Church Pulpit Posts
Julian of Norwich | The Rev. Susan E. Hill, Associate Rector
Yesterday, May 8, we commemorated the feast day of Dame Julian of Norwich, who is the first woman we know of to have written a book in English. She was born in 1342 in England, and lived during a time of upheaval that included famine, revolts, and the Black Plague. When she was thirty, she became gravely ill and was expected to die. Just after receiving last rites, she began having a series of mystical visions of Christ suffering on the cross. The experience brought her great comfort and joy, and she wrote the visions down in a book called Revelations of Divine Love. She later became an anchorite, living in a tiny cell attached to the church Norwich, and she developed a reputation as a wise spiritual counselor….
The Big Reveal | The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson, Rector
In March, a series of short videos that focused on toddlers and sharing were making the rounds. In each of the clips, a toddler was seated in the middle between two people. In front of each person was a plate with a napkin covering it, and on the count of three each person took the napkin away to reveal a surprise. The toddler got two cookies, one of the participants got one cookie, and one person’s plate was empty…..
Believing What You Can’t See | The Rev. Canon Robert A. Jacobs, Deacon
In the world we live in, it’s common to hear the phrase “seeing is believing.” It’s a sentiment that reflects a deep-seated human desire for tangible proof, for concrete evidence that can be seen, touched, and examined. Sunday’s Gospel challenges this mindset. It invites us to a different kind of knowing, a different kind of seeing. It calls us to foster a faith beyond sight.
Faith is a profound trust in what we cannot see. It’s deep-seated conviction that even though we cannot see God with our physical eyes, He is there. He is real. He is working in our lives. He is worthy of our trust. This kind of faith is not blind. Rather, it’s about recognizing that there is a deeper reality, a higher truth that transcends what we can see with our physical eyes.
This kind of faith is beautifully illustrated in the story of Thomas in John’s Gospel. Thomas, one of the disciples, wasn’t there when Jesus first appeared to the other disciples after His resurrection. He didn’t see Jesus with his own eyes. So, when the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, he refused to believe. He demanded physical proof. He wanted to see the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and put his hand into Jesus’ side….
Fierce Love | The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson, Rector
On this Good Friday, when we remember God’s uncompromising love for us all, I offer these words from The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers:
The most outlandish people can be the stimulus for love…the beloved may be treacherous, greasy-headed, and given to evil habits. Yes, and the lover may see this as clearly as anyone else—but that does not affect the evolution of his love one whit. A most mediocre person can be the object of a love which is wild, extravagant, and beautiful…Therefore, the value and quality of any love is determined solely by the lover himself…….
In The Name Of Love | The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson, Rector
Today we remember with sorrow the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was shot on the balcony connected to room 306 in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was in Memphis to support African American sanitation workers, who were striking for higher wages, better working conditions, and union recognition…..
Bonhoeffer and Holy Week | The Rev. Susan E. Hill, Associate Rector
This Sunday, April 13, is Palm Sunday. It marks the beginning of Holy Week, when we will liturgically walk with Jesus to his death and celebrate his resurrection which brings us all into new life. In an intriguing synchronicity, yesterday, April 10, was the commemoration of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As you may remember, Bonhoeffer was a major figure in the Protestant resistance to Hitler and the Nazis. He was arrested in 1943 for contributing to a failed attempt on Hitler’s life. He was executed on April 9, 1945, less than a week before the Allies liberated the prison camp he was in. As he was led away to his death, Bonhoeffer said to a fellow prisoner, “This is the end – but for me it is the beginning of Life!”…
The Importance Of Valuing What We Have | The Rev. Canon Robert A. Jacobs, Deacon
In the parable of the Prodigal son, we find a young man who, driven by his own desires, demands his inheritance from his father. He takes this wealth and squanders it in a distant land, living a life of recklessness. It’s a tale of a son’s rebellion, a father’s heartache, and the transformative power of repentance.
He was eager to claim his inheritance, to break free from his father’s house, to live life on his own terms. He was driven by a desire for independence, for freedom, and adventure. In his pursuit of these things, he lost sight of the value of his father’s love, of the security of his home and the wisdom of his upbringing. He traded the lasting riches his father’s house provided for fleeting pleasures, and in the end, he found himself destitute, desperate, and alone….
Justified | The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson, Rector
This time of chaos and undoing has elicited lots of feelings in many of us. They are not all on the negative side of the balance, these feelings, but those that are run the gamut from dread to fury and back again. Our Lenten spiritual practices and disciplines could not come at a better time—not because such commitments dismiss our broken hearts or magically repair them, but because they place our distress in the context of Jesus Christ.
Ember Days | The Rev. Susan Hill, Associate Rector
As you leaf occasionally through your beloved copy of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), you may have noticed mention of “Ember Days.” These observances turn up on the liturgical calendar four times a year, and each consists of three days: the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after St. Lucy’s Day (December 14), Ash Wednesday, the day of Pentecost, and Holy Cross day (September 14). As you may have deduced, we are currently in the vicinity of the Ash Wednesday Ember Days….
Heaven And Hell | The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson, Rector
C.S. Lewis’ book titled The Great Divorce is a parable about the cavernous gap between heaven and hell. Lewis presents hell as a place filled with people who can’t let go. They carry the things they disliked about other people while they were alive, or they find new ways to be righteously indignant with those around them. As they hold on to these resentments and express their annoyances, they move further and further apart.
The story focuses on a small group of people on a bus that takes them to the very edge of heaven. Before they can go on, each of them meets a person from their past that they wish they could avoid. An artist meets a competitor and doesn’t want to give up his insistence that his school of training was the best. A woman has manipulated those closest to her and doesn’t want to give that power up in the afterlife….
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