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Sermon
Synopses - January 2008
Sermons
at Trinity are usually ex tempore, that is done without
notes...Please
enjoy our "Sermon Synopses" or short summaries
of sermons preached at Trinity
Link
to Sermons Synopses for
additional summaries available from this year.
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Sermon for January 30,
2008
Mark 4:1-20
And he said to them, “To you has
been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those
outside, everything comes in parables, in order that ‘they
may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen,
but not understand; so that they may not turn again and
be forgiven.’” – Mark 4:11-12
What
a difficult passage! Todd makes sense of it
with the help of Origen of Alexandria (early 3rd century)
who, in a sermon that touches this text, talks about how
Christ is the light of the world. Just as the moon
reflects the light of the sun and lights up the night,
so does the Church reflect Christ’s light to a darkened
world. Not all have been given equal gifts to reflect
that light, however. But, no matter what capacity
people have been given to reflect the Light, people can
climb higher to increase their ability -- just as
people can climb a mountain to get a better glimpse of
the sunrise, so can we climb Christward to that we can
see and reflect more of his light.
Some follow Jesus
at a distance and feed on his parables, lest they starve
in the wilderness. Others, like
Mary, sit at his feet and listen; they have chosen the
better part. Others are apostles who follow Jesus
all the time and share in his tribulations; they reflect
Jesus’ light brightly. Still others are the
inner circle of Peter, James and John who are invited up
the mountain (Transfiguration) and see Christ in all his
glory; they reflect Christ most vividly.
As for those who
are “outside”? Origen
seems to be saying, “That is not your concern. You
are rather to be grateful for your ability to perceive and
reflect the light, and to strive to climb higher in order
that you may more fully be Christ’s light in the world.” Perhaps,
then, our light will draw those “outside” to
Christ.
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Sermon for Wednesday, January
23, 2008
Phillips Brooks
Matthew 24:24-27
Why does the lectionary
have a text about “false
prophets” and “false Messiahs” and “leading
astray the elect” for the feast day of a man who
was arguably the greatest preacher North America has ever
produced? Todd guessed that the framers of the lectionary
might be responding to a common trend among parishes to
have “Utopian Fantasies” about their leader,
i.e., they expect that a leader can change and fix everything
so that it will be “right.” Many flocked
to hear Brooks preach; he packed Trinity, Boston for years. The
lectionary reminds us to exercise caution in following
charismatic leaders, that they are not a cure-all for whatever
ails us. “Lest we mistake the speaker for the
Word, the messenger for the Message, the vessel for the
Source, the lectionary reminds us to look twice before
we follow powerful figures,” said Todd. (This
reminder is for both priests and parishioners!) There
is only one who can redeem us, said Todd, only one who
can save, and that is the Christ.
Todd told of a story about
how one parishioner once discovered Phillips Brooks on
his knees scrubbing the floor of another, elderly parishioner’s
home. We can avoid the
trap of “Utopian” thinking by continuing on
our knees, not merely in humble service to others, but
in prayer to God. If the parish is praying for its
priest, and the priest for his or her parish, both will
be reminded daily of their frailty and brokenness, and
neither will attempt to look to the other to fix them,
and both can turn to the only one who can save, Jesus.
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Sermon for Sunday, January
20, 2008
John 1:29-41
Todd began by quoting an article
from the New York Times that told how many medical schools
offer courses on “The
Art of Observation.” Medical schools
are realizing that medicine is not all hard science learned
in the head, but depends heavily upon a physician’s
ability to observe a patient. Medical students are
turned loose in an art gallery for several hours, then
gathered to answer questions such as “What did you
notice about this painting?” “How old
was the person?” “What was his
or her occupation?” “Did the person
look accomplished or disappointed?” “How
did his clothes fit him? (Has he recently lost or gained
weight?)” “What were the tones in her skin?” “Does
the clothesline in the background tell you anything about
the person?”
Todd noted how one of the
great tasks of a disciple is to be observant. In
today’s
text, Jesus asks two disciples “What are you looking
for?” The
disciples did not answer, “Truth,” “Peace,” “Love,” or “Joy.” They
answered with a question, “Where are you staying?” Todd
said that the disciples’ response indicates the kind
of relationship that disciples had with teachers in the
first century. Quoting a lecture by Rowan Williams,
Todd said that disciples in the first century would have
literally “stayed” with their teacher. They
watched his every move, observed how they were in the street
and at table, paid attention to their every word, slept
in their doorstep lest they miss a pearl of wisdom falling
from the teacher’s lips. Disciples would have
breathed the same air as the teacher, inhabited the same
atmosphere, trying to learn from the teacher what they
needed to know to transform their lives. Disciples
in the first century were disciples by being observant.
How
can we be faithful disciples, observant of Jesus today? We
are observant disciples when we pay close attention to
the Word and Sacraments. Todd quoted Augustine (from Teaching
Christianity) who said that all scripture, unless
it is patently a moral teaching (Ten Commandments) or literally
says something about God (“God created the heavens
and the earth;” “God is love”)
is to be read “spiritually.” “We
must pay great attention to the text, if we are to discern
its spiritual meaning,” said Todd. “What
did the prophet mean when he said that he was a ‘polished
arrow’ and that he was ‘hidden away in his
quiver.’” And Augustine also said that
all the spiritual signs present in the Hebrew scriptures
are gathered up into the Church’s great sacraments
of Baptism and Eucharist. If we pay close attention
to the sacraments, we will know something of God. (“Why
does the priest mix wine and water together?” “Why
is the Gospel book processed into the church?”) “By
our paying close attention to the Word and Sacraments,” said
Todd, “we will be faithful disciples.”
Todd
wondered what expectations of hope the two disciples had
when they left John for Jesus. Todd has a hunch
that we, too, who are here today, likewise have great expectations
and hopes for God. “We will not be disappointed
in our hope,” said Todd. “If we persevere
in our discipleship and observe carefully, we will see water
changed into wine, the sick healed, the lame walk, the eyes
of the blind opened, the dead raised.” And we
will hear Jesus calling, not Lazarus, but we ourselves to “Come
out!” of the tombs that would keep us in death.
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Sermon for January 6, 2008
The Feast of the Epiphany
Todd began by quoting a
hymn of Ephrem of Edessa (d. 373), a saint who is sometimes
called the “harp of the
Holy Spirit” because of the many hymns he wrote. In
the hymn – an Epiphany hymn – Ephrem speaks
of the infant Christ the Magi found in the manger, an infant
doing what all infants do: “His majesty, contracting
and stretching out.” Here in a snapshot is
the way God has always worked in human life: God
contracts and stretches out, God becomes small and grows
great.
Todd gave many examples
from scripture in which God becomes small and then becomes
great, e.g., God contracts to enter the voice of the prophet
so that God might “stretch
out” and speak to the whole nation of Israel; God
contracts to flames of fire on the heads of the disciples
on Pentecost in order that the disciples might reach out
with the Gospel to the ends of the earth; God contracts
to be found sacramentally in water or in bread and wine
in order that God’s grace may be poured forth upon
all the faithful, etc.
Todd noted how our lives
are marked by “contractions,” ways
in which we are made small – illness, death, unemployment,
divorce, disappointments, etc. If we let them, these “contractions” need
not make and keep us small, but can be to us signs of God’s
presence, evidence of God’s desire to enter into
our lives.
Todd quoted a long passage
from Evelyn Underhill (from her book The Light of Christ) in
which she spoke of how nearly the whole of Christ’s
life – the
first 30 years – was a being kept small in the “third-rate
village of Nazareth,” and how only in the last 2
and one half years of his life did Christ “stretch
out” and grow great. If Christ’s lack
of opportunity and scope proved enough to prepare him for
his final stretching out on the cross, so are the contractions
of our life enough to train and prepare us for stretching
out and growth in God. Underhill also used the image
of a seed taking much time and preparation before growing
forth to show how growth in God takes much patience.
“In
the contracting and stretching out of the infant Christ,” said
Todd, “we see the pattern of
how God always works in human life. To be able to
see the signs of God’s activity in our ‘contractions’ is
not easy – it often requires a long journey, just
as it did the wise men. But if we persevere and make
that journey, we will be able to recognize our ‘contractions’ as
opportunities to grow in God, and we will say, with Ephrem, ‘Blessed
is the one who became small without limit, that we might
become great without limit.’”
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Sermon
for Wednesday, January 2, 2008
John 1:19-28
Todd pointed out how the
first spoken text of John 1, found in today’s reading,
is a question, “Who
are you?” posed by the priests and Levites sent from
Jerusalem. This question is the first in a series
of three great questions posed in John 1. The second,
the very first words of Jesus in the Gospel, is “What
are you looking for?” The third – one
of Todd’s favorite lines in the scriptures – is
asked by Nathaniel of Andrew: “Can anything
good come out of Nazareth?”
Todd pointed out
how these questions, posed at the beginning of John’s
Gospel, are great questions for both would-be disciples
and those who are already disciples. If
we have a sense of who we are, what we are looking for,
and can say that, yes, something good can come out of Nazareth,
then we are on the journey, we are on the Way. Asking
these questions of ourselves, not just from time to time,
but regularly, helps to focus and deepen our discipleship.
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