"Be Alert at All Times"

First Sunday of Advent (Year C)
Jeremiah 33.14-16; Psalm 25.1-9; 1 Thessalonians 3.9-13; Luke 21.25.36
Sunday, November 29, 2015 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

“Be alert at all times.” As we begin our journey into Advent, these words of Jesus in today’s Gospel serve as a watchword for how we are to enter into this holy season. This command to “be alert at all times” carries with it a sense of expectation and anticipation that something is going to happen. Maybe even something that calls for preparation on our part. But how to prepare is the question. Maybe for now, just being alert is preparation enough.

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Breathing New Life into this Blog

I have decided to resurrect my blog. Or rather, dust it off and begin posting again. Part of the reason I stopped posting was that I had changed preaching styles, so that I was not using a manuscript. However, during Eastertide, I decided to go back to a manuscript, primarily so I could post my sermons on the parish Facebook page. This morning, I decided that I should go back to posting them on this blog, as well.

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Responding to Christ the King

Christ the King – Last Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 29 (Year B)
Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1.4b-8; John 18.33-37
Sunday, November 22, 2015 – St. Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula

Listening to news reports, particularly in recent days and weeks – ISIS attacks in Paris, Beirut, and an airplane in the Sinai; and threats of more attacks – gives one the impression that sin and death hold dominion over humanity. The sin of hate, religious extremism, radical political ideologies, have manifest themselves in horrific ways. Most notably in terms of destruction, injury, and loss of innocent lives. As we sit by, helplessly watching these events unfold, we may find ourselves gripped by fear. Fear of what might happen in our own homeland. Fear of those who are other. And we find ourselves feeling uncertain. Uncertain as to our own safety and security. Uncertain as to where our God is in all of this.

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