Category: Sermons
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A Vocation In The Vineyard
With the current escalation of violence in Israel, a parallel rise in eschatological verbiage normally occurs. Some of this verbiage emits a highly emotional tone coupled with apocalyptic undercurrents and warnings. I recall a cartoon in which a long haired and bearded man dressed in a robe and wearing sandals…
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Calling A New Leader
The exodus from Egypt is a defining moment for the Jewish people. Our perception of the Exodus events is shaped many times by reenactments in movies. Turner classic movies as well as network television has shown the movie The 10 Commandments during Easter week for as many years as I can…
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Circles of Disobedience
Have you ever benefited from another person’s mistake or failure? Paul came to understand that the Jewish peoples’ failure to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah opened the way for the conversion of the Gentiles. Mercy came from another’s failure. However, their failure is not catastrophic, but a means to an…
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Writing History & Sowing Seeds
We should always remind ourselves that the church is the people who have joined together for a common purpose in this building and in this town. An Episcopal presence in Mt Carmel has been present since the fall of 1842. You are the heirs of this ministry.
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Rejoice Always!
We are already a week away from Christmas, and for good reason, this Sunday is called “Joy Sunday”. This is because of the exhortation given to us by St. Paul at the beginning of the reading from 1 Thessalonians: “Rejoice always.”
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Are We Ready to Choose?
The gospel for today begs allegory and analogy, leading inevitably to dividing people into groups of good and bad. It is an invitation to play the Blame Game. Coupled with our innate curiosity, like Pandora, we cannot help but want to know just who is going to be bound hand…
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Forgiveness
Have you ever heard this warning: Be careful what you pray for – you might get it. Watch out – you just might get what you are after. Here’s a prayer many of us pray at least once a week – forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who…
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Borderlands
In our Gospel lesson for today, we have one of the most amazing stories in all of the New Testament. It is the profound and troubling and ultimately transformative story of Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman. It’s also a story that’s situated, in almost every way, in the borderland.
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Islands
“No man is an island,” wrote the 17th-century English priest and poet John Donne, and although we might agree with this sentiment in principle, we struggle to live into it. Donne desired his hearers to understand their fundamental interdependence even when religious and political conflicts threatened to drive them apart.
St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church 