This morning we gathered to celebrate the life of a wonderful lady, taken from us far too soon. The many gifts and gracious moments of her life serve as a reminder to us that the many miracle of God’s grace are found in the everyday miracles of our common life together. The sermon delivered at her service of Christian Burial is below:
Christ the King (Luke 23:33-43) 11/24/2013
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I was away from the office this past week for a few days as I participated in a clergy retreat, and I am very thankful for the gift of this time to listen, learn and reflect with my clergy colleagues. The retreat was a time to learn about healthy practices of body, mind and spirit, and personal finance, leadership and ministry; how to create a proper balance in your life. Although all of these components of the retreat were insightful, the most nourishing and nurturing was the time spent in community with others; moments of simple social gathering and moments spent in worship. We gathered together each day in worship and one of my most memorable moments was during Morning Prayer of the third day. After hearing the Scripture readings appointed for the day, the preacher stood in front of the group and explained that there were some rather obvious topics for reflection, but instead she wanted to share some thoughts with us about “vestibulo-ocular reflex.” The unexpected topic created a bit of laughter among the surprised group, but the preacher, a priest and medical doctor, pressed ahead with her story. Without the benefit of medical training, I must admit that simply remembering the name “vestibulo-ocular reflex” was about all that I might manage…but fortunately we have the internet to refresh my memory! Vestibulo-ocular reflex is the human body’s amazing ability to provide clear and stable vision, even as our heads are in constant motion. As the head moves in one direction, the eyes respond by moving in a direction of equal and opposite motion to compensate and ensure accurate and clear vision through perfect balance. This reflex action may appear simple at first, but as you imagine the near constant motion of your body and the complexity of the movement, the reflex action of the eyes is nearly miraculous in practice. Vestibulo-ocular reflex is the body’s gift of stability of sight and clear vision, but this gift is only effective if two completely opposite actions are in perfect balance and experienced as one. As I sat with my friends in worship that morning, we encountered an unexpected story, but a story that was filled with the miraculous blessing of balance and clear vision. Continue reading
Epiphany (Matthew 2:1-12) 01/06/2013
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Happy New Year! The New Year always brings an opportunity that I look forward to each year, an opportunity to find some new and interesting calendar to guide the days and months ahead. And as we take down last year’s calendars and replace them with new ones, we too have been given an opportunity to renew our lives and begin this New Year with a fresh start. The end of the year also invites us to spend some time in reflection, giving some thought to these past twelve months; where we have been, what we have seen, and how we might approach this coming year with new and enlightened understandings of our world. During this past year we have experienced many challenges: Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook School and the fiscal cliff…and that just covers the past three months. But we have also witnessed the joys of watching the world come together in London for the Summer Olympics and closer to home we have heard from our young Pilgrims and their trip to Belize and our community has visited our friends in Haiti and Cuba. Our experiences of this past year are memories now, but our reflections provide us with insights that help us to learn and grow into a new year of hope filled opportunities; opportunities that await us if we are willing to turn our faith in Christ into actions of love and service. Continue reading
Fifth Sunday of Lent (John 12:20-33) 03/25/2012
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Last weekend we were blessed to have The Rev. Minka Sprague lead us in a wonderful Lenten Quiet Day. During the course of our time together Minka provided us with several insightful images of the grace of God, as shown in the lives of King David, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostle Paul, and St. Francis of Assisi. We were treated to a thoughtful day of reflection and prayer on the grace and love of God made manifest through these four people. Throughout this past week I have been particularly mindful of the reflections of Francis of Assisi, the one person of the group not mentioned in Holy Scripture. And although the life of Francis may appear quite extraordinary, there is quite a bit of his story that we might easily connect with our own story. Continue reading
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
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.
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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
Easter Day (Matthew 28:1-10) 4/24/2011
Happy Easter to everyone! We have now all traveled the 40 days of Lent. I hope that your Lenten journey was a time of rest, reflection and renewal. Throughout this season, I hope you were able to discover all that you were in search of and that you accomplished all that you set out to do. But most importantly, I hope that you were surprised. If even for just one small moment, I hope that you were unexpectedly swept off your feet with your mouth wide-open and your senses tingling, surprised. I hope that you were surprised because God has so many gifts to give us that our human expectations struggle to imagine the wonder and abundance of God’s love and grace. Continue reading
Christmas Eve (Luke 2:1-20) 12/24/2010
Merry Christmas. We now have just a few short hours until Santa makes the rounds through Central CT…and I know this because I checked the official NORAD Santa Claus tracker just prior to coming to the church. At this point of the evening, Santa is hard at work delivering his load of goodies and he has long completed his final check of who has been naughty and who has been nice (I hope we all have managed to get on the “Nice” list this year). Santa’s list of gifts is famous for its complete and unfailing accuracy. And like Santa, each of us has our list of gifts and we likely carefully check their accuracy – maybe not using the “naughty” and “nice” criteria, but certainly each using our own method. Continue reading
Advent 1A (Matthew 24:36-44) 11/28/2010
“On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound…”[i] These words are the opening sentences of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. The Polar Express is a classic Christmas tale of a young boy’s adventures on a Christmas Eve train ride to the North Pole and his exploration of understanding the spirit and joy of Christmas. This story was a Christmas season favorite when my kids were young and we would read the book several times each year. The book remains one of my favorites: each page is beautifully illustrated, the story is full of adventure and excitement, and the boy’s Christmas present (a bell from one of Santa’s reindeer) stands out as a symbol with great meaning because only those who believe can hear the “sweet sounds” that come from the ringing of the bell. As I think back to reading the story over and over to my children, I do remember that the boy’s parents could not hear the bell and I am reminded of Jesus’ words to his disciples as written in a passage from Matthew’s Gospel account. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18:3-4) Continue reading
Proper 28C (Luke 21:5-19) 11/14/2010
“Jesus said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’ They asked him, ‘Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’” (Lk 21:6-7) We should not be surprised that Jesus does not provide a direct answer to his followers, but instead describes a list of events that nearly every generation since the 1st century can understand…and all too well identify as their own. Today we live in a world of post 9/11 warnings and updates of terrorist activities throughout the world. These events are not new to world history, but how they manifest themselves today is certainly new to us. There is a feeling of uncertainty that is tangible and as we draw to the end of the year, the days remaining on the calendar are running out. And when time runs out, we come face-to-face with the tough questions. Are we good enough? Have we forgiven enough? Have we loved enough? These are questions that we carry with us each and every day, but as we approach the end of the year the many questions of our lives stand squarely in front of us…and we want to break through the uncertainty that surrounds us. Like Jesus’ disciples, we find ourselves asking, what will be the signs to point us through the time of unknowing. What should we know and what can we do to be prepared. Continue reading
Padre Ryder's Journal 