Mother Ann’s sermon preached on Nov. 20, 2022
Here is a true story about something wonderful that happened a few years ago in the little town of Valleycliffe, British Columbia. Valleycliffe lies halfway up the road that climbs from Vancouver to Whistler. Anyone who’s driven the route knows its breathtaking vistas of pristine mountains, vast woodlands, and cobalt blue skies. As the name Valleycliffe suggests, the town’s homes and shops lie nestled in a valley sheltered by massive granite cliffs, overlooking a river coursing southward toward Howe Sound.
Read MoreMother Katherine’s sermon preached on Nov. 13, 2022
Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem at the Temple, and it’s a magnificent sight! They are awed by enormous stone walls, beautiful detail, adornments gifted by people of means, all dedicated to God. People stare in reverent admiration exclaiming over the sight, and Jesus deflates the moment saying, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
Read MoreMother Katherine’s sermon preached on Nov. 6, 2022
Whose name did you write on these ribbons? Whose name is foremost in your mind on this day of All Saints? If you are like me there may be quite a few; People we love and miss, those we grieve even as we give thanks for their presence in our life and impact on our world. Their names are woven to form our altar cloth, as they are woven through our lives. Of those names, were any of them perfect? Any without sin? They were like us, and like that crowd assembled in today’s gospel; all sorts of people and conditions, from different places and classes; imperfect souls gathered on the plain and looking for Jesus.
Read MoreMother Katherine’s sermon preached on Oct. 30, 2022
Anywhere we go this week it seems everyone is celebrating Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve. Even if you stay home the movie selection bears this into our living rooms. Here we do so in such a playful and faith filled way, one can almost forget that it is now almost entirely secular, which makes it all the more delightful to reclaim it. All Hallows’ Eve is characterized by all sorts of things occurring in darkness; haunted houses, bonfires, scary costumes or masks—originally and long ago conceived of to hide one’s identity from the spirits who came to earth on that night to disturb or trouble us. Children have fun with costumes as their favorite identities so to get to embody them or try them on more than to hide from spirits of the dead. We play with this idea of scary darkness by ‘trick or treating’ at night, as costumed children look for neighbor’s porch lights or dress up for community events.
Read MoreElizabeth’s sermon preached on Oct. 23, 2022
Today’s gospel gives us the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. I really wrestled with this Gospel. Parables are never as they appear on the surface. There is such breadth and depth to them, and I find I understand them a bit differently each time I hear them, as I grow and mature in my faith.
Read MoreMother Katherine’s sermon preached on Oct. 16, 2022
If today’s parable is about our need to pray always and not to lose heart, it takes a hobbling route to get there. As we just heard, an unjust judge is repeatedly asked by a widow for him to grant her —justice. The word is translated everywhere else in the New Testament as ‘avenge’ or ‘vengeance.’ We like parables to make us work for their meanings, though we tend to prefer someone be readily identified as either hero or villain, or maybe underdog or oppressor. One of them should be God or Jesus, right? Another might be us, or the bad example or the good example. We don’t get that here.
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