February 6, 2022
Epiphany V 2022 – Ted Hackett
Today is the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.
Epiphany is the season of the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God, so it is fitting that we should move from the immediate revelation of who Jesus is…
You know…His baptism, water into wine at the wedding and so forth…
To stories of people who are “sent” by God. Sent…Sent to tell of God’s saving action.
Now I must warn you…this sermon is going to trace some sometimes complicated theology…and I hope you aren’t bored…
And if you are, there is a centuries-old custom during boring Sermons…going to sleep…
I won’t be offended.
In today’s readings we began with the “call” of the Prophet Isaiah…about 700 b.c….
And then we read a section of Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians…which ends with: “so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.”
And finally, the call of Simon Peter…Jesus told him: “from now on you will be catching people.”
Peter and Paul were Apostles…and Isaiah was too….
Because “Apostle”…from the Greek “apostello” means: “One who is sent”
Isaiah, Paul and Peter were all sent by God to say what was God’s will.
Of course we know about the Apostles….
They all went around the Mediterranean world and preached the “Good News” of Jesus’ Resurrection and His return. And they invited all who heard them to be initiated into Jesus’ Church by baptism.
January 30, 2022
Annual Parish Meeting
Rector Report – George Yandell
In my annual reports over the past eleven years, I have said these words, and I’ll say them again: This is your parish. I serve God with you, guided by the Spirit of Jesus. I want to tell what I perceive God has done, is doing, and what God may be leading us to do together.
If there’s a slogan that sums up the past year, it’s “bridge over troubled water.” That’s how I have experienced the life and ministries we’ve extended during the covid era. If the parish is a bridge for us in living into our baptisms in the company of Jesus, you have done remarkably well. The results of our pledge campaign have surprised me and made me most grateful.
Where is the bridge carrying us? That’s what the newly reconstituted vestry will continue to discern after they start their work in the meeting after this all-parish meeting.
We are now into our 36th year as a parish- the founding parents are almost gone. New members are finding Holy Family and becoming part of the ministering body. We added 6 new members in 2021 during Covid. There were no Marriages, 2 Baptisms and 3 Burials in 2021. 6 members/families moved away, and 7 died since last year’s annual meeting. We’ll remember them in the annual meeting.
Our average Sunday attendance in 2019 was 169. In 2020, our average attendance before we began worshipping outside and online was 146.Continue reading January 30, 2022
January 23, 2022
3rd Sunday After The Epiphany – Katharine Armentrout
JESUS AND HIS BLUEPRINT
We have just heard Jesus layout what I would call His “blueprint for ministry”. He was filled with the Spirit that morning, as he read the powerful promises from Isaiah 61:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And when he sat down and all eyes were upon him, he said, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
At the time that passage was written, faithful Hebrews had prayed for their long-awaited release from Exile and the rebuilding of Israel.
And, at the time of Jesus, faithful Jews were praying for God to release them from Roman domination, release from their crushing taxes, their poverty and oppression that had been created by that Roman system.
Jesus, when he said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” is announcing that through his ministry those promises, promises made especially to the least in the kingdom, will be fulfilled and that the coming of God’s kingdom is upon them.
When he arrived at the synagogue in Nazareth that day,
January 16, 2022
Epiphany 2C – By George Yandell
Weddings in Palestine were major celebrations with extended family and friends. They typically lasted a week or more. In today’s gospel reading about the marriage feast there is more than meets the eye.
As today’s Gospel passage opens, Jesus’ mother is attending a wedding at Cana in Galilee to which Jesus and his disciples also have been invited. Food and wine were plentiful at such festivities. When the supply of wine runs out it was a social disaster for the host family. Jesus’ mother informs him of the shortage. Jesus replied to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come”. That seems harsh and abrupt, doesn’t it? Referring to his mother as “woman” is not an indication of a lack of affection or respect, but rather is how Jesus often addressed women. (Throughout John’s Gospel, Mary is not called by name but is referred to as the mother of Jesus.) [Adapted from “Synthesis, a Weekly Resource for Preaching and Worship following the Revised Common Lectionary” for this Sunday.]
Symbolically, a marriage feast points to the banquet associated with the coming messianic era as Isaiah portrays it in that passage for today. It was a joyful and extravagant event. When Jesus says, “Fill the jars with water”, the ordinary event of a wedding takes on cosmic proportions, as water becomes wine. The words of Jesus accomplished it. Acceptance of Jesus’ words is a crucial theme in John’s Gospel,