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------  RECENT SCRIPTURE READINGS AND HOMILIES  ------

The Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 14 (A)

August 10, 2008

FIRST READING:  Genesis (37:1-4, 12-28)
Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. This is the story of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron. He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b

1 Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.

2 Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
and speak of all his marvelous works.

3 Glory in his holy Name; *
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

4 Search for the Lord and his strength; *
continually seek his face.

5 Remember the marvels he has done, *
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,

6 O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
O children of Jacob his chosen.

16 Then he called for a famine in the land *
and destroyed the supply of bread.

17 He sent a man before them, *
Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 

18 They bruised his feet in fetters; *
his neck they put in an iron collar.

19 Until his prediction came to pass, *
the word of the Lord tested him.

20 The king sent and released him; *
the ruler of the peoples set him free.

21 He set him as a master over his household,
as a ruler over all his possessions,

22 To instruct his princes according to his will
and to teach his elders wisdom.

45 That they might keep his statutes *
and observe his laws.

Hallelujah!

SECOND READING:  Romans (10:5-15)

Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (14:22-33)

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

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TODAY'S HOMILY

by Rev. Michael Kreutzer

“I’m telling! Dad, do you know what Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher did? Hey, guys, did you see the cool new robe that Dad gave me? He didn’t give any of you one – only me! Oh, and did I tell you about the awesome dream I had last night? Mom and Dad and all ten of you were bowing down before me, because I was the king of everybody! When that happens, I get to tell everybody else what to do, and you have to do it!” Well, that’s the image of the young Joseph that comes through in the book of Genesis. And, when you were growing up, you thought your little brother was a pain!

History, it is said, it written by the victors. Hearing Joseph’s story as told by people who may well have been his descendants, we easily become accustomed to thinking of Joseph’s brothers as being the villains in the story, and of Joseph as their poor, innocent victim. While not trying to justify at all what they did to him and to their father, I think you’ve got to admit that Joseph brought a lot of his problems on himself.

People often do that in life. It’s not unusual for us to encounter people who are suffering and in need in our community, and feel sorry for them; but then, when you see the really poor decisions that they have made in life and that they continue to make over and over again, you realize that they are their own worst enemies. Like Joseph, they bring at least some of their problems on themselves.

Others, though, are true victims of fate. We see, for example, the millions who are suffering in the world right now from famine and drought, from hurricanes and tornados, from earthquakes and wars over which they have absolutely no control. We see people in our own community who are suddenly struck by a serious illness, or who have the breadwinner of the family suddenly taken from them, and they have nowhere to turn. Their lives seem caught up in terrible storms, like the one described in today’s gospel reading. The disciples in that story probably had no way of knowing that such a tempest would suddenly be raging on the Sea of Galilee, threatening their lives. Yet here they were, tossed about by the wind and waves, understandably terrified as darkness and apparent death surrounded them.

Yet as different as these two Bible stories are at the beginning – the central character in one bringing a lot of his problems on himself, but those in the other being caught up in a crisis that they probably could not have foreseen – the outcome of the stories is the same. No matter what the cause of their particular “storms”, God is with them. God is with them to weather the storms with them. God is with them to comfort and support them. God is with them to bring life out of apparent death. And because God is with them, there is hope.

That’s good news for all of us. We can easily contrast those who, like Joseph, bring many of their problems on themselves with those who, like Jesus’ disciples, become victims of forces beyond their control. But if we are completely honest with ourselves, I think that we have to admit that there is at least some of each of them in us and in the “storms” of various types that we face in our lives. We are seldom completely innocent victims. We tend to be at least somewhat complicit in many of the storms, big and small, that we face. And when they come, we, too, are relieved and grateful to find that we are not alone, but that God is with us as well. And it is God’s presence that likewise brings us hope: hope that things do not need to continue as they are, hope that God still can bring life out of death.

This is not just some nice, pious sentiment that’s easy to affirm when we find ourselves at a great distance from the very real suffering of people in the world. It is a realization and a reality that people of faith have experienced over and over again as they have dared, in God’s name, to confront persecution and injustice and suffering in some of its seemingly most intransigent forms.

One of the great witnesses in our time to the power of that hope, to the power of God’s presence with those who are suffering, with those who are caught up in the life-threatening storms of the world, is Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu. His bold and brave leadership in opposing and helping to bring down the terrible scourge of apartheid in his native South Africa is well-known. And it was his hope in the presence of God in the midst of that injustice and suffering that enabled him to confront it head-on.

Of that hope, he once declared: “Nothing could have been deader than Jesus on the cross on the first Good Friday. And the hopes of his disciples appeared to die with his crucifixion. . . . And then Easter happened. Jesus rose from the dead. The incredible, the unexpected happened. Life triumphed over death, light over darkness, love over hatred, good over evil. That is what Easter means—hope prevails over despair. Jesus reigns as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Oppression and injustice and suffering can’t be the end of the human story.”

Desmond Tutu did not write those words after apartheid had been abolished, when the conditions that it imposed were legally, at least, behind him and his fellow citizens. He wrote those words in the midst of the storm. He wrote those words in 1982, when apartheid was still the ruling principle of his homeland, when Nelson Mandela and many others who dared to oppose that oppressive system were still locked away in prison, and when the Archbishop himself faced the possibility of imprisonment or even death for daring to speak out against it.

It would be another 12 years before free and fair elections would be held in South Africa and genuine change would begin to take place. Yet through those years, through that continuing storm, Desmond Tutu and many other people of faith continued to wait and to work boldly in the hope of God’s continuing presence, in the hope that resurrection would one day come.

But remember that “hope” for them did not consists in passivity or inaction. They clung to a hope, a confidence in God. But they also knew that God doesn’t work alone, that God calls upon us to take an active part in opposing the injustice in our world, to take an active role in relieving the suffering in our world. They reaffirmed in their lives the principle that St. Augustine annunciated long ago: that God without us will not, but we without God cannot. 

It is that same kind of hope that supports us, that sustains us, that enables us to continue trying to change at least a small part of the world in God’s name. In our quest to be faithful to our baptismal promise “to strive for justice and peace and to respect the dignity of every human being,” we act in hope: hope in the God who stands with us in the midst of the storm, hope in the God who still does great things, hope in the God who still transforms our Good Fridays into Easters, transforming death into new and even more glorious life.

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The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 13 (A)

August 3, 2008

FIRST READING:  Genesis (32:22-31)
The same night [Jacob] got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then the man said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Psalm 17:1-7, 16

1 Hear my plea of innocence, O Lord;
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.

2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.

3 Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.

4 I give no offense with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.

5 My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.

6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.

7 Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.

16 But at my vindication I shall see your face; *
when I awake, I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

SECOND READING:  Romans (9:1-5)

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit—I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (14:13-21)

Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

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TODAY'S HOMILY

by Rev. Michael Kreutzer

“I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual. I have a relationship with God, but it’s personal and private. It’s something that I keep separate from the rest of my life. It’s something that’s just between God and me.”

We often hear statements like these in our society, assertions that someone’s relationship with God concerns just the two of them and that it can somehow be separated from the rest of a person’s life, and from his or her relationship to other people and to the rest of the world. I don’t buy it – and much more importantly, neither the authors of today’s scripture readings nor the many other authors of the Bible buy it either. A person’s relationship with God certainly includes a personal dimension, but it can never be completely private, separated from the rest of life. If it is, you’ve got the wrong god! You have a god whom, as Friedrich Nietzsche observed, you have created in your own image and likeness.

The patriarch Jacob, in today’s first reading, had to wrestle with that reality – literally! As a young man, Jacob had insisted that his twin brother, Esau, who at the time was supposedly in danger of starving, give him his birthright before Jacob would give him something to eat. As if that weren’t bad enough, later on, Jacob had connived with his mother to steal a unique, sacred blessing that by right belonged to Esau; and in the process he lied to, deceived, and made a fool of his elderly, blind and dying father. What a great guy! Jacob was then forced to flee for his life.

By the time of today’s story, Jacob had lived in virtual exile for 20 years, matching wits with his unscrupulous uncle (and eventually twice father-in-law), Laban. By this time, things had grown so tense and dangerous that he was forced to flee that place as well. Now he was, at last, headed for home, not knowing how Esau would receive him: with a forgiving embrace or with an avenging sword.

As he approached the land of his birth, he had the dramatic encounter with God that we heard about this morning. He spent the night literally wrestling with God. But the author makes it clear that Jacob’s two meetings – the one with God and the one with his brother – are inseparably bound-up with each other. Jacob wrestles God to a draw, but is struck with a limp that affects him for the rest of his life, what Frederick Buechner has called “the magnificent defeat.” When he later meets Esau, Jacob is forced to bow down before him three times and beg for forgiveness, and he is inwardly wounded as he is brought face-to-face with the terrible wrong that he has done and with the division within the family that he has caused. In both encounters, Jacob is victorious, yet wounded. In both encounters, he is blessed and changed.

These two meetings, one with God and the other with Esau, cannot be separated from each other. They are bound together by the author with the repeated image of seeing the other’s face. And as Jacob himself will come to declare to Esau (Gen. 33:10), “truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God.” Jacob sees in God’s face the face of his brother, Esau; and Jacob sees in Esau’s face the very face of God. In commenting on the two meetings, on these two faces, Walter Brueggeman has observed, “In the holy God, there is something of the estranged brother. And in the forgiving brother, there is something of the blessing God.” The two are inseparable.

Jesus, in today’s gospel reading and in many other parts of his ministry, shows a similar awareness of the inseparability of a loving relationship with God and of a loving relationship with our fellow human beings. There have been many attempts over the centuries to explain what happened in this scene described by Matthew. Did Jesus step outside the laws of nature to feed the multitude? Was this actually a resurrection event, reflected back into Jesus’ earthly ministry? Were the crowds so moved by his words that they opened up the bags of food that they already had and began to share what they had brought with one another? There is no way of ever knowing.

But maybe an historical explanation of what happened is not really important. Such an historical explanation wasn’t Matthew’s concern to begin with. Instead, Matthew used this story, and many others, to tell us something about Jesus and about his ministry and message. And, among other things, this account shows Jesus’ active concern, not just for some sort of abstract, so-called “spiritual” issues, but for the very basic needs of the people who were right there in front of him. They were hungry, and so Jesus fed them. He fed them with the basic, ordinary food of the general population of his time: bread and a little fish. That for Jesus was God’s work.

But notice that Jesus didn’t feed them all by himself. He isn’t portrayed as commanding the skies to be opened and food to rain down on them in some miraculous way, separate from the lives of others. Instead, when the disciples notice that the people are hungry and in need, Jesus tells them simply, “Yes, they are hungry; so you feed them.” In doing so, he is reminding them of the inseparability of the love of God and the active love of our fellow human beings in need. Jesus is reminding them of what Jacob came to realize: that we see the face of God in the face of our sisters and brothers in need, and we serve God by serving our sisters and brothers in need.

Today, the bishops of the Anglican Communion are concluding the Lambeth Conference. For 19 days, they have been meeting together in prayer, in study and in conversation to try to discern what God is calling the Church to be and to do in the years ahead. For 19 days, both the media and a dissenting group of mostly third-world bishops have been trying to distract this gathering from its work and to engage instead is a battle over power and over who can be a full and complete part of the church and who cannot. By the grace of God, the bishops have, by and large, managed to keep their focus. They have struggled to hear anew the cry of God’s people who are hungry in many different ways in the world today and to hear anew Jesus’ command to the Church: “You feed them.”

On a local level, we here at St. Mark’s, working together with the other churches of our neighborhood, with the other Episcopal churches of our Deanery, and with other groups and organizations in the wider community, likewise continue our quest to hear the cry of God’s people in need and to respond to them generously in Jesus’ name. During this final month of the summer of 2008, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves, both as a parish church and as individuals, how we are going to respond to those people and to those needs during the new “program year” that we will be starting just over a month from now. Will we try to construct a merely private God, one whom we create in our own image and likeness? Or will we embrace and dedicate ourselves anew to the God revealed to us in the scriptures, to the God whom we encounter in those who are need, to the God who exists in an intimate and inseparable relationship with God’s creation?

The First Letter of John (4:20), put is clearly and succinctly: “those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” Over the coming year, will we, like Jacob and like Jesus, see the face of God in the face of our sisters and brothers?

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The Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 12 (A)

July 27, 2008

FIRST READING:  Genesis (29:15-28)
Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” Laban said, “This is not done in our country—giving the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” Jacob did so and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.

Psalm 105:1-11, 45b

1 Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.

2 Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
and speak of all his marvelous works.

3 Glory in his holy Name; *
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

4 Search for the Lord and his strength; *
continually seek his face.

5 Remember the marvels he has done, *
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,

6 O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
O children of Jacob his chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God; *
his judgments prevail in all the world.

8 He has always been mindful of his covenant, *
the promise he made for a thousand generations:

9 The covenant he made with Abraham, 
the oath that he swore to Isaac,

10 Which he established as a statute for Jacob, *
an everlasting covenant for Israel,

11 Saying, “To you will I give the land of Canaan *
to be your allotted inheritance.”

45 That they might keep his statutes *
and observe his laws.

Hallelujah!

SECOND READING:  Romans (8:26-39)

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (13:31-33, 44-52)

Another parable Jesus put before the crowds: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

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TODAY'S HOMILY

by Rev. Deacon Mary Slenski

Some things don’t change no matter how many times you go to school. Your friends all want to know what you’re doing after graduation. I remember one particular conversation with my rector at Trinity Church in Concord, MA when I remembered that Mike preaches from the center and without notes. I’ll tell you, I’m in great awe of that ability. It’s a gift. As for me, I also know that Mike is going to want me to preach just as he does where ever and how ever I believe will offer the Holy Spirit the best opportunity to engage the words and our lives. So, I’m going to reserve the right to move around as the Spirit moves me.

That’s why I’m beginning down here, but, I’m not going to stay here today. On another day, under different circumstances, I might.

I am one of you. While I haven’t worshipped with you very often, we have walked the same paths for many years. These paths have been through the Beavercreek school hallways, neighborhoods, and soccer fields, at Wright-Patt, and certainly at Deanery and Diocesan events. We’ve shared life and ministry in all sorts of places, sometimes shoulder-to-shoulder, sometimes not so closely. St. Mark’s is in the middle of my home country. It is the closest Episcopal church to my home. So, I’m beginning down here to recognize that. At the same time I’ve been called by God, ordained in the Church, and appointed by Bp Breidenthal to another path of ministry with you. With that come other possibilities, privileges and responsibilities. And other places.

And it will be good and I’m looking forward to being here. I remembered in those first conversations with my friends, too, what St. Paul said in our reading from his epistle to the beloved at Rome (with a bit of paraphrasing):

“We know, (we know because we have seen,) that all things work together for good for those who love God, (those who try to love God, who have tried and failed and are trying again,) who are called according to God’s purpose.” (Rom 8:28)

What is but a few steps here in this space, actually represents a journey of several years that has taken me into several congregations and pulpits As Paul moved around and wrote to the different early Christian communities, he introduced himself and greeted the community in a particular way. I believe it still works today.

I, Mary Lynn Slenski, a servant of Jesus Christ, to the church of God gathered in Riverside, OH this morning, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

As we are gathered here, bishops within the Anglican Communion at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, are meeting in what’s known as the Lambeth Conference. There are over 800 of them, spouses and guests gathered at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England. The Anglican Communion can be thought of as a global family of 38 churches, one being the Episcopal Church, united probably more than anything by a story. It’s a family story that goes back a long time ago. 

It begins something like this: Once upon the 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great, sent Augustine as a missionary of the Roman church to the British Isles. And when he got there, he found someone else had beaten him there first, at least as far as bringing Christ was concerned. He had to wrestle with some things because the Christians who were already there didn’t do things in exactly the same way as he did and that they did in Rome. He wrote Pope Gregory and the counsel he received was to do things as seems most pleasing to God and don’t get hung up on whose way was the right way. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and this worked fine for almost a thousand years. Then the story gets much more complicated with things like the Reformation, and King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, and then those pesky colonists in the New England who had an independent streak. In a nutshell, that’s it. The bishops gathered in Canterbury in the summer of 2008, all share this family history. 

The Lambeth conference, this family reunion, began in 1867 and meets every ten years. It carries no legislative authority. That’s important. It does carry moral authority. Like any family that has patriarchs and/or matriarchs, they want the rest of the family to abide by their wisdom and therefore their pronouncements. This is a real struggle. Human pronouncements that come top down are at odds with the theme that runs from one end of scripture to the other that the mountains will be brought low and the valleys will be raised up.

This Lambeth Conference is not just a global family reunion where the members come from around the world; it is to a point being shared on a global platform, thanks to the internet. Their schedule, daily photographs, a few conversations with media (who are trying their darnedest to poke and prod and stir up trouble), their daily Bible studies, blogs and even cartoons are readily available at the click of a mouse. 

What we are not privy to are the conversations that occur while standing in queues, across the meal table, in the Bible studies, and in the indaba discussion groups. Indaba groups are a South African tradition and are a process to enable discussion rather than debate of issues confronting a community. What I have heard, and am doing my best to trust faithfully, is that in these groups, the bishops are sharing their stories of joy and challenge in living out the gospel in their particular cultures and are striving to find Christ in each other. In essence, they are sharing family stories: both joys and dirty laundry. This Anglican family is no different from any other. It’s hard work to sit face-to-face, as brothers and sisters, and share your deepest joys, sorrows, thought and beliefs, when you only do it every ten years.

There are those who say the Anglican Communion is divided. Not every bishop was invited to Lambeth and not all who were invited accepted. There are empty places at the table. It’s hard to come down off our mountains of privilege whether it’s a purple shirt, a passport from the First World, certainty in interpretation of Scripture or anything else that makes us feel superior to another. We are not all that God intends us to be. We are leaven. 

We are leaven and in the Bible, leaven is a mystery second only to blood. In its given state as soured or fermented dough it’s useful for baking. It’s an organic process that is part of the created physical world and a good thing. Because it’s soured and stinky it’s also a metaphor for moral corruption.

Jesus talks about leaven. But when Jesus talks about leaven he qualifies it. He says beware the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware what the Pharisees say is unclean, unqualified, or even corrupt. In what the Pharisees thought was unclean and unqualified, the rotten of society, Jesus thought otherwise. 

Jesus qualified leaven again. This time he says look there for the kingdom of heaven. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman, a woman, took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened." (Matt 13:33) Taken in a certain way, in this soured and stinky stuff of life is where God is active and carries a glimpse of heaven. 

This soured and stinky stuff has within its being, when it is mixed and buried and kneaded into the grain of the field, a potential far greater than you can imagine. Three measures of flour were enough to feed a hundred people! Think of the aroma of that much hot, fresh, bread! 

If we are the leaven, then we, too, individuals, families, as a church, and as an Anglican family carry within our being a potential far greater than we allow ourselves to imagine. If we are leaven, we than have within us the capacity to bear witness to the kingdom of heaven. Imagine what could happen if we did reach to realize that potential. How many people could be fed? What keeps us from tapping that potential?

May we, ourselves, as a church, and as a communion, find the courage to reach into our own stories, our own selves, be as the woman who took the leaven and the flour, and look for God to be active in our own leaven, transforming it, so that all people may be fed and heaven be found on earth. Amen.

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The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 11 (A)

July 20, 2008

FIRST READING:  Genesis (28:10-19a)
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel.

Psalm 139:1-11, 22-23

1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up; 
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You trace my journeys and my resting- places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4 You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me*
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?

7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.

10 If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, *
and the light around me turn to night,”

11 Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day; *
darkness and light to you are both alike.

22 Search me out, O God, and know my heart; *
try me and know my restless thoughts.

23 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me * 
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.

SECOND READING:  Romans (8:12-25)

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (13:24-30, 36-43)

Another parable Jesus put before the crowds saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”

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TODAY'S HOMILY

by Rev. Michael Kreutzer

“Baptism,” The Book of Common Prayer (p. 298) tells us, “Baptism is full initiation by water and the Holy Spirit into Christ’s Body the Church.” In bringing their children here to be baptized, April and Russ and Megan and Tom are making a very serious promise to God: a vow that they will raise their children in the full life of the Church: worship and education and fellowship and service-to-the-world in God’s name. It is a very major commitment that they are making today, and we pledge to them our full support in keeping that solemn promise.

But what is this “Church” into which Sarah and Addison and Adam are being baptized? What is its role, and what is its goal? What is it that God has sent us to be and to accomplish in the world?

It wasn’t very long ago that many, indeed most, Christians seemed to think of themselves as those who were being saved by God, those who – in contrast with everybody else in the world – were sharing God’s life now and would share it forever in heaven. Those who had not been baptized would, sadly, be left out. The Church’s role, its mission, was, therefore, to convince as many people as possible to become members of the Church since that was the only way to God. That is the reason that parents used to be in such a hurry to get their newborn children baptized – just in case something would happen. The ultimate goal would be to convince everyone in the world to become a member of the Church since the Church was the only way to God.

For the most part, those days are gone. Just last month, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released the results of their recent survey of 35,000 Americans from a variety of religious backgrounds. One of the questions that the study asked was whether those being interviewed agreed with the statement that “Many religions can lead to eternal life.” An overwhelming 83% of Mainline Protestants answered, “Yes.” They were joined by 79% of Roman Catholics and, for the first time, a majority -- 57% -- of those attending Evangelical churches. Clearly Christians in our time and in our society no longer believe that ours is the only way to God.

But if that’s true, then what are we doing here? If the Church’s ultimate goal is not necessarily to include everyone in the world in its membership, and if its role is not to be the only way to God, what exactly is the role of this Church into which we are baptizing these children today?

Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, offers two familiar images that can help point the way. In addressing the role that his followers are to play in the world, he says, “You are the light of world,” “you are the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:14, 13). Think about those images.

Light, from our perspective, does not exist for itself, so that everything will somehow become a great field of light. Instead light plays a critical, yet supporting, role. Light enables us to see everything else that is already around us. Light enables us to see more clearly those things that we have seen only dimly and obscurely; and, in total darkness, light enables us to see also those things that have been around us all the time, but which we had not been able to see at all.

In a similar way, salt does not exist so that all of our food might become salt (a pretty disgusting idea!). Instead, it exists in order to enhance and to bring out the flavor of some of the other foods that we eat. It enables us to taste what was already there and to enjoy it more completely.

In a similar way, the Church does not exist in the world for its own sake, as the exclusive way to God or as the only way that God comes into, and works in, the lives of people. Instead, it serves as light and as salt so that the people of the world might come to see and experience the God who has been present with them all along, so that they might taste and see the goodness of the Lord who is already present and active in their lives. The Church is in the world so that, like Jacob in today’s first reading, others in the world might be able to look at their lives and at the world around them and affirm, “Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it.”

Many people go through life without ever coming to know the presence and the power and the love of God in their lives. It is as though they lived their lives in a small, isolated, very depressing village. Whether they are rich or poor or somewhere in-between, their lives there tend to be a joyless struggle, just getting by from day to day. There is no real happiness in that village, no beauty, certainly no richness of life, no joy, no hope. But that small, depressing village is all that they know.

What they don’t realize is that that village is actually situated high on a hill, and that hill is surrounded by the most magnificent setting that you could ever imagine. There are lush, verdant hills, with snowed-capped mountains beyond, a breath-taking waterfall tumbling down into a sparklingly clear flowing stream, and an abundance of life teaming in the forests and fields – everything that they could possibly want and need, everything for which they are longing. But no one in the village knows that these things are there; no one knows that such a world of beauty and hope and life exists all around them.

And the reason that the people trapped in that village aren’t aware of that magnificent setting and its bounty is the fact that the village is surrounded by a dense, high, obscuring thicket that cuts them off from all that surrounds them. For some of the residents, that thicket is comprised of poverty and a lack of education and a lack of opportunity and a sense that their lives can never be any better or happier than they are right now, that what they have is all that they will ever have. For others, that thicket is comprised of a constant struggle to obtain and protect and hold onto more and more things, more and more money and possessions, in the vain hope that these will somehow make them happy; it’s never worked before, but maybe if they just had a little bit more… And the thicket grows denser and higher and seemingly even more impenetrable.

The role of the Church, and of us as members of the Church, is to make our way up the hill and to begin to cut through that thicket. It’s hard, exhausting work, and we are probably going to suffer some cuts and scrapes and frustrations along the way. But when we are able to make even a small breakthrough, we allow one, or maybe a few, of the people trapped inside that barrier to catch at least a glimpse of a new vision: to come to see and to taste what has been there all along, but what they have not been able to see and experience up to that point. Then, they too can begin to affirm that “Surely the Lord is in this place – but I did not know it.” And we can then continue to work side-by-side with them, struggling together to cut through more and more of that thicket so that they and others in the village might come to see the presence and the power and the love of God in their lives, so that they too might come to taste the goodness of the Lord.

By bringing these children here to be baptized, we are pledging ourselves to help them to live in a new vision of the world that surrounds them. We are pledging that we will nurture them in such a way that they will grow up seeing and tasting the goodness of the Lord in their lives. We are pledging that we will nurture them so that they might come to work along with us in the great and ongoing task of cutting through all those thickets in our world that prevent people from coming to recognize and to live in what Jesus called the Kingdom of God. And we are pledging ourselves to do everything in our power to enable them to become, along with us, the light of the world and the salt of the earth, so that all people might come to experience and to proclaim and to celebrate the life-changing realization that “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.”

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The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 10 (A)

July 13, 2008

FIRST READING:  Genesis (25:19-34)
These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Psalm 119:105-112

105 Your word is a lantern to my feet *
and a light upon my path.

106 I have sworn and am determined *
to keep your righteous judgments.

107 I am deeply troubled; *
preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word.

108 Accept, O Lord, the willing tribute of my lips, *
and teach me your judgments.

109 My life is always in my hand, *
yet I do not forget your law.

110 The wicked have set a trap for me, *
but I have not strayed from your commandments.

111 Your decrees are my inheritance for ever; *
truly, they are the joy of my heart.

112 I have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes *
for ever and to the end.

SECOND READING:  Romans (8:1-11)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (13:1-9, 18-23)

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen! Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

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TODAY'S HOMILY

by Rev. Deacon George Snyder

Today was the final homily delivered by Deacon George as he now prepares to move on to his new and exciting ministries.  Amen!

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The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 9 (A)

July 6, 2008

FIRST READING:  Genesis (24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67)
So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’ I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’ Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.” And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, become thousands of myriads; may your offspring gain possession of the gates of their foes.” Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Psalm 45:11-18

11 “Hear, O daughter; consider and listen closely; *
forget your people and your father’s house.

12 The king will have pleasure in your beauty; *
he is your master; therefore do him honor.

13 The people of Tyre are here with a gift; *
the rich among the people seek your favor.”

14 All glorious is the princess as she enters;*
her gown is cloth-of-gold.

15 In embroidered apparel she is brought to the king; *
after her the bridesmaids follow in procession.

16 With joy and gladness they are brought *
and enter into the palace of the king.

17 “In place of fathers, O king, you shall have sons; *
you shall make them princes over all the earth. 

18 I will make your name to be remembered
from one generation to another; *
therefore nations will praise you for ever and ever.”.

SECOND READING:  Romans (7:15-25a)

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew (10:40-42)

Jesus said, “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

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TODAY'S HOMILY

by Rev. Bill Bumiller

Today, St. Mark's welcomed the Rev. Bill Bumiller as our substitute priest.

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