit for us to understand the parable itself.

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Making our Final Song, Oct 2, 2011

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"God spoke these words, ‘I am the Lord God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
(Exodus 20:2)

 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I think ultimately the main difference between Christians and Jews is the story we tell even though our goal is the same.  The Jewish story is this:  I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.  The Christian story is “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.”  Both are the same story – God’s victory over the powers of evil and death and God’s guidance of us towards the fullness of life.  This gift is given to us at God’s own initiative, and in the Christian version of this story, through God’s offering of God’s own self in Jesus Christ.

It is said sometimes that the church’s ministry is a ministry of memory – remembering these two stories:  I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, and remembering Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.  It is indeed true that the church, each time we worship, remembers what God has done for us.  The Eucharistic prayer is just that - a summation of what God has done for humankind in history. 

But the church is not just about remembering the past.  It is about laying a foundation for the future as well – a legacy, if you will, of what we will leave behind for those who come after us.  How will they know the story?  How will they remember that God is the one who brought them out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey?  How will those who come after us remember that Christ has indeed died; that Christ nevertheless is risen; and that Christ, of course, will come again.  That is a question that faces all of us as we seek to be faithful to the ministry of the Gospel.

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"God, Who Never Lets Go", August 7, 2011

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Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.  (Matthew 14:31)

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

Last week, when we read the passage about the feeding about the five thousand, I began the sermon with a question to help us think through the action of the story.  I’m going to start again with a question again this week that will be unwrapped as the sermon unfolds.  Today’s Gospel concludes with the verse that the disciples worshiped Jesus.  What happened in this story that moved the disciples to worship Jesus? What happened to cause the disciples to Jesus with new eyes and move them to worship him?

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Youth Sunday Address and Sermon, June 5

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Each year we celebrate Youth Sunday with an address by one of our graduating high school seniors and the awarding of our Saint Luke's Scholarship Award.  This year's recipients are Austin Lazarus and Charlotte Agyei.  Austin was also chosen to give the youth address.

In his address, Austin speaks of his decision to attend Temple University as an outgrowth of his experience of diversity and commitment to outreach at St. Luke's.

After Austin's address, Father Dirk speaks of the importance of Christian formation and the place of our youth in the church today as living stones built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. 

2011 Youth Address and Sermon