Author Archives: PRP

“What will you do with the gift of the Christ child?”

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Christmas Eve (Luke 2:1-20)  12/24/2011

We are now late into the evening of Christmas Eve and I am quite certain that Santa and his reindeer have successfully navigated their way across the Atlantic and will be arriving shortly. And I hope I am not the first to tell you (and this might be especially important for the men to hear) but there are now zero shopping days left…no more time to run out to the store and buy that perfect gift. This year’s shopping season is now complete; a shopping season that has been closely watched and analyzed, with some good news and some bad news regarding our gift giving habits for this year. Overall sales for the season have apparently improved more than expected as compared to last year’s sales, and that’s the good news.[i] The bad news is that nearly 10% of everything that was purchased will be returned to the store, a few points above the return rate of a “good year” for retailers.[ii] Although there are many reasons for the higher return rate, “buyer’s remorse” is among the most common. “Buyer’s remorse” is the condition where people gaze upon the large pile of sale items they have purchased and begin to wonder if all the turkey and apple pie eaten on Thanksgiving may have caused them to lose their mind for a brief time. All the more reason to follow Santa’s advice and carefully make a list, and check it twice!

There was certainly no buyer’s remorse among the shepherds in the field on that first Christmas night. The shepherds were visited by the angel of the Lord and told of the birth of their Savior, Christ the Lord! Continue reading →

“Our Advent journey – Are we there yet?”

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Advent 2B (Mark 1:1-8)  12/04/2011

“Are we there yet?” I don’t want to keep bothering you, but I was just wondering – “Are we there yet?” Imagine you are driving down the road and there is a voice coming from the back seat of the car, “Are we there yet?” I always wondered to myself; why do young people ask that question all the time, especially on particularly long journeys. Perhaps they ask because they do not know how long the trip will take; or maybe they ask because they are not familiar with important landmarks along the journey or cannot read road signs that would help them determine where they were and how long they had left to go. But that familiar question is not limited to the young ones among us; adults have their own way of wondering, their own way of asking, “Are we there yet?” We like to know certain bits of information in advance of the journey, so we ask others to tell us what the journey will hold for us and what the place is like when we get there. We might investigate our destination on the internet or go to the library to perform some research. We need to satisfy our curiosity. We need to answer our questions in order to demystify the mysteries of unknown places. After all, when we ask “Are we there yet?” and the answer is “Yes, we are here;” we do not want to be disappointed or unprepared. Continue reading →

“Filled with hope, we wait with a promise”

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First Sunday of Advent (Isaiah 64:1-9)  11/27/2011

I have just returned from enjoying some restful time with my family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Throughout the past week, as I was reflecting on the coming season of Advent (the season of waiting for the coming of Christ), I noticed that there can be quite a bit of waiting involved with taking vacation. The practice of waiting begins fairly soon into the vacation, perhaps waiting at the ticket counter of the airport or at the security line. There can be waiting for a rental car; waiting for a table at the restaurant, or waiting for your favorite part of the vacation to finally begin. And if you are even a little bit like me, waiting can sometimes become a frustrating exercise. As I waited in the security line at the airport, I was finally the next person to have my boarding pass checked by the security person. But due to the backup in the scanning line ahead I was just out of reach of the security person and so I needed to wait a bit longer. After a few moments had passed, I noticed that the line to my right was completely empty, so I quickly dropped below the boundary and walked the final three feet to hand my pass over to be checked. The security person did not appear too pleased with me, but checked my boarding pass and allowed me through the gate. As I was moving on he raised his hand to someone behind me and said, “I am sorry but this lane is the Priority Security line and you must go back to where you were unless you have a Priority Pass.” You see, there was no waiting if you had a Priority Pass.

Waiting, however, was exactly the challenge that faced the people of Isaiah’s community in ancient Jerusalem. As we hear the words of the prophet this morning, we listen to the frustration of the Israelites as they wait for the coming of the Lord in Jerusalem. A remnant of faithful Jews had returned to Jerusalem after the long days of exile in Babylon and they waited for God to restore their city. They waited and waited; they suffered continued frustrations and their days seemed futile…no Priority Pass to avoid the long days of waiting. Continue reading →

“Blessed are you, saints of God”

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All Saints’ Day (Matthew 5:1-12)  11/06/2011

This morning we celebrate the feast of All Saints’ Day. The feast of All Saints’ is a day of celebration and thanksgiving for the saints who have gone before us. In the most stringent understanding of “saint,” those given the saintly title have been those who have exemplified a Christian life of sacrifice and loving care toward others; a life that has been carefully examined and granted a status that is seemingly beyond the reach of most of us. However, the more modern understanding (and by modern I mean the last 500 hundred years or so) of a saintly life is typically more broad, hoping to capture the essence of what the saints of God strive to be – the life of one who claims to be a child of God and a follower of his only Son, Jesus Christ. As we sang in our opening hymn this morning, “I sing a song of the saints of God,” and we can all hope to be one too! Continue reading →

“The Wisdom of Giving”

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18th Sunday after Pentecost (Matthew 22:15-22)  10/16/2011

A little more than two years ago my mobile phone experienced a few major failures…so, off I went to the phone store and found the perfect replacement. However, technology is advancing so rapidly these days I have recently discovered that my “perfect” phone is no longer on the market. My two-year phone contract has recently expired and, needless to say, throughout this past summer I was keeping an eye on the various speculations of the newest iPhone release, which just occurred this past Friday. The building curiosity behind this iPhone release was made more intense because at the same time there was interest in the health of Apple’s co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs had been courageously fighting various health issues for several years before this past summer, but his condition caused him to once again step away from his daily duties at Apple and finally in the late summer to step down as the company’s CEO. These two stories, the iPhone release and Steve Jobs’ health, continued to be discussed as summer turned into fall. On October 4th, Apple finally released news of their latest phone and just one day later the world learned that the man behind the company had died. As the world lost Steve Jobs to an illness that he could not overcome, we were reminded of the many great accomplishments he gave the world. During the past several days people have reflected on many aspects of his career and his contributions, but I was particularly affected by his commencement address to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005. Steve Jobs was a man with worldly success giving these graduates the wisdom of life’s lessons…and many of his lessons were forged from his experiences of challenging and difficult times in his life. A graduate who was there recently wrote: “Jobs was not a rousing orator. He looked nervous as he approached the podium. As he spoke, though, his voice gained the strength of someone who knows that what he’s saying is both true and very important. And something unusual happened: we all started paying attention.”[i] Steve Jobs had captured the attention of the crowd as he spoke the wisdom that he had learned from life’s challenges. Continue reading →

“Justice or Generosity? – Yes, please”

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14th Sunday after Pentecost (Matthew 20:1-16)  9/18/2011

Welcome back from summer. You might say to yourself that I am a week late, as last week was Welcome Back Sunday, but this week is the start of Sunday School and our Sunday morning forums – so the school bell rings for the first time this week and I hope that you will join us as we learn and grow together each week. The start of the school year reminds me of the importance that the school year seems to have on each of us, even if we are no longer full-time students we are all affected in some way or have vivid memories of our school days.

A vivid school memory of mine is my first day of Navy Nuclear Power School. On that first day, after being welcomed and filling out some paperwork, everyone was provided with a test that we were assured had no meaning and no impact on our academic records…although the rumor was that the test determined where each person was to be seated in the classroom, with the smart folks in the back of the room and the low-scoring students sitting in the front. As we received our seat assignments the next day I think the rumors might have been true, as I saw many of the smartest kids in the class sitting behind me as I looked out from my second row seat. The opening week of school was a sign of things to come, as my front-of-the-room friends and I studied for many, many hours during the next several months while my back-of-the-room classmates had more leisure time on their hands. By the end of the program we were ranked according to our grade averages and one’s rank order determined the selection order in which you could pick your next school location: either Idaho, NY or CT. As a young man engaged to a woman living in CT, I was filled with nervous anxiety as I waited for my turn. I might have even grumbled as I watched my classmates who did not study as hard as I did select their locations before me. I remember thinking, “I studied as hard as I possibly could for 6 months; shouldn’t that count for something?” Continue reading →

“Gifts of the Spirit: our diversity is our strength”

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Day of Pentecost (1 Cor 12:3b-13)  6/12/2011

Many years before the drama of television soap operas and reality shows like “The Jersey Shore” and “The Real Housewives,” there was the real-life drama of the city of Corinth. The ancient city of Corinth that was known to the Apostle Paul was a city that was populated under the supervision of the Roman government; the Romans sending a diverse population of unwanted citizens from the capital city of Rome. With its population growth and its strategic location in the Mediterranean Sea, the city of Corinth soon became a busy trading center and the culturally diverse population became an interesting community for Paul to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paul’s message of Christ was well received by many Corinthians, but his first letter reveals to us that the diversity of the people also led to a diversity of understanding of how to live together in their newly formed Christian community. The Corinthians continued to argue about many aspects of their common life: how to worship together, how to live together, and whose spiritual gifts were most important. Paul urged the Corinthians to settle their differences and live together in love. Paul encouraged the community to set aside their childish arguments and come together. He wrote: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:11-13) Continue reading →

“Now is the time – Christian witness to the ends of the Earth”

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7th Sunday of Easter (Acts 1:6-14)  6/5/2011

For audio presentation – <follow link here>

Many years ago, my first extended time at sea during my service aboard a submarine was spent in the North Atlantic Sea. The journey to the North Atlantic took several days and once the submarine had arrived at its operation area there were not many circumstances that were important enough to cause the submarine to leave its assigned area. But there was one occasion when a Chief Petty Officer’s son was so ill the Navy called the submarine out of its area in order to send the Chief home to be with his son and his family. We left the northern operation area and proceeded to the coast of Norway to meet the Norwegian Coast Guard, who would take the Chief back to shore so he could fly home. When we arrived in the Norwegian Sea, we were met with a blinding snowstorm and large waves – the transfer did not look promising. However, after a few moments of waiting at the rendezvous point we saw the lights of the Coast Guard ship in the distance. We were all amazed to see that shortly after the ship arrived we spotted a small zodiac boat heading toward the submarine. The Chief and the topside crew made their way to the surface of the submarine. The small zodiac boat was soon alongside the submarine, waiting to receive the Chief. As the snow continued to come down sideways and the waves continued to pitch the small boat up and down as it rested against the submarine, the Chief leaned forward, peering into the small boat that waited for him just a few feet away, but he just could not bring himself to jump into the boat. The Chief was frozen; frozen from the cold snow and frozen with fear and anticipation. Is this the time? His son was sick, his family needed him at home; the zodiac boat continued to rock back and forth and the Chief stood wondering – is this the time? Continue reading →

“Following the Good Shepherd”

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4th Sunday of Easter (John 10:1-10)  5/15/2011

As we journey through our lives we experience significant milestones that mark important points in our lives; days that we will long remember with great clarity. Throughout this past week I have had the privilege to be present with others as they experienced or prepared to experience some important events in their lives: the pure joy of Baptism, the wide range of emotions of a Burial service, the excitement of marriage preparation, and this afternoon the celebration of my niece’s Confirmation. These events are important times in one’s life. These events are times that hold particular sacramental significance in our relationship with God and with others; often we feel closer to God as we experience these occasions. But throughout our lives we also live between these milestones; in fact, most of our days are filled with the everyday challenges and joys that shape and define our journey through life. In the midst of these ordinary days, where do we find God in our everyday experiences? Where do we find Christ when the important milestone day has ended, everyone has gone home and we are left with the joys and challenges of everyday life? Continue reading →

“God’s Abundant Justice: a challenge to our American dream”

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Proper 20A (Matthew 20:1-16)  9/21/2008

A sermon preached at Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, Alexandria, VA; reposted to test audio features.

For audio presentation – <follow link here>

American statesman and publisher Benjamin Franklin wrote the following advice in his 1757 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanac; “Diligence is the mother of good luck…and God gives all things to industry. Then plow deep while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.”[i] Franklin’s humorous, yet insightful bits of wisdom profoundly shaped the growing English colonies that would one day become the United States of America. These pithy proverbs would form the backbone of what we would today describe as “the American Dream.” Work hard, save your money and then spend your money wisely so that you and your family may enjoy the fruits of your labor. There appears to be an obvious justice at work here: those who work hard get something in return. Those who work harder get more than those who work less. This simple formula for the “American Dream” appears to be shared by those early morning laborers in our Gospel lesson this morning, but Jesus’ parable story highlights a very different form of justice. Jesus presents us with a justice of abundance; a justice of love; a justice full of God’s grace. Like my son’s calculus homework, Jesus’ formula appears to be more complicated for us to imagine. Continue reading →