A Week in Sermons

It has been an interesting week, composing a sermon, while many people from all parts of life commented on the sermon given in the National Cathedral by Bishop Budde, while thinking about the first sermon Jesus gives (the lectionary reading for Jan. 26).  One of my parishioners died last week, so I've also been thinking about funeral homilies, how they are both similar to the weekly sermon and different.

My spouse stayed home yesterday; he's preparing for a colonoscopy.  Because our tech volunteer is recording the sermon now, he was able to see it (go here to view it for yourself). He had read a draft and commented on it.  He was not nearly as enthusiastic about the written draft than as about the recording.

I thought it was a decent sermon.  I was pleased with how I included all the readings to help us understand the Gospel text.  I thought it had ties to what is going on in our contemporary times:  I did reference Bishop Budde's sermon, and I got laughs when I said, "Most of us probably will never be invited to give a sermon at the National Cathedral--well almost certainly, none of us will be invited to give a sermon there."  But I encouraged us to think about our lives as the sermon we're delivering.  What do people learn about how God is at work in the world as they observe our lives?

I have connections with a wide variety of clergy on social media, and I know that many of them were planning to preach much more revolutionary sermons, calling attention to bishop statements from our own denomination, calling attention to the incoming administration's orders about immigration, about other issues of social justice that Jesus might tell us to pay attention to as we consider the words of Isaiah that Jesus chose to read.

I know that many people would look at my sermon and say that it's not prophetic, and depending on the definition they're using, they're right.  I didn't print out a sign that tells the federal government that they can't come on church property; it's a little country church in Southern Appalachia where that's not going to be an issue.  If we wanted to offer sanctuary to someone not in the country legally, we'd have to drive a great distance to find that person (I think).

I do know that the church does an amazing job of raising money and giving it away to various community groups; I know this because we had the annual meeting yesterday, and I took a copy of the document with me.  This church has completely changed the assumptions I used to have about small churches, country churches, all sorts of churches, and I mean that in the best way.