Please note that these sermons were composed to be spoken out loud, and are typed in as such; so sometimes grammar and punctuation might be different than if they were originally written only to be read off a page.
November 2020 Sermons
November 15, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Barbara Elliott
Sermon: Stewardship Sunday
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? What risky thing would you try? If you knew you couldn’t fail, which of your dreams would you pursue? Would you work to improve the wellbeing of others? Or try to correct systemic wrongs by putting your gifts to work in ways that would have a wide impact? Or would you rest quietly where you are, breathing peacefully in your safe place?
These are uncomfortable questions for us today. We have been living in times of fear. These past weeks especially, fear has been readily cultivated by our news streams, our politics and our very real experiences at home and work. It makes sense when we are fearful, we really hold ourselves and all that is dear to us closely–and not share anything beyond our narrow perspective of the world.
Yes, we have been living this FEAR…and now we come face to face with today’s Gospel reading. It is the familiar parable that Jesus told about how three people were gifted varying numbers of talents, given the freedom to invest them over a long time, and then called to account for their choices with their time and talents. In this Gospel, ‘talent’ has a double meaning: its original meaning in Greek references a large sum of money, what an ordinary worker earned over 15 years. In other words, a fortune. The second meaning of the word ‘talent’ is based in how we have come to understand this story. It is easy to interpret that the master in the story is God. Then we recognize that God entrusts each of us with abilities and skills, which are among our talents. As the parable unfolds, God’s gifts to us are ours to develop and use during our lives, based in the choices we make and opportunities that come our way.
So, this parable reveals that we are living our lives with these gifts and called by God to invest these gifts as we walk the Way of Love. The parable reminds us that our time, our treasure, and our other skills and abilities (our talents) are our unique gifts from God.
Reading the parable further, it is evident that God isn’t expecting success from each of us, but God is trusting us to faithfully invest our gifts to extend the Way of Love. We are each also gifted the freedom of choice—to decide how we walk this path, just as the three servants in the parable were free to choose how they invested their talents. This freedom can put our gifts at risk and may even result in their loss. But our choices about what to do are based in our faith. When we are living our lives in times of uncertainty, like now for us the concern is that we invest and use our talents. In the parable the servant who buried the talents was the one who was dissed for hiding his talent and not investing it.
These days when we have been surrounded by words and experiences of hate, it is a great temptation to be like the third servant: to be afraid of being bold enough to try something new, to be scared of investing our gifts in ways to benefit a world in need. Investing our talents, it seems, means the opposite of hiding them, of burying them. What do you plan to do with your gifts?
On this, the next-to-the-last Sunday of the church year, we hear one resounding theme in our readings: “Stay awake. Be alert. Work with what you have been given.”
What does all of this mean for us today? On this day when we are each considering our pledges for church next year, it is an important reminder to invest our time, talents and treasures in doing God’s work—to commit to sustaining St Paul’s into the truly unknown future of 2021. We need to look beyond our fears. We need to trust that our St Paul’s community is reorganizing in its walking the Way of Love. And we need to have faith in God’s work through our efforts.
These are the messages of the Gospel and other readings today. Amazing, again, how the readings have such relevance, now 2000 years after they were written. The story reveals our fears motivate us to hide our talents, our gifts from God. Another gift from God is our freedom to make choices, and this is where our faith is engaged. This freedom allows us, with God’ permission, is God’s permission, to risk our gifts. Walking the Way of Love always involves risk.
The question is what will you do with all that has been given to you? Will you keep it locked up and hidden away? Or will you open your heart and share it simply and freely and radically as we look toward building our future together? What about investing these resources in St Paul’s? Of course, here your investments—your time, treasure and talents—can be used to sustain our teaching, ministering, healing, and delighting others as we walk the Way of Love together.
Let us acknowledge today’s fears and face the risks around us. Then let us step beyond them to pray for God’s direction as we sustain our community and place of worship.
AMEN
To announcements:
After carefully and joyfully recognizing God’s gifts, please complete and return your Pledge Cards before Thanksgiving.
AMEN
What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? What risky thing would you try? If you knew you couldn’t fail, which of your dreams would you pursue? Would you work to improve the wellbeing of others? Or try to correct systemic wrongs by putting your gifts to work in ways that would have a wide impact? Or would you rest quietly where you are, breathing peacefully in your safe place?
These are uncomfortable questions for us today. We have been living in times of fear. These past weeks especially, fear has been readily cultivated by our news streams, our politics and our very real experiences at home and work. It makes sense when we are fearful, we really hold ourselves and all that is dear to us closely–and not share anything beyond our narrow perspective of the world.
Yes, we have been living this FEAR…and now we come face to face with today’s Gospel reading. It is the familiar parable that Jesus told about how three people were gifted varying numbers of talents, given the freedom to invest them over a long time, and then called to account for their choices with their time and talents. In this Gospel, ‘talent’ has a double meaning: its original meaning in Greek references a large sum of money, what an ordinary worker earned over 15 years. In other words, a fortune. The second meaning of the word ‘talent’ is based in how we have come to understand this story. It is easy to interpret that the master in the story is God. Then we recognize that God entrusts each of us with abilities and skills, which are among our talents. As the parable unfolds, God’s gifts to us are ours to develop and use during our lives, based in the choices we make and opportunities that come our way.
So, this parable reveals that we are living our lives with these gifts and called by God to invest these gifts as we walk the Way of Love. The parable reminds us that our time, our treasure, and our other skills and abilities (our talents) are our unique gifts from God.
Reading the parable further, it is evident that God isn’t expecting success from each of us, but God is trusting us to faithfully invest our gifts to extend the Way of Love. We are each also gifted the freedom of choice—to decide how we walk this path, just as the three servants in the parable were free to choose how they invested their talents. This freedom can put our gifts at risk and may even result in their loss. But our choices about what to do are based in our faith. When we are living our lives in times of uncertainty, like now for us the concern is that we invest and use our talents. In the parable the servant who buried the talents was the one who was dissed for hiding his talent and not investing it.
These days when we have been surrounded by words and experiences of hate, it is a great temptation to be like the third servant: to be afraid of being bold enough to try something new, to be scared of investing our gifts in ways to benefit a world in need. Investing our talents, it seems, means the opposite of hiding them, of burying them. What do you plan to do with your gifts?
On this, the next-to-the-last Sunday of the church year, we hear one resounding theme in our readings: “Stay awake. Be alert. Work with what you have been given.”
What does all of this mean for us today? On this day when we are each considering our pledges for church next year, it is an important reminder to invest our time, talents and treasures in doing God’s work—to commit to sustaining St Paul’s into the truly unknown future of 2021. We need to look beyond our fears. We need to trust that our St Paul’s community is reorganizing in its walking the Way of Love. And we need to have faith in God’s work through our efforts.
These are the messages of the Gospel and other readings today. Amazing, again, how the readings have such relevance, now 2000 years after they were written. The story reveals our fears motivate us to hide our talents, our gifts from God. Another gift from God is our freedom to make choices, and this is where our faith is engaged. This freedom allows us, with God’ permission, is God’s permission, to risk our gifts. Walking the Way of Love always involves risk.
The question is what will you do with all that has been given to you? Will you keep it locked up and hidden away? Or will you open your heart and share it simply and freely and radically as we look toward building our future together? What about investing these resources in St Paul’s? Of course, here your investments—your time, treasure and talents—can be used to sustain our teaching, ministering, healing, and delighting others as we walk the Way of Love together.
Let us acknowledge today’s fears and face the risks around us. Then let us step beyond them to pray for God’s direction as we sustain our community and place of worship.
AMEN
To announcements:
After carefully and joyfully recognizing God’s gifts, please complete and return your Pledge Cards before Thanksgiving.
AMEN
November 8, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Barbara Elliott
Sermon: Being Prepared…
What an amazing week. As I record this, we don’t know who we have elected President. Nonetheless, there are several truths: our daylight savings times changed last weekend, our election has occurred, the pandemic continues, the days are getting shorter, and our relationships endure.
And another truth: in church we are approaching the end of the Pentecost (green) season, and our readings are changing their attention to when we expect Jesus to return. For the past several weeks we have been learning from Jesus’ parables how we should live to walk the Way of Love. In today’s parable, we learn about ten bridesmaids, half of whom were prepared when God finally arrived; the other half were not—symbolically they didn’t have enough oil in their lamps. This parable reveals that we must live as God wants, all the time.
The world today makes it very difficult to live this way, keeping fuel in our spiritual lamps so we are always walking the Way of Love. This year we are particularly challenged to keep our faith in the midst of the pandemic, the chaotic elections, the fires and floods across the country, and our seemingly uncertain future. Now as we enter the second half of this pandemic year, it is becoming obvious that several of our own behaviors are not serving us well and that our institutions no are longer fitting our needs either. Witnessing the tragedies around us brings me profound sadness—maybe you too. We feel these deep losses and note that our stability and safety feel threatened. These are hard times.
Like the bridesmaids in the story, we each need a supply of fuel to keep walking the Way of Love. We need our own inner resources so we can center ourselves to find peace and extend healing into our communities. But it needs to start with our own hearts. How can we do this?
Recently Bishop Loya suggested three things we can do to sustain our faith and extend healing energy for our communities. First, we can pray—an essential practice for every Christian. What do you pray for? Yes, we can pray for our own strength and courage. We can pray for the needs of the world. And we can pray that our politics sort itself out. Second, we can speak up. If we each stay quiet, there will be no change. Words of hope, mercy, compassion, justice, and love need to come from us, as church members. Our voices, crying in the wilderness, mark the Way of Love and can make all the difference in the world. Third, we can get involved. We can respond to our community’s needs. And we can work to change our own behaviors and to volunteer—from a distance, of course—to participate in making a difference. These are ways we walk the Way of Love, based on what is in our hearts.
As was said, it all begins with prayer. This prayer has been part of our Episcopal church’s season of prayer during the election; it still applies:
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Episcopalians all over the world have been praying this together. It is an example of the three ways we keep fuel in our lamps—prayer, speaking up, and getting involved. As we regularly engage these three practices, they can support us, and we stretch toward God’s love. God opens the door to us based on our readiness, based on walking the Way of Love, burning the fuel in our lamps.
These days, when we see entire institutions, governments, and businesses seemingly turning a blind eye to ‘doing the right thing,’ we need to remember this parable and our spiritual lives. We need to create habits in our lives that honor our relationship with God. Then our daily prayers, our speaking up, and our daily kindnesses, can become examples of what is important. These steps help us move forward, crossing the boundaries toward the future for which creation has been prepared.
If the oil in our lamps drains out and our lamps are dry, we are both ineffective and unprepared to walk the Way of Love. On the other hand, when we are able to sustain our faith through prayer, speaking up, and reaching out, we do have opportunities to walk with God and create our futures.
Our faith and the message of today’s parable teach that when we sustain our faith, we can move past the chaos toward God’s peace and unity. Let us walk the Way of Love together.
AMEN
What an amazing week. As I record this, we don’t know who we have elected President. Nonetheless, there are several truths: our daylight savings times changed last weekend, our election has occurred, the pandemic continues, the days are getting shorter, and our relationships endure.
And another truth: in church we are approaching the end of the Pentecost (green) season, and our readings are changing their attention to when we expect Jesus to return. For the past several weeks we have been learning from Jesus’ parables how we should live to walk the Way of Love. In today’s parable, we learn about ten bridesmaids, half of whom were prepared when God finally arrived; the other half were not—symbolically they didn’t have enough oil in their lamps. This parable reveals that we must live as God wants, all the time.
The world today makes it very difficult to live this way, keeping fuel in our spiritual lamps so we are always walking the Way of Love. This year we are particularly challenged to keep our faith in the midst of the pandemic, the chaotic elections, the fires and floods across the country, and our seemingly uncertain future. Now as we enter the second half of this pandemic year, it is becoming obvious that several of our own behaviors are not serving us well and that our institutions no are longer fitting our needs either. Witnessing the tragedies around us brings me profound sadness—maybe you too. We feel these deep losses and note that our stability and safety feel threatened. These are hard times.
Like the bridesmaids in the story, we each need a supply of fuel to keep walking the Way of Love. We need our own inner resources so we can center ourselves to find peace and extend healing into our communities. But it needs to start with our own hearts. How can we do this?
Recently Bishop Loya suggested three things we can do to sustain our faith and extend healing energy for our communities. First, we can pray—an essential practice for every Christian. What do you pray for? Yes, we can pray for our own strength and courage. We can pray for the needs of the world. And we can pray that our politics sort itself out. Second, we can speak up. If we each stay quiet, there will be no change. Words of hope, mercy, compassion, justice, and love need to come from us, as church members. Our voices, crying in the wilderness, mark the Way of Love and can make all the difference in the world. Third, we can get involved. We can respond to our community’s needs. And we can work to change our own behaviors and to volunteer—from a distance, of course—to participate in making a difference. These are ways we walk the Way of Love, based on what is in our hearts.
As was said, it all begins with prayer. This prayer has been part of our Episcopal church’s season of prayer during the election; it still applies:
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Episcopalians all over the world have been praying this together. It is an example of the three ways we keep fuel in our lamps—prayer, speaking up, and getting involved. As we regularly engage these three practices, they can support us, and we stretch toward God’s love. God opens the door to us based on our readiness, based on walking the Way of Love, burning the fuel in our lamps.
These days, when we see entire institutions, governments, and businesses seemingly turning a blind eye to ‘doing the right thing,’ we need to remember this parable and our spiritual lives. We need to create habits in our lives that honor our relationship with God. Then our daily prayers, our speaking up, and our daily kindnesses, can become examples of what is important. These steps help us move forward, crossing the boundaries toward the future for which creation has been prepared.
If the oil in our lamps drains out and our lamps are dry, we are both ineffective and unprepared to walk the Way of Love. On the other hand, when we are able to sustain our faith through prayer, speaking up, and reaching out, we do have opportunities to walk with God and create our futures.
Our faith and the message of today’s parable teach that when we sustain our faith, we can move past the chaos toward God’s peace and unity. Let us walk the Way of Love together.
AMEN
November 1, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Barbara Elliott
Sermon: All Saint’s Day
This morning as we honor All Saint’s Day, we especially remember those in our midst whose lives ended in these past 12 months. Now they are among our Saints, dwelling among our ancestors.
Today’s Gospel helps us understand the spiritual journey we take as we live our lives and become Saints. This Gospel is the beginning of a well-known Matthew reading where Jesus starts a longer sermon with series of statements called the Beatitudes. When Jesus began with the statement: “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he connected easily with the people who had gathered around him. Some were poor. Others were grieving. Some were struggling for peace and calm. Jesus’ words allowed the people gathered with him to hear that they themselves were set apart by God and blessed.
The words of the translated beatitudes can sound strange today, but Jesus’ words of 2000 years ago do still apply to our experience today, and these words describe how every one of us travel our spiritual journey toward our own Sainthood. We discover our inner wisdom and find meaning and purpose in our life, as Jesus described the experiences in today’s reading, the Beatitudes.
You and I have been conditioned to think that what our society values is also what God values—the expensive and lovely things. In this sermon, Jesus describes how God’s grace moves toward human experiences that are not valued. The Beatitudes tell us that the ones God blesses and embraces are those who have lost hope, and who are without joy; those who have yet to receive justice, and the healers and restorers of the hopeless, the downtrodden and oppressed; and those who work to mend the brokenness of the world…
And so, Jesus’ words assure us that our real lives, our experiences in life, offer us ways to grow closer to God. The Beatitudes tell us that when we are unsure of our direction in life, God is there with us. When we are caught under the weight of grief and loss, God walks with us. When we are undervalued and not heard by those around us, God hears us. When we groan with pain and long for relief, God comforts us. As we live these experiences, our relationship with God deepens and grows.
On All Saint’s Day, the Beatitudes help us see God at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. As we live our life experiences, God blesses us with resilience, and we develop our spiritual core based in our stronger sense of our connection with God. On All Saints Day, the beatitudes remind us how God claims us and strengthens us when we are frail, humble, poor, or mourning. That is how God makes us God’s own.
Today, as we celebrate All Saint’s Day, we recognize that we are the Saints-in-the-making. God is with us as we live today, even as we suffer what life’s experiences are bringing in these difficult days and weeks. We also know that just as God is walking these days with us, God is also walking with those in our community who love God and neighbor and yet find themselves on the margins.
Today we especially remember those who have passed beyond us and are now with God in the light. I invite you to remember your ancestors now, those who have gone on before us. Take this moment to name them in your hearts… We ask God’s blessings on them and on us, as we live to grow closer to God and to do God’s work.
AMEN.
This morning as we honor All Saint’s Day, we especially remember those in our midst whose lives ended in these past 12 months. Now they are among our Saints, dwelling among our ancestors.
Today’s Gospel helps us understand the spiritual journey we take as we live our lives and become Saints. This Gospel is the beginning of a well-known Matthew reading where Jesus starts a longer sermon with series of statements called the Beatitudes. When Jesus began with the statement: “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he connected easily with the people who had gathered around him. Some were poor. Others were grieving. Some were struggling for peace and calm. Jesus’ words allowed the people gathered with him to hear that they themselves were set apart by God and blessed.
The words of the translated beatitudes can sound strange today, but Jesus’ words of 2000 years ago do still apply to our experience today, and these words describe how every one of us travel our spiritual journey toward our own Sainthood. We discover our inner wisdom and find meaning and purpose in our life, as Jesus described the experiences in today’s reading, the Beatitudes.
You and I have been conditioned to think that what our society values is also what God values—the expensive and lovely things. In this sermon, Jesus describes how God’s grace moves toward human experiences that are not valued. The Beatitudes tell us that the ones God blesses and embraces are those who have lost hope, and who are without joy; those who have yet to receive justice, and the healers and restorers of the hopeless, the downtrodden and oppressed; and those who work to mend the brokenness of the world…
And so, Jesus’ words assure us that our real lives, our experiences in life, offer us ways to grow closer to God. The Beatitudes tell us that when we are unsure of our direction in life, God is there with us. When we are caught under the weight of grief and loss, God walks with us. When we are undervalued and not heard by those around us, God hears us. When we groan with pain and long for relief, God comforts us. As we live these experiences, our relationship with God deepens and grows.
On All Saint’s Day, the Beatitudes help us see God at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. As we live our life experiences, God blesses us with resilience, and we develop our spiritual core based in our stronger sense of our connection with God. On All Saints Day, the beatitudes remind us how God claims us and strengthens us when we are frail, humble, poor, or mourning. That is how God makes us God’s own.
Today, as we celebrate All Saint’s Day, we recognize that we are the Saints-in-the-making. God is with us as we live today, even as we suffer what life’s experiences are bringing in these difficult days and weeks. We also know that just as God is walking these days with us, God is also walking with those in our community who love God and neighbor and yet find themselves on the margins.
Today we especially remember those who have passed beyond us and are now with God in the light. I invite you to remember your ancestors now, those who have gone on before us. Take this moment to name them in your hearts… We ask God’s blessings on them and on us, as we live to grow closer to God and to do God’s work.
AMEN.