sermons
5th Sunday of Pentecost
June 8,2008
The Rev. Brian W. McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
4th Sunday of Pentecost
Proper 5
June 8,2008
The Rev. Brian W. McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
9th Sunday of Pentecost
Proper 10
May 11,2008
The Rev. Brian W. McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Mother's Day Service
First Day of Pentecost
May 11,2008
The Rev. Brian W. McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Special Service
Third Sunday of Easter
April 20,2008
Bishop Barbara Harris
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Second Sunday of Easter
March 30,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Easter Sunday
March 23,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Evensong
March 9,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 9,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
February 3,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Third Sunday After Epiphany
January 27,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
Second Sunday After Epiphany
January 20,2008
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A
digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media Player is required.)
First Sunday After Christmas
December 30, 2007
The Rev. Brian McGurk
10 a.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media
Player is required to hear the sermon.)
Christmas Eve
December 24, 2007
The Rev. Brian McGurk
5 p.m. Service
To hear podcast, click here. (A digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media
Player is required to hear the sermon.)
11 p.m. Service
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Text of services
To view text of service,
click here.
Christ the King Sunday
November 26, 2007
The Rev. Brian McGurk
To hear podcast, click here. (A digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media
Player is required to hear the sermon.)
26th Sunday after Pentacost
November 18, 2007
The Rev. Brian McGurk
To hear podcast, click here.
Feast of St. Francis and Blessing
of the Animals
October 7, 2007
The Rev. Brian McGurk
To hear podcast, click here. (A digital player, such as RealAudio or Windows Media
Player is required to hear the sermon.)
Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost
September 30, 2007
The Rev. Brian McGurk
To hear podcast,
click here.
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
(Proper 19, Year C)
September 16, 2007
To hear podcast, click here.
Special African Service, September
2, 2007
To hear podcast, click here.
The Rev. Gail Smith, August 19,
2007
To hear podcast,
click here.
The Rev. Gail Smith, August 5,
2007
(Click here to download Adobe PDF version)
“ONE’S LIFE DOES NOT CONSIST IN THE ABUNDANCE OF ONE’S
POSSESSIONS.”
As many of you may know, my
husband David and I moved to Chatham this past march from England. We had been
living overseas for the past seven years. During that time, we still had a
house in Maryland which we sold when we decided to relocate to Chatham a few
years ago. When we moved from England in March we then had to put together the
two houses into a much smaller space. That has been an interesting challenge to
say the least.
To add to that, just a few weeks ago we started some renovation work on our
house. As construction began, we had to close off parts of our home and move
furniture, clothing, paintings and other stuff into an even smaller portion of
the house. As a result the basement is full and every closet is bursting at the
seams. When we walk around the house we make our way through pathways of things.
Whenever I look around with any thought of thinning things out, I see the
evidence of our lives together over the past 39 years. There are things from
our children and grandchildren. There are mementos from all the places we have
lived and the countries we have visited, not to mention our hobbies and
collections. It seems that our possessions have almost taken over our lives. So
where do we begin to make a change?
This past week, I attended a meeting that was exploring how we might start
a lay school of theology here at St. Christopher’s. We looked at possible times
to have classes and how we might begin the process. At our next meeting
together we will look further at what it is that we hope to accomplish and offer
with such a school. As I thought about that for myself and also began to
prepare for today’s sermon it occurred to me that we have been looking at a
school of sorts over the past several weeks as we have been making our way
through portions of Luke’s Gospel.
It was a common thing for people to follow charismatic leaders who offered
them new ways to look at and live their lives. There were some who followed
people into the desert to live an aescetic sort of life separate from others.
Some followed John the Baptist as he preached repentance as a way to be ready
for the coming of the Messiah. Those who followed these leaders were called
disciples, which is another word for students. To be a disciple means something
more than being a student who signs up to take a class at a university. A
disciple is someone who believes in what their teacher preaches and teaches so
much so that they may choose to give up their current life to follow that
teacher wherever they may lead them.
Those who followed Jesus as disciples did just that they left their
families and gave up their livelihoods. When we use the word disciples in
reference to those who followed Jesus we are not just talking about the twelve
who were named as disciples. All who believe and follow Jesus is his disciple.
Jesus spent his time with his disciples, his followers of all sorts and
conditions teaching them the things they needed to know for themselves and their
continued life as disciples that would come when he was no longer with them.
Jesus taught them by word and example. He taught them with lectures of sorts,
with stories, with the give and take of questions and reflection. He referred
to scripture and taught them to look at what it said and then encouraged them to
see how it applied to their own lives and the lives of those around them. The
goal being that they would come to know something of God’s love, God’s kingdom,
God’s forgiveness, God’s presence, and God’s promised salvation — which in the
end would make a radical difference in their lives and the lives of those who
came after them.
Luke’s Gospel then gives us a glimpse into a school for discipleship. In
the Gospel we are introduced to what could be called Jesus’ foundational
precepts — the two great commandments. it is on these that he builds his case
for the ways in which a student, a disciple, is to live his life and make his
decisions for action. It would seem from the Gospel that Jesus taught by doing
a lot of talking. However, if we take a closer look, we can see that it was more
of an experiential process of education. The disciples were with Jesus when he
healed. They saw and heard him tell those whom he healed why and how that
happened for them. He sent them out to practice their vocation. And he brought
them back for reflection. As we listen to and read the Gospel of Luke (and the
other Gospels, by the way), we are able to examine Jesus’s methods and see
something of his curriculum as well. There are lessons about who our neighbors
are; there are lessons on centering one’s life on God, on Christ’s presence; and
as we heard last week, there were lessons on prayer.
In today’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus addresses greed and how that and our
possessions can take us away from our focus and center on God. Jesus gives his
disciples and us a very strong warning: “Take care! Be on your guard against all
kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
possessions.”
To illustrate his point, as he often did, Jesus told a story.
As the farmer looked around his fields, he could see that it would be a
good harvest, in fact one of the best he had ever had. He felt proud of what he
had been able to accomplish. He was doing very well. In fact, by any one’s
standards, he was well off. And by the standards of the small village that he
lived in he was rich. Most of his neighbors lived a much harder life as they
lived each day hoping to have just enough to survive. He could see, as in other
years, that their harvest would barely meet their families’ needs.
As he stood there calculating what he would get from the harvest, he soon
saw that his barns would not hold all that he needed them to hold. For a brief
moment, he thought about sharing what he had, but that moment passed before he
had any time to reflect on it. He had to take care of himself. He knew exactly
what he would do. He had plenty of money so he decided to tear down all of his
barns to build newer and bigger ones. By the time the harvest was over the
barns were finished. As he put the harvest away into storage, along with the
rest of his possessions, he could see that he would have plenty for himself for
years to come. He thought to himself, well now i cIan relax and celebrate. That
night God came to the farmer. He found out that he was to die. God asked him,
“All of these things that you have saved up, who will they belong to now?”
The rich man had forgotten God in his planning. He did not share his
abundance with his neighbors. Not only did he not share what he had with others,
He never thought about that fact that he couldn’t take what he had with him. He
learned that night that the only treasures that really counted in his next life
were those things that he did for others, those things that he did for God.
Jesus wanted his disciples to learn something from the rich farmer. He
wanted them to see that the riches that count are the ones that they give to God
and the ones that they share. The life that Jesus was talking about was not the
life we lead rather it is the salvation that is offered to us in Jesus’
sacrifice, that brings with it God’s forgiveness.
As a disciple of Jesus passed on Jesus’ teaching. In his letter to the
Colossians that we heard today, Ppaul gives us a description for leading our
lives that I suspect the farmer could have used. Certainly it is one that we can
use to guide us in our own life as disciples.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if
anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other, just as the Lord has
forgiven you, so you must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ
rule in your hearts.”
So, as we look at our lives and at all the things that surround us which we
might call possessions including more than just the things that populate our
homes what do we see? Do our possessions clutter our lives to such an extent
that we are unable to see beyond them? When we think about all that we have and
all that we expect of ourselves and our lives do we ever ask ourselves the
question: “Is God at the center of our lives?” When we try to thin things out
to make room, do we ask ourselves, “What do we make room for? More things?
More possessions? Or do we make sure that the room we have has God at its
center? Are our riches those things that we give to God or do for God? Or do
we store them up for ourselves, afraid that we will not have what we need?
Jesus wanted those who followed him to know that really it is God who gives us
all that we need for life. May we each come to know that for ourselves that we
might then share with others the most important possession we have — God’s love.
Elias Williams received a standing ovation after he
gave the sermon at the recent youth service.
By Elias Williams
Delivered during Youth Sunday, June, 2007
(Click here to
download Adobe PDF version.)
When Father Brain asked us if any of us wanted to do
the sermon, I
 immediately
jumped at the opportunity. It was time for me to share with others, specifically
about the powerful presence of God in our lives. We each see God from different
perspectives and in different places. I am grateful to be able to share with you
how I experience the immense existence of His Holy Power.
When I think about where God is in my life, I think
about all of you. God is here with us right now. I see his spirit in each of you
– in the way you greet each other, in your smiles, in your eyes and in your
hearts. God is very present in these tangible things. However, he is also
manifested behind the scenes and within the shadows. I am a testimony to this
truth.
Eighteen years ago, I was born in Honduras. As an
infant, I was involved in a house fire. Although my life was saved by people
close to me, I spent many months hospitalized. My biological family was unable
to care for me and chose to make an adoption plan so that I might be able to
obtain better health care.
An international adoption agency matched me up with a
young couple who had recently adopted a Korean boy. After several months of
arduous paperwork, I was able to come home to a loving family in Vermont. These
people nurtured me in all the aspects that good parents would do for their
child. In essence, this family brought me back to life.
My family showed me God’s love in many tangible ways;
they fed me, clothed me, taught me right from wrong, they supported me, they
showed joy when I was happy and cried with me when I hurt. Certainly this all
shows the presence of God in the intangibles, in the master plan that God has
made for each of us.
There have been many events in my life that can be
perceived as “bad.” However, it is clear to me that these were not bad or
negative at all, but were, in fact, the necessary catalyst for so much good to
happen. To me, these events showGod working in the shadows. Without the physical
flaw that you all see in my body and the trials of my infancy, I would not have
been put on the road that I walk on today. This is the road that God wants me
on. This is the road that God has made for me. This is a good road… my road.
I believe that God has chosen a path for each of us.
Sometimes it doesn’t feel clear that we’re on the right one. But I am convinced
that God works behind the scenes, making everything come together for the
greater good. When we offer each other peace during our worship service, it is
very clear that God is in each of us. When coming to the altar and accidentally
falling down (which you see me do a lot because of my darn leg), it might
notfeel like the presence of God. However, I propose that even in this, God
exists, perhaps even more powerfully than in the obvious. It is up to us to find
him there.
Bishop Thomas Shaw, April 29, 2007
Listen to Bishop Thomas Shaw's sermon, delivered during his April 29, 2007
visit to St. Christopher's. (Your computer must have mp3 audio playing software,
such as Windows Media Player or RealAudio, to hear
the sermon.) Click here.
(At right, Bishop Shaw, with The Rev. Brian McGurk, take part in the Uncommon
Woship service.)
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