The Kingdom of Heaven is Like . . .

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 12 (Year A)

Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 14:50)

Today’s Gospel reading is a series of five parables, which is actually part of a longer series of seven parables—the first two of which we heard the last two weeks, along with their explanations. This series has a common theme: “the kingdom of heaven is like . . .” While the first two—the ones we heard the last two weeks—were much longer and more detailed, the ones we hear today are much shorter. Despite their brevity, they contain a wealth of information. It’s worth taking a critical look at these five parables to determine what truths they hold. Not only to provide us with an image of what God’s kingdom will be like in its fullness, but what it might take to help us get there.

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“Know That I Am with You and Will Keep You Wherever You Go”

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 11 (Year A)

Genesis 28.10-19a; Romans 8.12-25

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 17:45)

When I hear our Old Testament reading—what is commonly referred to as the story of Jacob’s ladder—I cannot help but think of a song from my childhood and youth. A song we sang in Sunday School and at church camps and retreats: “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” Perhaps you know the song.

The first verse goes:

    We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;

we are climbing Jacob’s ladder;

    we are climbing Jacob’s ladder;

soldiers of the cross.

Without the threefold repetition, the successive verses are:

“Every round goes higher, higher”

“Sinner, do you love my Jesus?”

“If you love him, why not serve him?”

And finally:

“We are climbing higher, higher.”[1]

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Seeking to Bear Abundant Fruit

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 (Year A)

Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 13:40)

Jesus loves his parables. Simply put, a parable is “a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson.”[1] For Jesus, parables were a proven way to teach about the kingdom of God using common images that his hearers could relate to. Part of the teaching process was that the hearers of the parable were expected to work for the answer. To struggle with the story presented and to figure out the gem hidden within. To figure out the truth Jesus was trying to convey.

Since our modern-day congregations do not live in the same circumstances or have the same worldview as the original hearers of Jesus’ parables, the job of the preacher (me) is to try to explain what Jesus meant, based on historical and cultural context. To translate the parable into terms more readily understandable to our 21^st century American perspective. But in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus makes that virtually impossible because he also explains the parable. Not to the original audience. That would take all the fun out of telling a parable in the first place.

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Take My Yoke Upon You

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9 (Year A)

Matthew 11.16-19, 25-30

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 14:20)

(Sermon begins at about 14:20)

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11.28). How timely these words are. How in need we are of hearing them.

Even in normal times—you remember, that time BC: Before COVID—we were already weary and carried heavy burdens. The demands of work, with the pressures to meet unreasonable deadlines, to continually produce more and more. For some, the struggle to even just find employment. The demands of family life and running a household. The challenge of balancing work and home life. Concerns about finances—how to make ends meet, let alone how to save enough to hopefully retire one day. Struggles with health issues—both our own, as well as caring for loved ones with their own health concerns. For those who have lost a spouse, struggling with loneliness, and trying to build a new life without the one you thought you would spend the rest of your life with. For those who are older, being shut-in and having limited social contact.

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Take Up Your Cross

Third Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 7 (Year A)

Matthew 10.24-39

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 14:45)

Today’s Gospel reading is very complex. And, to be honest, a bit difficult to hear. Who of us is not uncomfortable with, even disturbed by, Jesus words: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt 10.34)? And then he goes on to talk about family member being set against family member. These are uncomfortable words to hear. These are uncomfortable images that seem to go against what we know of and think about Jesus. After all, we refer to him as the Prince of Peace. We think of him as the Good Shepherd, lovingly caring for his sheep. He preached a message of love for all humanity. Yet here, what he says is completely counter to our comfortable and comforting ideas of who Jesus is. But before we go too far down that rabbit hole, let’s step back to the beginning of our Gospel lesson.

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Those Who Are Sent: "We've Got This!"

Second Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 6 (Year A)

Matthew 9.35—10.20

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 13:20)

As I read the Gospel lesson for today, I am reminded of the Gospel lesson for last Sunday. In the Gospel for Trinity Sunday, Jesus gave his disciples what is known as the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the ages” (Mt 28.19-20). These are Jesus’ final instructions to his disciples following his resurrection and immediately before his ascension. That they are to make disciples of all nations. ALL nations. Jews and Gentiles alike.

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The Trinity as the Model for Relationship

Trinity Sunday (Year A)

Matthew 28.16-20

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 14:00)

What is the Trinity? That is the question we ask ourselves every year on the first Sunday after Pentecost, when we celebrate Trinity Sunday. The Sunday dedicated to that unfathomable doctrine of the Church that, despite being completely incomprehensible, is so central to our religion. According to the doctrine of the Trinity, we believe in one God who is comprised of what theologians rather unfortunately refer to as three “persons.” “Persons” is really a misleading label, as we are not dealing with corporeal humans, Jesus notwithstanding. In actuality, the Greek term that we have translated as “person” is more aptly translated as “being” or “substantive reality.” Or, as applied to the Trinity, “individual reality.”

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"Receive the Holy Spirit"

Pentecost (Year A)

Acts 2.1-21; John 20.19-23

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 15:00)

Our first reading, from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, presents the iconic image of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Namely, that the Holy Spirit arrived amongst a crowded assembly of the disciples and numerous other people from Jerusalem, where the disciples were staying. We are told that the Holy Spirit arrived with a sound like the rush of a violent wind. Following this, tongues of fire appeared over the heads of those present, indicating that each had received and been filled with the Holy Spirit. As a sign of this, they all began to speak in other languages. In response to some ridicule from skeptics—“They are filled with new wine”—Peter addresses the assembly, quoting the Prophet Joel. About how it was foretold that God will pour out his Spirit upon all people, with the result being that many will prophesy: sons and daughters, men and women, slave and free. And that the old will see visions and the young will dream dreams.

This is the image that we usually think of on this day. The image that we celebrate by wearing red and decorating the church with red streamers or with images of flames. This is the scene we attempt to reenact by reading the Gospel in multiple languages—either separately, or as we have done the last couple of years, all at once, creating a cacophony of sound that resembles that first Pentecost—the numerous voices speaking different languages, even resembling the sound of the rush of a violent wind. This is the image that we seek to recreate, on which we focus our attention. This is the imagery that is most often the focus of sermons on this day. But that is not where I’m going to go today.

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Preparing for What Comes Next

Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Acts 1.6-14

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 16:30)

There are those awkward moments in the church calendar where we don’t quite know what is happening. When something has happened, but we are in an in-between time waiting for what is to come next. When we are left with a feeling of, “now what?” When we are left with a feeling of uncertainty, maybe even emptiness. We went through one of those “moments” seven weeks ago—that awkward time between Jesus’ death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter morning. Holy Saturday, that time when the world was empty as Jesus lies in the tomb. Despite having been told by Jesus that he would be killed and then raised to new life, the disciples certainly felt that sense of being alone, of being abandoned. Sure, Jesus said he would return on the third day, but the disciples seemed a little uncertain as to whether that would indeed be the case. And even in our own time, this side of the resurrection, when we know exactly what happens, that time between Good Friday and Easter Day is still an empty, lonely time. Where it almost feels as if Jesus really is gone and we are left on our own.

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Seeking the One in Whom We Live and Move and Have Our Being

Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Acts 17.22-31; John 14.15-21

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (Beginning at 14:00)

As I ponder our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, I am struck by the similarities between first century Athenians and us 21^st century Americans. In Paul’s oration to the Athenians, we see rich imagery and theological truths that still speak to us 2,000 years later.

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