I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This past weekend brings to mind a great tradition that my family had for the day after Thanksgiving as we would almost stay awake and could not wait to get to Rich’s and Davidson’s in downtown Atlanta. You see getting there early was extremely important because I had to ride the pink pig….non southerners have no clue but the pig was a train like thing that road around the ceiling of the Rich’s toy department and we had to go to Thompson Boland and Lee so I could see my feet in the e ray thing they had set up. So I will for the sake of it tell another story of some friends that I met recently who were even more serious than we were.
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Welcome to our blog - read below to find sermons, commentary on the scriptures we read in worship, and other news and events. And if you're in Chicago, come visit us at St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Bargain Hunting Excitement (Larry's Nov 27 sermon)
I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This past weekend brings to mind a great tradition that my family had for the day after Thanksgiving as we would almost stay awake and could not wait to get to Rich’s and Davidson’s in downtown Atlanta. You see getting there early was extremely important because I had to ride the pink pig….non southerners have no clue but the pig was a train like thing that road around the ceiling of the Rich’s toy department and we had to go to Thompson Boland and Lee so I could see my feet in the e ray thing they had set up. So I will for the sake of it tell another story of some friends that I met recently who were even more serious than we were.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Doorbells (Danielle's Dec 18 sermon)
Ending Matthew (Ray's commentary on our Nov 20 readings)
The parable of the entrepreneurs (Danielle's Nov 13 sermon)
We have another feeding ministry here that has been launched into the entrepreneurial moment. Over a decade ago a dedicated group of people saw an opportunity in the desire for an outreach program, in the challenge of women struggling with homelessness, and in the needs of a neighborhood agency who serves them. The creative solution they arrived at was Cooking for Deborah's Place, where members of our church shop for, cook, and deliver a Friday meal once a month to an overnight shelter where local women sleep in safety. As with any group a community developed around the ministry, and the woman at the center of it, our friend Noma Cave, died a little over one month ago. In the wake of her death, creative problem-solving, shared risk-taking, and parntership are the name of the game as the people who love this mission come together and explore questions like, "How do we move forward, practically?" "How do we deepen relationships with our companions in this work, and how do we meet the precious challenge of building new relationships, inviting new people into the ministry in a busy, time-challenged parish?" There is spirit and energy in this discussion. There is openness, welcome, and imagination. There is flexibility, as the group thinks about its mission and methods, and generosity as people who have served in the past come forward to help and as others, like the Neighbors in Need crew, lend support and thoughtfulness to their Deborah's Place friends.
Happy All Saints! (Ray's Nov 6 sermon)
"Il y a moi-meme" (Ray's Oct 23 sermon)
priest or deacon, who then immerses, or pours water upon, the
candidate, saying …
Friday, October 21, 2011
Ray's Oct. 23 commentary
The first reading is Deuteronomy 34:1-12
We began reading the story of Moses, back on Sunday, August 21, from the first chapter of the Book of Exodus. Today we come to the end of the story of Moses – to the story of the death of Moses – in the last chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy.
This is the ending of the fifth book of the Bible – the ending of the five books which are the Torah for our Jewish brothers and sisters.
In the timeline or chronology of the first five books of the Bible, the people of Israel have been out in the wilderness for forty years since they were freed from slavery in Egypt.
They are within sight of the promised land, about to enter the promised land.
Moses, who God called to be the leader of the people, who God made use of as God’s instrument to bring the people into freedom, is not going to enter the promised land. That will be for another leader, Joshua.
The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt, and over the forty years in the wilderness they had been formed as a free people. Not a perfect people. Not a people who didn’t make mistakes. But they had learned the skills needed to survive and be free. They were formed as a people.
So God will form you and me as disciples of Jesus – our primary identity.
Moses laid hands on Joshua, the leader who would bring the people into the promised land. The bishop will ordain Ben Varnum to the transitional diaconate on November 1 here in St. Chrysostom’s. The moment of ordination is when the bishops lays his (or her) hands on the ordinand’s head. This is the ancient custom directly out of the Hebrew Bible.
Joshua is described as full of the spirit of wisdom. So may we all be. I remember that in Thomas Aquinas the first gift of the Holy Spirit is wisdom. This comes from Isaiah 11:2 where wisdom is the first of the list of gifts of the Spirit, the list which became the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The last verses of the first lesson are a wonderful tribute to Moses. For me the most moving phrase is that the Lord knew Moses face to face: Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face is the translation in the King James Version.
When we come before God, God is unseen, as though hidden in the cloud, that great image from these readings from the Hebrew Bible. Yet we know the face of God in Jesus Christ. And a great theme of these readings is the presence of God with us – unseen but with us. Who loves us.
Today’s Gospel reading is from Matthew 22:34-46.
We are coming close to the end of our reading from Matthew’s Gospel. Our last reading will be on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Last Sunday after Pentecost from Matthew 25, the great passage that when we feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty, or visit the sick or the prisoner, or welcome the stranger, or clothe the naked, we serve Christ himself.
And in chapter 26 we begin the story of the cross of Jesus. Johann Sebastian Bach began the St. Matthew Passion with the first story in chapter 26, the anointing of Jesus. Then comes the Last Supper and the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and then the arrest of Jesus. This is only four chapters away. Three chapters to our final reading from Matthew (in Advent we begin reading from Mark).
In today’s great passage Jesus is asked which commandment is the greatest and Jesus gives the summary of the law, quoting two verses from Deuteronomy. I know by heart the King James translation, found in the Book of Common Prayer, page 324:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets.
And here is a clear call to us to follow Jesus as his disciples on his way of self-giving love: loving God and loving one another.