Sermons

Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia. (3 X)

Happy Easter-we've made it through, and that's really all there is to say, but of course... I'll go on.

On Palm Sunday we read the whole crucifixion narrative, in case people don't come back on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The church is anxious that people not skip from Jesus walking up to Jerusalem and then rising on Easter omitting the cruifixion, but on this day the church is even more anxious. Suppose people didn't know the whole history of salvation. The Prayer book offers 9 possible readings, but sometimes 12 even are done, so our 5 here are a mere token of the whole. The church wants people to know of wondrous deeds that God had done for our forebears, and that God's deeds were known and to be celebrated.

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
Psalm 22
Hebrews 16-25
John 18:1 - 19: 42

This too is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

We've heard the long narrative of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. I am always jumbled up with a range of feelings, reactions, and the overwhelming conviction that saying anything is superfluous. The BCP expects it, and I am a creature of the BCP. Bp Shaw preached a fine homily Tuesday at the renewal of clergy vows. (Jep Streit had asked him to describe his spiritual experience of Holy Week and why it was so important to him. He did.)

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 22:14-23:56

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

"Hosanna in the highest to the Son of David. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord, but we don't say "Hosanna" for long. We don't enjoy the "glory, laud, and honor" we sing to the Lord for long either. If I were to bet, and I'm not a betting person, I would bet that there aren't more than 6- and that's pushing it- people here who could say the verses of the hymn we've just sung. We're always walking around when we sing it, and we glue our eyes to the words, not the poem or the whole verses. I'm sure Jeffrey and John, maybe Corey who remembers words too, could say the whole hymn, but are there others? Maybe. Even not having just sung them, I'll bet more could recite the hymns to come all this long, hard week. We don't focus on rejoicing for long, because we know where we're going: to Maundy Thursday (here at 6.30 with simple meal to follow,) Stations of the Cross (noon on Friday,) and the Liturgy of Good Friday (6.30.) We feel the weight of the reversal of the triumph into sadness, sorrow, and pain.

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Isaiah 43: 16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3: 4b-14
John 12: 1-8

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

As we press on through Lent toward the goal of the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, a call we will know as new, at Easter, we hear the familiar story of Mary and Jesus, but in John's less familiar, but more theological, narrative.

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Joshua 5: 9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

And I rejoice to be with you, not so much to be back, as to be with you. Thank you.

What is the point, the moral, of today's Gospel? To whom was the parable addressed at the beginning? Which is each of us? How many sons is the story about? Which son is each of us? How do we feel about the point of the story?

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10: 1-13
Luke 13: 1-9

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

The connection between bad things happening to people and their sins has been fodder for many sermons, because we would, on some days, really like the bad things that happen be their fault. If that were so, then, we think, if we weren't bad, bad things wouldn't happen to us. On other, perhaps more honest days, we want bad things to be random, because maybe, we'll avoid the bad things we deserve. Today's Gospel looks at just this question: what is the connection between bad things and people's sins?

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Genesis 15: 1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

Thank you for your kind invitation and your warm welcome back to this much loved church. The bell tower’s repair is splendid, and I love hearing the bell toll out its warm welcome to the island. I am so glad to be back here, and thank you for inviting me back.

This Luke text was one of the first I ever preached on here—but of course, I neither remember what I said nor saved that 6 year ago, or was it 9 year ago, homily. I do remember that chickens being gathered up meant a lot more to me having been here, than they did in the city and frigid winter weather where I come from, but I read about them with a further thought this year, but that in a bit.

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Exodus 34:29-35
Ps 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

The narrative of Jesus' Transfiguration connects his baptism with the Easter glory, but it's not as simple as just going from glory to glory. It's only a matter of weeks for us since the Sunday after the Epiphany when we heard about the baptism of Jesus. "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."  That epiphany put Jesus on notice from the heavens of who he was. While he had come to be baptized along with others, the voice, the message, was to him alone. His baptism, early in his ministry and early in Luke's Gospel, announced something arresting to him. He'd come along with many people to answer John's call to a baptism of repentance. John had been wandering around, calling people to such a baptism, and his cousin had shown up in the large crowd who'd come to him. Nothing is made of that meeting in the narrative, but we always wonder about who said what to whom during this encounter.

The Rev. Dr. Katharine C. Black
Isaiah 6: 1-8 [9-13]
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5: 1-11

The Lord will make good his purpose for me: O Lord your love endures forever. AMEN.

A poem:

"On the shore fish toss in the stretched nets of Simon, James, and John.
High above, swallows. Wings of butterflies. Cathedrals."

All the readings this morning focus on responses to God's call. In general the pattern of such calls is: commission (the call;) objection (not me;) reassurance (indeed, just you;) and some sign. Isaiah describes being overwhelmed by the presence of God in God's might, splendor and heavenly presence, and calling out, "Woe is me!" His objection acknowledges that he recognized in himself, a sinner, especially in the face of God. His absolution continues through a burning coal. Forgiven, he is sent out to teach people to mend their ways and attend to the Lord. He is describing the impact of coming in contact with the Lord. He understands in seeing God, the seraphs, and the heavenly experience that he's human, finite, and so small. He accepts the challenge, and understands that the sign of a new seed growing will be the slow time, when even a cut-down tree regenerates.

The Rev. Dr. Katharine Black, preaching
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71: 1-6
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Luke 4: 21-30

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. AMEN.

What made people so angry at Jesus that day in the synagogue in Nazareth? "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth." They liked what he said and heard it well, but then they reconsidered. He told them that they'd reject him because he was a local person, and then he added two little biblical stories, which filled those there "with rage." What was the series of three stories? Why did it set them off?