I’ve been asked this morning to give my story of Stewardship, in the hopes that, perhaps, my story will resonate with some of you and invoke the Spirit of giving within you during your discernment. But I know some of you are very scientific and calculating in your thought process, so let me just begin by offering two statistics: About 50% and about 95%.
Now that we’ve got that data out of the way, let’s get back to the story….
There is a New Yorker Magazine cartoon that had two people talking to each other, and one person is saying to the other, “Well, enough about me. Let’s talk about you. So what do you think about me?” I feel a little bit like that today in that I would like to talk a little bit about me. Not that I’m preaching me, but to talk a little about what I’ve been experiencing this past week and talk to you about that this morning…
Mark 1:29-39
“After they left the synagogue.” That’s how our Gospel reading begins today. Jesus and his disciples had left the synagogue, and then unfolds this story that we just read from the Gospel reading this morning. When you think about it, a lot of what we read about in the Gospels about Jesus is about his ministry outside the synagogue…
Two weeks ago all of the clergy from our diocese including the clergy here and all of our lay deputies from the diocese including the lay people who are deputies for our church here attended the Diocese of North Carolina’s Annual Convention in Winston-Salem…
My fishing history is very short and not so sweet. My first encounter came when our youngest son Steven was almost six years old. Craig had introduced our two sons to fishing and it was love at first sight for both of them. And when Craig and Rob were going to a Cub Scout function, younger brother Steve was a bit put out. So Craig suggested I take him fishing at the Deerfield Beach pier…
I wonder if many of you have seen the holiday animated film called Gotta Catch Santa Claus? It’s several years old and has a real catchy theme song: “he’s on his way in a super cool sleigh” and “gotta find proof that he’s on the roof”. For those who don’t know the adolescent girl lead doesn’t believe in Santa and the boy lead wants to catch Santa to prove it to her…
Today is the day of our annual meeting which we had from ten to eleven o’clock between our services. So today is a little bit different in my preaching. Instead of what you would normally look at as preaching or a homily, I want to talk about our parish and where we find ourselves, and give thanks to you for all you do to make St. Paul’s who it is and what it is…
The more Christmases I celebrate the more I am convinced that Christmas is for poets. One of my favorite Christmas poems was written almost a century and a half ago by a man named Phillips Brooks. At the time, Brooks was rector of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, and he wrote this poem for his Sunday School class, having been inspired by a visit he made to Bethlehem a few years earlier…
There was a youth minister who was invited to speak at a youth conference a few years back. At this youth conference were people from upper high school to college age. They were from different denominations from all parts of the country gathered together for this conference. Among many of the presentations this young youth minister was invited to give a talk…
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God and now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the House of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end…