Alright, I’m gonna just jump right into the Gospel today. The feeding of the five thousand. This is one of Jesus’s most iconic miracles, so iconic, in fact, that it’s the only one of his miracles to appear in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, so it’s clearly important. Now, there are two common interpretations of this miracle and I’d like to lay them both out for you and then we’ll work on figuring out what we should take from this event. The first interpretation is that this is truly a miracle, a miracle of bread being physically multiplied by Jesus. The second is that it’s more of a miracle of people sharing what they already have. I’ll start with the first interpretation, the miracle of multiplication.
Read MoreI get it.
He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile. (v, 31.) Curious as to just what had so upset Jesus to make Him want to withdraw, I remembered further back in Mark’s Gospel—to where we had left off last Sunday (MK: 6: 14 – 29.) Seeing what that was, well…I can understand it.
Read MoreGood Morning! Thank you for allowing me to be with you! I am the Rev. Chanta Bhan and I come to you from fair Richmond where I live and provide sacramental ministry to an historically black church, Calvary Episcopal Church in Hanover, VA, one of the most racially conflicted counties and towns in Virginia, as you may well know. I have found great joy in serving the community there and learning from them. The parishioners started the church during segregation. It was founded in 1919. They hosted church suppers and other fellowship events to help them raise the money to build the sanctuary; and, later, they raised more money to add a parish hall. As I listen to their stories, I am impressed by their love for Jesus, their courage, and their resilience! And, of course, I am delighted that you gave me a reason to come to northern Virginia, a place that feels quite familiar to me after my time at Virginia Theological Seminary during the pandemic.
Read More“An eternal weight of glory,” Paul says; quite a phrase. Paul juxtaposes images such that the phrase seems both heavy and light at the same time. An “eternal weight” feels overwhelming. “Glory”, however, Glory feels uplifting, even freeing.
Read MoreIf I said we would talk about uncertainty this morning, you might reasonably wonder “Uncertainty about what?” And with that question a very wide door opens to all sorts of possibilities. This is Trinity Sunday when we think about the nature of God— always a straight path to ambiguity. But this is also an election year, a time that is unpredictable by definition since we do not know the outcomes. Then there are undecided wars in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; angry divisions in our country; immigrants on the border; oceans on our doorsteps; greenhouse gasses over our heads; and around us there are children growing up, adults juggling careers, and seniors aging. These are all full of unknowns that can make us nervous if we let them. Uncertainty is ubiquitous. It is found everywhere, including in the lessons for this morning. Come with me for a few minutes, bring along the particular form of anxiety that unsettles your mind these days, and let’s see what these lessons say about how living with uncertainty.
Read MoreGood morning everyone. My name is Sam Arny, a senior from McLean High School. I
normally attend the 8:00am service, so this is a slightly bigger crowd than I’m used to. I
started attending St. George’s in 2013 but left for 3 years as I moved to France until 2017.
When we came back, we were welcomed back into the church and have been here ever
since, even during COVID when we had those online services. But as a member of St.
George’s for all of these years I’ve heard countless sermons, maybe zoned out during a
couple of them more times than I’d like to admit, and I didn’t want to add my sermon to
that list for you. I had a couple ideas on how to avoid that, such as getting everyone
standing up and singing, doing call and response, or even walking through the aisle with
Paddy and splashing some Holy Water on everybody. However, after some long talks
with Paddy and Shearon about St. George’s customs and rules, and a lot of self-restraint,
I’ve decided to stick to the script. So bear with me for a couple minutes.
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