Faith in Progress

A few weeks ago, I wrote about our plans to change things up a bit at St. Aidan's.  For the last three weeks, we've spent the first half of the service, The Liturgy of the Word, in a modified "choir" style seating, with rows of chairs facing each other and a big aisle in the middle.  Then the entire congregation came up to the Altar and stood around it for the entire Liturgy of the Table.  As with any change, there were a few logistical difficulties, especially for the first part of the service.  It was hard to know where exactly to process, where John and I should sit to officiate, where readers should stand since we had no ambo, where to keep the Gospel book.  But, for me at least, there were also some wonderful high points.  I loved reading the psalm responsively and hearing the voices echo back and forth.  I loved when the kids were part of my sermon on Pentecost and it felt like we were gathered in around them.  I lo...

June 12, 2011 Pentecost St. Aidan's Episcopal Church (The kids were a big help with this sermon, as you can see.  They helped "blow" the breath of God, build the Tower of Babel, and acted as disciples.  Anyone familiar with Godly Play will see a lot of crossover.  Thanks, Jerome Berryman!) In the beginning, the very first chapter of the Bible tells us, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep.  But the Holy Spirit was there. A wind from God swept over the face of the waters and God began to create. The Holy Spirit was there for the creation of humankind, too. The second chapter of Genesis shows God forming the first human from the dust and breathing into its nostrils the breath of life and what was once dust becomes a living being. All things, including humankind, were declared “good” and we lived in relationship with our Creator. But it wasn’t long before we begin making our way toward division and death. There’s the forbi...

You probably know the biblical story of the first Pentecost from Acts 2: The disciples were all together and "a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind" and "tongues of fire" rested on each one of them and they "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues" and were heard and understood by people from "every nation under heaven." Each year in the Church we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost on the 50th day after Easter, and the season continues for months after. Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church because it is the time when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, and when the mission and expansion of the Good News to people of every nation began in earnest. The movement that had until then been associated with the incarnate person of Jesus broadened, and Jesus' divine life spread to fill the Church. The disciples and new believers began to understand God in a new way, living in them ...

Easter 6 John 14:15-21 May 29, 2011 A few weeks ago, my kids were thinking ahead to future holidays and Memorial Day came up. Sophie asked what it was all about. And so I said something vague about how it is a time to remember people who had died. Dylan, our wanna-be rock star, got excited. “You mean, like Nirvana?” (thinking of Curt Cobain). “Uh… not quite like that,” I said. “He wasn’t really someone to remember as a role model, was he?” And I segue-wayed into a discussion about how drugs are bad and can kill you. Sophie wasn’t impressed with that topic of conversation and got back to Memorial Day. “So who are we supposed to remember? People like your mom? Or like Jesus?” Holden stepped in to set the record straight about this weekend’s national holiday. “Memorial Day is a time when we remember peoplevwho have died in wars,” he said. When he said it, my head went straight to World Wars I and II and Vietnam. Long past wars that affected different generations than my own. I hope ...

In my sermon on Sunday, I handed out paper and pens to the congregation and asked them to write down their answers to two questions.  I've assembled the answers and they are not only interesting, but hopefully the beginning of a fruitful conversation. First, how might our reading from Acts 2 about the early Church's joyful worship, fellowship, prayer and sharing inspire you to think differently about how you live out your own faith?  Is there something that you could do differently to live out more fully our baptismal promises?  The Answers: Do good, pray, work, hope Participate more in the activities and learning opportunities of the Church. Get here more often during the week. I can first turn to members of the community to share who we are and work toward what we can be. Then – harder – reach outside the closer, easy-to-reach circle to talk about these things. Need to stop my own concerns from being the center of my focus. Be more aware of the good...

Easter 4, Year A May 15, 2011 Acts 2:42-47 If you were wondering, these colorful papers stretching above us are the Alleluia butterflies that each child in the Day School colored for chapel on Ash Wednesday. They disappeared for Lent and then emerged from the empty tomb at Easter. They have now spread their wings to fly, just as the stories about Jesus and the joy at his risen life began to spread after Easter. I was worried that you all might feel left out of the fun, and so each of you should have received a piece of paper and a pen when you came in. In a few minutes, I’m going to ask you two questions. If you would consider sharing your answers anonymously, I invite you to put your piece of paper in the offering plate when it goes around later and the papers will be part of what comes up to the altar as our offering to God. But we’ll get to that part in a few minutes. First, let’s think a little bit about our reading from Acts for this morning. We hear that the fledgling ban...

Easter 2011 St. Aidan’s Church John 20:1-18 I’ve decided that preaching on Easter Sunday is tricky business. Especially in a congregation like St. Aidan's, which in its very mission statement claims its identity as “a place that strives to welcome people wherever they are on their faith journey.” The church this morning is full of people at different places along their faith journeys, including many who might describe themselves as having more questions than faith. And yet here we are this morning confronted with the most mind-bogglingly impossible part of the Bible. Today we proclaim with loud voices and exclamation points the things that are the hardest to believe, the things for which we have absolutely no scientific proof. All we have are the sometimes conflicting accounts written decades after their occurrence and the heart-felt experiences of generations of believers. And to tell you the truth, I’ve spent most of this past week flummoxed by the prospect of this sermon...