Sermons
Easter Day: The Sermon given on April 20, 2025
Acts 10:34-43; i Cor. 15:1-11; Jn. 20:1-18]
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Easter... Alleluia!
Easter is here! And it’s good to celebrate.
But we should put Easter in its right perspective; Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are part of it.
Christ went through the dark before the resurrection light.
He went there in order to be fully part of us: At his incarnation, God came in the flesh, came among us, walked among us. At his crucifixion Christ took away any possible criticism that he was not fully with us. Death had its sting – even though Christ grabbed it and took it away.
All four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) tell about the Resurrection, and their accounts are very similar but there are details that vary: like the earthquake, the number of women visiting the tomb, the number of angels or men there, at or in the tomb, or even the time of day when the resurrection took place.
Is that any reason to doubt their descriptions of events? Would we be less critical if all four Evangelists had written the exact same ‘incident report’?
After all, take any eyewitness accounts and there will be variations in the testimonies.
The situation surrounding Christ's execution and rising from the dead was dark and confusing, and it should come as no surprise that in those moments of utter grief and despair some of the details got muddled up.
What the gospels do agree on, however, is their insistence of Christ's body being absent from the tomb.
This emphasis is important because it underscores that the Resurrection isn't just a happy story, it isn’t just metaphysical or metaphorical, it isn’t just meant to be understood symbolically.
When Jesus rose bodily from the dead, he showed that no part of human existence is more important than the other.
He redeemed soul and body.
Of course, this is Good News that isn't always comprehensible or comforting.
We can preach salvation and tell people about the glory which awaits them but perhaps they're fearful or doubtful.
We can tell people about the resurrection of the body but perhaps they're in constant pain and agony when their bodies feel like a terrible burden.
We cannot ignore these pains or misgivings.
This too is part of our created humanity, this too - however difficult and confusing it might sound - is part of God's concern, the ongoing engagement with us.
Nonetheless, God who created both body and soul cares for both and considered both worthy of redemption.
It's a clear and wonderful message that all of Creation is worth saving.
Not just all of Creation but also all the parts of all of Creation.
All of us is precious to God; God wants to save all of us and all of all of us.
All our bits and pieces matter to God.
When Christ shed his shroud and burial cloths in the tomb, he did so that all of us would be able to do the same; shed our own darkness and sin and old life in order to become a new creation.
Baptism is where we find our strength to do this, because through our baptism we share in Christ’s resurrection.
This is why many churches have a renewal of baptismal vows or promises at Easter. It’s meant as a way to take the opportunity to reconnect to God, to yourself, to your parents or guardians, and godparents maybe, or even to all those millions of Christians through all times and of all places who made those same vows.
We are raised with him in our baptism, not to sin or fear, not to waste our newly granted lives - new lives we receive by grace every day - but to live here and now and afterwards with our risen Lord in paradise.
We’re renewed, re-created, so that we can be co-workers with God in this time and in this place.
New life, new beginnings, new chances mean exactly that: we must grab these opportunities, the love and hope and faith given to us and do something with them, act on them! Turn the theory of the Resurrection into practice!
We can't just sit on this Good News and jealously guard it for ourselves.
Of course that's no small commission, no small responsibility.
Many people, including Christians, are uncomfortable with the resurrection story; they prefer to interpret it metaphorically or mythically: it conveys a fantastic message… but let’s face it, no one really comes back from the dead – right? That fantastic message of new life and new beginnings and new opportunities is far more important than there being an actual tomb near present-day Jerusalem that’s now empty – right?
Yet, then there’s that story of a man in a tomb, rising from the dead, having new life and bringing new life.
The early Christians insisted on it having truly physically happened: in Mark’s gospel the angel says: “He is not here.”
God taking the first step and stepping from the tomb back into the light to change lives and make them whole once again.
Every day this is offered to us, over and over. No matter what our situation, no matter how chaotic or organized it may be.
Death and Resurrection, because our Lord really did go through both.
Life throws things at us all; some among us it hits us harder than others, but know this: the simple Easter message that we should all repeat over and over again, Christ lived and died through it as well… and still he loved us. From the depths that hurt – loneliness, anxiety, failed relationships, bad choices - to the very heights of our lives – love, joy, intimacy, a good home, great friends, nice families, a great career… - there Jesus is… every step of the way.
Why? Because he wants to be.
Whatever the circumstance of the day, whatever the mood of the hour, time and time again God will be there, because God understands. God loves. God forgives. God cries with us, walks with us and, if we bear in mind Good Friday, even stumbles with us.
What’s more: Jesus died for us… and rose again on that first Easter morning.
Easter... Alleluia!
That glorious day, after the all-consuming darkness, after perhaps the misery, the pain, but also the happy times, all part of life… after all that, perhaps a simple way to express the message of hope and life is this one:
“Jesus said to her: ‘Mary.’”
He said ‘Mary’ but it could be any single one of us… Because of our baptism we all are called to fill in our own name there.
Good Friday: The Sermon given on April 18, 2025
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Repent and live!" God told the Israelites through the prophets, so often.
Repent: turn away from your sin, don't let it be your downfall, or perhaps today we would say, don't let it be what defines you, what keeps you down and holds you back.
Live: it's not just actions, it's a change of attitude, of a position in your life and in the world, truly getting a 'new heart and a new spirit'.
The prophets’ warnings and admonitions are as true today as they were all those centuries ago.
People sin. You, me, all of us sin.
And in some Christian corners there's a lot of emphasis on sin and sinning and sinners, and damnation and eternal fire.
And it's a fact: people sin. You, me, all of us sin.
But God is not a God of damnation.
Often the God of the Old Testament is portrayed as an angry, vengeful deity, wrongly set against the kind, forgiving Jesus of the New Testament.
But this is bad exegesis, this is bad theology and frankly it's bad preaching.
The God of the Old and the New Testament is the same God, a God that is just and honest, and sometimes a bit too frank for comfort, but God is the same God who forgives, calls us and gives life, even life eternal.
So what about sin?
It's not the easiest topic and not as straightforward as some Christian churches like to proclaim, because opinions about what exactly constitutes sin vary; that's not an attempt to downplay it, that's a historical and theological fact. Churches and Christians very often have different opinions about what is sin.
Murder, we can sort of all agree on that. But what about abortion or euthanasia, then opinions do vary widely. This is just one example, we get the idea.
People sin. You, me, all of us sin.
And people are forgiven. You, me, all of us are forgiven. Freely, by no merit or work of our own.
Why?
"For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone." declares the Sovereign Lord.
'No pleasure': God really cares, God's really involved, God will take the initiative, because unlike human beings God's not too proud to do so, to do that for the children of God.
God should be an example to us all, because we too are called to forgive.
Not an easy call, not an easy task, because people are people, and very often people aren't very nice and people don't exactly make it easy on you to forgive them.
Yet, we're all called to do so.
But we have to do this in a what we today might call a right frame of mind.
We too need forgiveness ourselves, often before we can forgive others; the plank in our own eye has to be removed before we can tell our neighbor about the speck in theirs.
And we can't 'dish out' forgiveness in a lofty, haughty manner; that too amounts to judging others, because we might fall in the trap of thinking that we ourselves don't need forgiveness and that we're the only ones in the right place, in a spiritual superior position to dole out forgiveness where and when it suits us, not out of love and care for our neighbor.
Christ’s example on the cross calls us to share the Good News of new beginnings, of being a new creation; it calls us to stay ready to go out into God's wide world, in order to share that Good News, to share kindness and hope and love, and to serve our neighbor and to love them just as we're allowed to love ourselves.
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." Jesus told his disciples.
In the forgiveness we're given, lies our strength to do the same for others.
"Repent and live!" God told the Israelites through the prophets, so very often, over and over.
These words still ring true for us here today.
Why?
"For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone." declares the Sovereign Lord.
Maundy Thursday: The Sermon given on April 17, 2025
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
People can go three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food.
It puts things into perspective at its basic levels of human need, simply to exist.
Fancy cars, big villas, WiFi internet, holidays in exotic far-off places, expensive brands of all sorts, and so on, do not feature on this list.
The question is not, what do Christians, indeed all human beings, want; rather the question is, what do they need.
And when these basic necessities are lacking, we realize just how much we take them for granted; our fridges are filled often to the brim with food we end up throwing out, and this while millions on this planet are starving; as for clean water, millions in the world live in places where epidemics caused by filthy water are very common. Millions die from polluted air every year: breathing, a basic human action, is a slow death sentence.
But there’s more. As Christians we should recognize the fact that we are not only physical beings, but spiritual ones as well; we live by bread, just not bread alone.
The connection between physical wellbeing, notably food, and blessing is often found in the Scriptures.
It's also found in the rituals of the Church, most visibly in the Sacraments.
A Sacrament as such connects God's promise, God’s word of grace, to a visible sign, a tangible created thing.
The waters which clenched the thirst of the wandering tribes in the desert became the waters of Holy Baptism, baptizing us into the death and resurrection of Christ.
The manna, the bread come down from heaven, is Christ himself, whose Holy Communion restores, renews and reinvigorates, giving each and every one of us life and salvation.
All these blessings aren't just physical but also spiritual: we all need these to exist.
We may want many things, but what we need is sustenance for the body and the soul: air and water and food, and forgiveness and grace and love.
These God-given blessings serve as a constant reminder to us that God cares for our physical as well as our spiritual wellbeing; we are not to fret, but rest assured that God cares and knows what we need.
We all worry about what the future may hold, but how did worrying ever help or contribute to that future?
For millions in the world the future is a luxury, because they are too busy surviving the present, very often because of the greed of those who already have too much. They aren’t allowed to exist.
So if God cares for us, will we too then care for others?
In our extremely individualistic and commercialized world, a slogan that is often heard - even from those identifying as Christians - is 'God helps those who help themselves'. Sounds pious enough... But it's not in the Scriptures; it's more a symptom of love of the self than of love for the neighbor. It denies grace, both from God and from those claiming to worship God. It’s greedy, lazy theology.
Many people who have a lot, only want more.
When God blesses us with so many good gifts, both physical and spiritual, both in this life and the next, perhaps we should ask ourselves what we're prepared to do with them? Will we use them for good, or in a more modern term, will we use them constructively?
All too often in our selfish world it's unfortunately all about what we want not about what we need, and certainly not about what anyone else needs.
He washed their feet.
He shared his food.
He was angry, anxious, desperate, in tears.
Then he stood up, dusted himself down, full of resolve.
He knew what had to be done…
Lent V: The sermon given on April 6, 2025
John 12:1-8 “Words are not enough”
6 April 2025 Lent 5
All Saints, Waterloo
By: Stephen Murray
The Revd Stephen Murray, originally from the Anglican Church of Canada, is Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Anglican Church in Belgium.
Have you ever been at a family meal where there’s so much tension in the air you could cut it with
a knife? Twenty years ago, ‘Auntie So-and-So’ had a fight with ‘Cousin What’s-his-name’ and
neither has ever apologized?
It’s that same feeling as Jesus shares a meal with his closest friends… as if a bomb could explode
at any moment… and then - BOOM! - it does in the most profound way.
Jesus had gone to Bethany for one last visit with his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Going
around the table, we’ve got a strange group:
There’s Lazarus – who up until a few days ago… was dead!!! So, Lazarus would have been quite a
sight! We know that Lazarus’ resurrection was THE moment that changed Jesus’ status in the
eyes of the religious authorities. He went from ‘pesky prophet’ to ‘serious threat’ on their “most-
wanted list.”
Because of this, Jesus knows that his days are numbered.
Also at the table are Lazarus’ sisters: Martha – typically portrayed as a ‘busy-body’, and Mary – the
supposed flighty ‘dreamer’. This time both are at the table, and for us, men and women eating
together seems perfectly normal, but at the time, this fact itself conveyed a radical message… so,
this was no ordinary meal!
Last, but certainly not least, there was Judas, who often gets smeared as “the bad guy” BUT…
Judas was more like Jesus’ loyal guard dog, always at his side. And unlike Peter and the other
disciples, Judas never wavered. He was never afraid and always ready for the revolution to start.
There were probably others at the table, but this group is already strange enough. Finally, supper
gets served and everyone starts to eat. Probably, nobody would have even noticed that Mary had
disappeared… UNTIL… she came back carrying a clay jar. The room went silent. What was going
on? She knelt at Jesus’ feet and there was a loud crack as she broke the neck of the jar. The smell
of the perfumed oil would have filled the room. And then… right there, in front of everyone… Mary
did four remarkable, scandalous things:
First, she loosened her hair, which respectable women didn’t do in those days.
Second, she poured the oil onto Jesus’ feet… Anointing someone’s head was a symbol of
kingship… but anointing their feet was a symbol of death.
Third, she touched Jesus. Again, physical contact between men and women was considered
nothing short of scandalous.
And finally, she wiped off the oil… with her hair!!! How intimate is that?!?!
We might describe Mary’s actions as: ‘loving’ or ‘faithful’. But then, we are forgetting how
scandalous her actions would have been at the time. Most people in the first Century would have
described what Mary did as: WRONG, with a capital ‘W’:
For starters… the cost of a jar of perfumed oil was the same as a person’s annual income!
Besides, Jesus already knows that Mary is his friend. So, WHY then, this unnecessary public
display of affection? What Mary has done is: lavish and luxurious. It is extravagant and excessive.
Which is why Judas uses a different ‘W’ word: “A WASTE,” he calls it, “A waste of money!”
Isn’t that what we have also been taught as good Christians – to never be too lavish or luxurious,
not to be too extravagant or excessive with our love??? Giving to the poor gets us bonus points in
heaven but loving excessively… well, that’s just… a waste!?! Or so we’ve been taught.
Jesus disagrees. He says, “Leave her alone… You will always have The Poor… but you will not
always have me.” Which is a sad statement, but true. Our world does seem to always have an
abundance of The Poor and too little of Jesus in it.
But let’s be clear… it’s not that Jesus doesn’t care about The Poor. It’s that Mary’s actions were
prophetic, they ‘revealed the truth’ – that there is nothing cheap or thrifty about Jesus’ life… His
love for us is also lavish and luxurious. It is extravagant and excessive, always giving us more than
we deserve. And just like that clay jar, Jesus will also be broken, offered and poured out for us.
Jesus told his disciples many times that he was going to die. They repeatedly rejected it. “Don’t be
ridiculous!” they said. “What a waste that would be!”
But they could not see that Love is never afraid of death. Mary sees it. She gets it. She
understands that sometimes words are not enough to express our love. Sometimes, we love so
much, it can only be expressed through lavish, extravagant acts that seem crazy to others.
Fast forward, at another special meal, Jesus’ disciples would remember Mary’s actions when he
took off his towel, wrapped it around himself, got down on his knees and washed THEIR feet.
Reminding them – and us - of this important lesson: sometimes… words are not enough.
Sometimes only lavish, extravagant, outrageous actions can truly show our love.
Today, take a look at the people gathered at this table… only slightly less strange than the group
gathered in Bethany two millennia ago. We come here with our own stories of life and death and
resurrection. And through our own experience of faith, we have come to realize Mary’s truth
–sometimes, words are not enough. Sometimes, the greatest gift we can offer is to pour out
ourselves in acts that might seem lavish or extravagant so that we can begin to express our love…
like Mary did. Like Jesus did. Like God does.
And that is why we can say, “Thanks be to God.”
Lent IV :The sermon given on March 30, 2025.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lent seems to be hastening by at a rapid pace, because we're already at Lent 4 or Refreshment Sunday, or Laetare Sunday (one of the only two rose Sundays in the church year),
The old introductory versicle, taken from Isaiah 66, used to be,
Laetare Jerusalem et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam…
Rejoice ye with Jerusalem; and be ye glad for her, all ye that delight in her: exult and sing for joy with her, all ye that in sadness mourn for her.
Refreshment Sunday traditionally means we get a break, a pause in the period of fasting, that's why in some churches the liturgical color of the day isn't purple or violet but rose instead - even though, you’re not expected to fast on Sundays anyway.
Another name for this particular Sunday is Mothering Sunday, the day when we thank not only mothers for the incredible jobs they do, but also all in a position and profession of care. It was the time when staff in service of rich households was allowed to return to their mother parish where they had been baptized, and visit loved ones; they would go 'a-mothering', picking wild flowers along the way to give to their mothers.
Traditionally, on this Sunday, the organ or piano could play a solo, flowers were allowed on the altar, weddings could be solemnized, etc.
So, a break from the Lenten discipline. A time to reflect on the time of reflection. We’re half way into Lent.
While the seasons of the Church are a blessing to remind or prepare us, they're of course not set in stone; every day is the right and ideal day to start over again, every day God forgives and renews ('a daily regeneration'), every day we're encouraged and inspired to pick ourselves up by our boot straps, dust ourselves down and start afresh.
The Gospel, the Good News of God, incorporates many wonderful messages and one such message is: keep going, keep trying, keep retrying, it's worth it!
It's worth it to keep the faith.
It's worth it to keep believing in God, in people, in yourself.
It's worth it to keep hoping that the World will become a better place, that the Church will keep reforming and welcoming and affirming, that nations will learn peace and justice, that we will increase in trust and patience, that we will strive for democracy and the rule of Law, that we will eradicate poverty, pollution and economic exploitation.
It's worth praying, learning, singing, praising, celebrating, etc...
It's worth living!
One of these celebrations, these moments of pause, these places of refreshment, undoubtedly the most important of all celebrations, is Holy Communion, or Eucharist or Mass, or the Lord's Supper...we’re allowed to use, and do use, various words for this incredible celebration and moment.
Joseph B. Wirthlin, an entrepreneur from the USA, wrote,
Many in the world are searching, often intensely, for a source of refreshment that will quench their yearning for meaning and direction in their lives. They crave a cool, satisfying drink of insight and knowledge that will soothe their parched souls.
In the Church we know about such a source.
Almost all Christians in the world celebrate this holy Sacrament, this free gift from God; next to Holy Baptism, Holy Communion is pivotal for the faith life of the Church. It is its very core, its engine - if you will.
Whoever comes to him shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in him shall never be thirsty.
The Bread of heaven…the Cup of salvation…
In other words, whoever comes shall be refreshed by Christ himself.
Christ coming to us, physically, intimately, lovingly; Christ truly present with us and for us; in, with and under the elements of bread and wine, 'given for you.'
This is my body, this is my blood..whoever has part of this, has part of me.
I will renew and refresh you.
Carl Olof Rosenius, a Swedish lay preacher, for his part, wrote,
Christ has planted his table like an oasis along our pathway, in order that when we become weary with travel, weak and hungry in our souls, discouraged and wounded because of our steps, stumbling, and falling, we may enter there and be refreshed with the living bread of life.
My body, my blood.
It must have caused quite a stir and quite a few frowns within the first Christian communities as well as the societies around them; flesh and blood?
What's this preacher from Nazareth talking about? What does he mean?
Even now, it often makes people nervously giggle or dismiss Christianity completely.
Was Jesus a vampire? Was Jesus a cannibal?
It's a historic fact that the Romans accused the early Christians of practicing cannibalism during their so-called love-feasts.
But that's to misunderstand the meaning of the Sacrament: God so close that you can literally smell, taste, see, touch him - even hear him as the words of Scripture are spoken: 'given for you’.
Christians, however, had a good counter-argument against the charge, namely that cannibals kill their victims and consume dead flesh, but Christ’s body was a resurrected, living body, and therefore Christians mostly certainly weren’t cannibals.
'I AM,' God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, 'I am very existence and I exist here today for you, all that I am is yours! All I am, is you!'
In John’s gospel Jesus identifies himself with the great I AM no less than seven times. Again, it must have caused quite the stir. Christ was rather good at stirring things up, at making things new, making people consider matters from a fresh perspective.
'Come to me,' God speaks to each of us, through the bread of life, 'cling to me, feed and drink from me; I am your resting place, your place of love and renewal, of refocus, of refreshment, and a pause in all what troubles or ails you, a moment of reflection, even during this time of reflection.'
Lent III - The Sermon given by Jane McBride on 23 March 2025.
Here we are in the midst of Lent and our Gospel reading deals with the very Lenten concept of repentance, in Greek ‘metanoia’ meaning to change: mind or behavior. I say a Lenten concept because some of us give up or take on different things during Lent in order to help us change our attitude and behavior to one another, to our world, or to God.
And as we look at our Gospel story this morning could I just check something with all of you?
Could I check that there is nobody here this morning who thinks, like those that Jesus is talking to here, that suffering is linked to sin, that bad things only happen to bad people who do bad stuff?
We all know, don’t we, that bad things happen to good people, that indeed bad and good things happen to good people and that good and bad things happen to bad people. There is no clear connection between how we live and the good or bad fortune we enjoy in life. The world is more complicated than that and, although, of course, we all make choices with good and bad outcomes, there is still a randomness to what happens to us which eludes rational explanation.
In other words, let’s agree, shall we, that suffering, illness, misfortune, death are not sent to punish us; that if we see someone who is ill or suffering, we do not have to conclude that they somehow brought this on themselves. And you don’t need to take my word for it. It’s what Jesus is saying here.
‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you;
Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you;
So, I’m glad we have cleared that up!
Researching this passage, it seems that no one knows what particular atrocity by Herod Jesus is referring to here. There were many horrors, and this seems to have been a particularly cruel and ghastly act. So, we have an example of persecution on grounds of ethnicity and then a description of an apparently random accident, a building that collapses killing 18 people. Such things are happening all over our world today. Human beings persecute one another because of perceived differences and innocent passers-by die in accidents because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But just because there is no direct link between suffering and sin doesn’t mean that there aren’t things we need to repent of, that there aren’t things we need to change in our lives, things we can improve, things that, if we change, won’t necessarily change our lives’ events, won’t stop bad things happening, but will enable us to live more fruitful lives. And we can understand different things by the term ‘fruitful’.
Which brings me on to the second part of the passage - Jesus’ transition from the randomness of violent death, severing any link between sin and suffering, but still highlighting the need for repentance because nobody is perfect - to his parable of the fig tree.
Fig trees, as the gardeners among you will know much better than I do, are tricky to deal with. They are both hardy and sensitive. They require particular conditions of weather and soil composition, specific nutrients. They can live to over 100 years old and sometimes, they can appear to be dead or dying, but can with care and skill be resuscitated, brought back from apparent death and coaxed to bear fruit.
There are seasons for a fig tree which are difficult to fathom, even for an experienced gardener. But an experienced gardener knows the importance of patient tending and of not giving up. A lack of fruitfulness isn’t the tree’s personal fault. All the conditions I just mentioned are independent of its control. And just because it isn’t bearing fruit in the traditional form of figs doesn’t mean it is useless or will never achieve anything again. Under the ground it is spreading its roots, nourishing the soil, waiting for its season to bear figs again.
The parallel of the fig tree is open-ended. We are left hanging, not knowing what its fate will be. Will it bear fruit the following year or is it for the chop? And how is any of this relevant for our lives?
What I conclude is the following:
Having, with relief, concluded that we do not control all that happens to us in our lives, good or bad, some self-examination and repentance for the times when we get it wrong is always a good thing. We have nothing to lose by being honest about our mistakes and shortcomings. Lent is a good time for this as we think about the ways in which we could change in order to grow.
Additionally, there are seasons in our lives. We have times when we are fruitful and times when we are, like the fig tree, spreading our roots underground, being more introspective, waiting for our moment to bear fruit again. You might be thinking to yourself that you aren’t feeling very fruitful; maybe you are lacking in energy, or purpose, maybe you are feeling depressed, unproductive, hopeless. Maybe you are saying to yourself: that’s me, that barren fig tree.
The good news of our Gospel today is for any of us who sometimes feel like that: just because we do not feel very productive at the moment does not mean that we are dead, or useless, or deserve to be cut down. We might not all be dashing around saving the world, full of energy and purpose. Sometimes it’s enough to just sit in our chairs looking out at the world, with our cup of tea, sending out a few prayers and kind thoughts. Sometimes that is all we can do. Don’t judge yourself by what the world considers to be fruitful, says Jesus: just wait, just be. And then, when the time is right, a bit of digging, a bit of manure, a bit of repentance, a bit of making peace with the randomness of our lives’ events - and then next season, or the one after that, just watch that fig harvest grow!
Amen.
Jane McBride is a member of All Saints and serves on the Vestry
Lent II - Sermon given on March 16 2025
Gen. 15:1-12, 17-18; Philip. 3:17-4:1; Lk. 13:31-35]
Peace to all of you who are in Christ. Amen.
The passage from Genesis we read this morning is known as the Covenant of the Halves or Covenant of the Pieces. It’s not the first Covenant we encounter in the Scriptures and it won’t be the last.
In fact, Abraham’s entire life story is one whole Covenant, one that changed human history.
This is his tale,
“It started with a voice on the wind.
“At first I thought an evil spirit was trying to trick me. There are many trickster-spirits, you see, but the voice claimed to be El, God, and this El insisted I move away from Haran, where I had buried my father.
“I had heard of this El before, but I hadn’t worshiped this deity; in my family we worshiped other gods.
“This new god swore to bless me and protect me as long I would trust in him.
“So, I gathered up all my belongings and the people of my extended family, and I travelled to the land of Canaan, which this God promised to give to me and my descendants, even though my wife and I had no children.
“When famine hit Canaan and we were forced to relocate to Egypt in order to survive, I started to wonder about the voice, if indeed it had truly come from this El or some trickster.
“But while in Egypt, I witnessed first-hand how powerful and knowing God really is.
“We moved back to Canaan, and God reiterated his promise that I and my descendants would own the land. God hadn’t forgotten me.
“One of the priest-kings of the city-states, Salem, came and blessed me in the name of the Highest God, as he called this deity. It was then that I realized that others knew God as well.
“Over and over, the Lord God reaffirmed that my descendants would be like the number of the stars, like the grains of the sand: too many to count.
“God called this promise a covenant. History would call it the Covenant of the Pieces.
“Then a slave-girl bore me a son. I loved him very much, but I longed for a son by my wife.
God repeated the covenant and changed my name and my wife’s name: Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah.
“As a sign of this latest Covenant, all the men of my tribe were circumcised, a risky operation.
“By that time, I had settled at the oaks of Mamre, and our family had expanded into a large and prosperous tribe. We were the envy of the neighboring peoples.
“It was there, in the shade of those oaks that the Lord God appeared to me. I had encountered God before, and I had built an altar at each location where the presence of the Divine had been very real to me, very close-by.
“This time, three men visited my camp and the Lord had never felt so close, so real. They promised me a son and my wife had laughed.
“Many in my tribe had their doubts, but out of respect for me they obeyed and followed me to the land God had shown me.
“My wife bore me a son, and I had to send away his half-brother and his mother, but God looked after them, and his descendants too became numerous. The Lord is generous and faithful.
“It came as a real shock when one day God the Highest commanded me to sacrifice my son.
“My wife and I had waited and prayed for so long and now that we had been given an heir, the Lord was going to take him from us. I was confused but I obeyed. As I bound the boy and laid him on the makeshift altar, I felt numb. God however intervened and provided another sacrifice.
“When my wife died, I buried her near Mamre, where the divine presence had never been stronger. It’s a pity she never got to see our boy grow into a man, get married and become a father himself.
“When I myself died, my sons buried me there also, next to her.
“My story is one of an ongoing conversation with the Lord God. It’s the story of a God who’s always there.
“During my lifetime I’ve been blessed to experience God’s grace and care and love without fail.
“From that very first time I heard El’s voice on the wind, God has never stopped calling me.
It’s important to discern the different voices vying for our loyalty; it’s important to listen to God in prayer, even if sometimes we would prefer not to listen, or we think we’re listening when in fact we’re replacing God’s voice with our own.
“I had never thought that I would be considered the archetype of a man of great and unshakable faith: God’s friend. The compliment is greatly exaggerated, I’m a human being who has led his life to the best of his abilities. There’s good and bad in all of us. I’ve certainly made mistakes.
“I will admit, there were times when I thought about returning to Ur of the Chaldeans, to leave behind this endeavor with this El, a god I had never worshipped before. There were times when I just couldn’t believe that this Highest God would fulfill all the promises made to us, when my soul was heavy with darkness.
“Yet, the Lord God has kept our conversation going, God has kept our covenant alive, at every step God has rekindled hope for my own and my tribe’s future. To me, the Lord has proven his holiness and righteousness, even when testing me to the brink of insanity.
“I was to become the father and forebear of many great nations and three world religions, which proves that for God nothing is impossible.
“God answers prayers, even if it doesn’t seem like it, even if God does so in his time and according to his will, not ours.
“The Lord defends those who call on him, who turn to his care, to God’s parental arms, and does so without us asking for it or deserving it, without us realizing God’s mercy is acting in our lives.
“There have been many signs from the Lord God.
“The most intrinsic characteristic of a sign is that it serves as a reminder that the Highest God remembers the promises and stands firm on them.
“Whether these signs are from long ago or they’re new symbols in a new time, they’re gifts to cling to.
“God doesn’t trick. God doesn’t forget. God fulfills all promises. God keeps the Covenant.”