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Sermons (Page 32)

What is Truth?

On the Feast of Christ the King, the Rev. Carr Holland reflects on the complexity of truth (John 18:33-37): “In the airways these days, there are a lot of floating opinions, and they present themselves as fact or truth. But seldom are they what they pretend to be. We even create alternate facts if we don’t like the facts at hand. We consider mere opinions as if they are the sum of the truth. They simplify what is complex, and we wonder why we are not satisfied — perhaps it is because we forget to look at the relationships that we hold with others and to God as the place where truth will be revealed.”

The End of Things

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista considers what it means to find hope in the apocalypse (Mark 13:1-8): “One of the most popular stops in Israel is a fortress named Masada. It is high up on the Judean desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. In the first century BC, Herod the Great built himself a palace there on a mesa, fortified its walls and made it nearly impenetrable. And yet for all its fortification, its vast food store houses, its complex aqueduct system and ingenious engineering, it is the location of a major defeat, the last stand of a host of Jewish rebels, finally fed up with imperial Roman rule.”

Migration

There has always, it seems, been a custom of migration.  Moving from one place to another, many have done so in order that they might find education or find work.  Some have found a spouse along the way, perhaps.  How many of us, over 30, have never left Cary, or Wake County, or North Carolina, or the USA?  …
(Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17)

Sightless Among Miracles

The Rev. Carr Holland meditates on the sightless crowd in Mark 10:46-52: “Part of our spiritual journey is to see, not just to project on God or each other what we desire or what we want, but to see what is compassionate and tender and patient–and on that to to act. And this is miracle, extraordinary in its ordinariness. For we pause and notice each other and act in care.”

A Jewish Sabbath prayer: “Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our minds with knowing; let there be moments when Your Presence, like lightning, illumines the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see, wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed. And we, clay touched by God, will reach out for holiness, and exclaim in wonder: How filled with awe is this place, and we did not know it!” (Gates of Prayer, 1975)

The Story of the Second from Last

Mark 10:17-31
I love this Gospel reading. It’s oftentimes referred to as “The Story of the Rich Man.” I have a different title for it though. I call it “The Story of the Second from Last.” What does that mean? Did you ever notice that when we talk to each other, usually the thing you want to talk about is like the second from the last thing you talk about?….

Job and Fred Rogers

The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista reflects on Job 1:1; 2:1-10: “Before Senator Pastore sat a soft-spoken Presbyterian minister who was convinced of the value of public programming. This man had recently premiered a children’s show with low production value… Before the Senate committee, he articulated his mission as clearly as he did in every one of his shows: ‘if we can only make it clear in public television that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great surface for mental health.'”

The Prayer of Faith

The Rev. Candy Snively considers James 5:13-20 and the transformative nature of the Lord’s Prayer: “We live in a world all too full of injustice, hunger, malice, and evil. This prayer cries out for justice, bread, forgiveness, and deliverance. When Jesus gave his disciples this prayer, he was giving them part of his own breath, his own life, his own prayers.”

60th Anniversary Celebration

In celebration of the 60th anniversary of St. Paul’s, the Rev. Waite Maclin shares a few stories from the early days of St. Paul’s, and the Rev. George Adamik reflects on how the story of Abraham and Sarah reveals our own calling as a community. Visit our homepage or YouTube channel to view the video commemorating the history of St. Paul’s.