Month: May 2015

Delivered at Ascension Episcopal Church, Hinton, West Virginia, on Easter V (May 3, 2015).

At the time this sermon was prepared, the US Supreme Court had heard oral arguments with respect to “gay marriage.”  The court is expected to rule later this summer, and may (or may not) extend the civil marriage laws to include all people, not just “one man and one woman.”

The Episcopal Church has long since come to the realization that it is appropriate for the church to bless the faithful union of loving couples, but it has not been an easy path to follow, and some members of the church remain in conflict on this issue.  I think it is time we all put away those conflicts and got on with the mission of doing God’s work here and now without continuing angst.  My thinking has been informed by personal experience as well as the writing of Fr. Tobias Stanislas Haller, an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of New York.  His book Reasonable and Holy: Engaging Same-Sexuality was given to all attending clergy in the Diocese of West Virginia when Tobias spoke to us some years ago.

Further information on that work is at http://reasonableandholy.blogspot.com/ .

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Delivered at Christ Episcopal Church, Bluefield, WV on Easter VI, May 10, 2015.

Reflections on the calling of Jesus to his original disciples and (by inheritance) to us to be both his friend and friends with one another.  This is a bigger challenge than it might at first appear, especially as one realizes that taking on this role requires us to give the Holy Spirit free (or at least freer) reign in our lives.  For Episcopalians whose motto might be “all things decently and in good order,” this is not necessarily easy, but it is incredibly worthwhile.

Consider this in preparation for Pentecost.

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