08/31/2008
The Days of our Lives
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Just in case you’ve lost track of the saga of Moses I’ll offer a brief recap. As an infant, he’s been picked up in the river by the Pharaoh’s daughter after his mother set him afloat in order to keep him from being killed by the Egyptian soldiers. Moses has been raised in the Pharaoh’s palace, but is now in the equivalent of the witness protection program after killing an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Hebrew. He’s currently in Midian, married to Zipporah, daughter of the priest Jethro. Moses is keeping the flock of sheep that belongs to his father-in-law, when, near the mountain of Horeb he sees a bush that is burning, but is not consumed.
You have to love the Old Testament stories – the plots are as thick as Days of Our Lives, or As the World Turns. One big difference is that these stories really are the history of the days of our lives and really have had an impact on how the world turns.
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08/17/2008
The Feast of St. Mary
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Today we are celebrating the Feast of St. Mary. We glory in our patron saint and all that her life has meant to the world. We can only imagine what it might have been like for a young girl to be visited by the Angel Gabriel and be told that she had been chosen by God to bear God’s Son. Her calm, quiet life would never be the same. Mary had no way of knowing that Joseph would fulfill his contract with her family to marry her, if she was already with child – no matter whose child it was. She faced potential condemnation – her family, as well as Joseph, could have thrown her out and refused to support her or her child. What a level of trust it must have taken to say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.
The miracles continue…
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08/10/2008
Stepping Out of the Boat
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
This week, for the first time ever, I noticed something about the disciples in the gospels – just about the only time we get names – or stories of particularity about any of them -- is when they have messed up – missed the point – tried to make the teachings of Jesus fit into the teachings of the world. We hear that Jesus had to explain the parables to his disciples. We hear of James and John who asked to be seated at Jesus’ right and left hands when he takes his throne in the Kingdom of Heaven. Thomas is named when he expresses his doubts after the crucifixion. We know the names of the disciples who fell asleep while Jesus was praying in Gethsemane. And everyone knows the name of Judas who turned Jesus in to the authorities, presumably to teach Jesus to adjust his teachings to come into alignment with those of the realities of the Roman and Jewish world of Israel.
And we hear lots of stories about Peter – including this one this morning. All the disciples are there, but only Peter asks to step out of the boat.
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08/03/2008
Empty and Alone
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Just before our gospel reading this morning, Jesus has experienced rejection in Nazareth – his home town -- by the people who knew him best. This cannot have been easy for the human side of Jesus to process. We expect – or at the very least – we hope that those who love us best will support and encourage us. And then Jesus is told of the brutal execution of his cousin, John the Baptist. John was the one person who seemed to understand that Jesus’ power was not coming from Jesus, the man, alone, but that Jesus had been sent by God to do the work Jesus was now doing. The disciples’, thus far, have not been too swift on the uptake. He’s had to explain even the most fundamental of the parables to them. Now the one person who understood the challenges of the life of Jesus as a prophet, and the one who saw that Jesus was even more than a prophet, and had been sent by God as the Messiah, the Redeemer, John is dead and Jesus must be feeling even more alone and alienated. Two stiff blows happening one right after the other. And so Jesus retreats to a deserted, lonely place – perhaps to mourn, to pray, to sort out what happens next. But like persistent paparazzi, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
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07/27/2008
Describing Heaven
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Have you ever tried to describe something and found that there just weren’t words adequate to do the job – an overwhelming sunset – the birth of your child – love?
Well, that is exactly what Jesus is trying to do in these parables. He is trying to describe what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. The concept of this kingdom isn’t easy to explain, and it’s even harder to understand. We have been so immersed in the idea that God lives in heaven – that God’s kingdom is way away – somewhere out of our reach while we are living on earth. This way of thinking – this dualism – is so ingrained that we don’t realize that we are approaching the stories of Jesus with this presumption.
What if the truth is that God is here among us – even within us – at all times – and no matter where we are – either physically or emotionally? Is this fact – the ever and all pervasive presence of God – what Jesus is trying to tell us in this list of parables?
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07/13/2008
The Abundant Seed
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
This is one of those “Bible stories” that is well known and well loved. It has the added advantage of being one of the few parables that Jesus told – and then explained – or so we think. Among scholars there is great debate whether Jesus actually explained this or whether it was the gospel writer who thought this explanation needed to be added, or perhaps one of those who, early on copied the text by hand, and thought that an explanation would be helpful. Whatever the details, this parable has been one of the staples – not only in church services, but in Sunday School classes the world over – it was even in the movie Godspell. The difficult part – for listeners and preachers alike – is that it can be too familiar. I have to admit I struggled this week to read this parable with a fresh and open mind.
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07/06/2008
Kingdom Celebration in Madisonville
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Happy 4th of July! I hope that for all of you it has been a long weekend of celebration and feasting – and also of rest and relaxation – a perfect picture of Sabbath time.
Warren and I had the great privilege of celebrating with St. Mary’s youth on Friday night. We feasted and visited and waited for dark when the fireworks would begin. The adults who were there talked about vacations and weddings and commented on the changes that we saw in the youth. Some had grown and were beginning to look like the adults they are becoming before our very eyes. Matt will soon be off to college. Amy enters high school. The change and growth of life was all around us. But soon it was dark and all of our attention was turned to the fireworks that would be lit in that back yard in Madisonville. With contributions from several families – our fireworks were a glorious display that seemed to go on and on for hours. We oohed and aahed and we applauded the most spectacular. I cannot remember having such a glorious time -- either celebrating the Fourth – or watching any other fireworks.
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06/22/2008
Proper 7, The absurdity of faith.
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
Christianity doesn’t make any sense.
Jesus doesn’t make sense.
God doesn’t make any sense.
Our faith doesn’t make any sense….by the rules that the world lives by.
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06/15/2008
Proper 6, Laughing at the Absurd
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
There was a small turtle walking across the forest floor. He walked with resolve to the tallest tree in the area and began to climb up this tall tree. It took a great deal of effort for this small turtle to climb to the top of this tall, tall tree and when he got to the top he fell to the ground. He righted himself and walked once again to this same tall tree and headed up. Once again it took considerable time and effort, but he once again got to the top. He looked down, stepped off the branch, and fell, once again, to the forest floor. Nearby there were two birds watching this young turtle. After the second fall, the Mama bird turned to the Papa bird and said, “I think we have to tell him that he’s adopted.”
We laugh at many things, but the humor of jokes is often at the expense of some one or some thing. As I pondered jokes to open this morning’s sermon I thought of all the jokes I had heard – though, I have to admit, very few that I remember well enough to re-tell. There was the season of the great bulk of Polish jokes, and then – trying to be more politically correct – we picked on blonds – both told with the presumption that a certain group of people was lacking in knowledge or common sense. Sarah this morning laughs at God who has appeared to Abraham and Sarah in the form of three beings.
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06/08/2008
Proper 5, To be a blessing
By The Rev. Candyce Loescher
What beautiful and rich stories we have in this morning’s readings!! Other weeks, when I sit down to work on a sermon I am often searching for just one reading that helps to illustrate our story here at St. Mary’s as well as our call out into the world. Today we are blessed with riches and have several stories from which to choose.
Like Abram and Sarai I am going to venture into uncharted territory and try to link our lessons together.
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