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…
There’s a lot of context for today. First of all today is the biggest single outreach day of St. Paul’s in our entire calendar year. Today with the gifts that you’ve brought and the gifts that were brought at the earlier service and the gifts that were brought all last week from people who couldn’t be here today, over 480 tags were taken off of the St. Nicholas Tree. I can’t imagine all the thousands of dollars that 480 tags, each one representing sometimes more than one gift or a really large gift, the amount of money that that is…
I’ve sometimes wondered if this season of Advent comes at the wrong time: just before Christmas. Now, you may say to me, “but isn’t that what Advent is for, leading up to Christmas?” Let me answer that in kind of a non-dualistic way: yes and no. I think we oftentimes see Advent as a time we walk through to lead us to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We approach it almost as a sort of sentimental journey…
Since this is the first time we’re gathering after Thanksgiving, may I offer this prayer: O God, when I have food help me to remember the hungry. When I have work help me to remember the jobless. When I have a home help me to remember those who have no home at all. When I am without pain help me remember those who suffer…