Words of Welcome

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, UK  Psalm 84 I have been going to church all my life. I was baptized as an infant at St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church in LaCrescenta, California. I was an acolyte at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church of Dunsmuir. I was confirmed at age twelve at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Klamath Falls, where I was an acolyte, lay reader, and choir member. I was baptized once more in a creek in Oregon at age seventeen, after I moved to the Foursquare Church. I was then ordained at age twenty-seven at Temple City Christian Church. That should qualify as dwelling in the house of the Lord all my life, “for a day in [God’s] courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”   What is true of me might be true of you as well. Your story might be different in its details, but you have been dwelling in the House of the Lord your entire life. In fact, I know that at least a couple of our members were on the cradle roll of Central Woodward w...

Luke 24:13-35      Two disciples, one named Cleopas, journeyed to Emmaus.  Although we don’t know why they were taking this trip, they know that Jesus had been executed, buried, and according to some reports, had been raised from the dead. Could they be fleeing the city, fearing they might suffer Jesus’ fate?  Were they ready, with Jesus dead, to give up the whole Jesus enterprise?  Or, were they heading home to await further instructions? No one seems to know where Emmaus is located, but maybe we don’t need to know where it was. As Frederick Buechner puts it:   Emmaus is whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves forget that the world holds nothing sacred:  that even the noblest ideas that men have had -- ideas about love and freedom and justice -- have always in time been twisted out of shape by selfish men for selfish ends.  Emmaus is where we go, where these two went, to try to forget Jesus and the great failur...

John 6:51-58 On Monday nights, Guy Fieri takes us on a road trip to all the “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives ” across the land that serve great food, at great prices, but without the frills. While Cheryl thinks that he just goes to greasy burger joints, that’s not entirely true. Yes, he does go to places that like to deep-fry things, but he also goes to some rather surprising places – like a drive-in in Boise that serves prime rib, or a place down on Woodward Avenue called the Fly Trap that’s known for its Asian cuisine. The Food Channel , which carries Guy’s show, exists because we like to eat, and as Alton Brown puts it on his show, we like “ Good Eats!” Now, I’m not sure what either Guy or Alton would make of this morning’s text. I’m not sure that Alton Brown would declare Jesus’ offer of himself as true food and drink to be Good Eats. While Jesus told the tempter that there’s more to life than bread, bread is still an important biblical image. In John 6 Jesus tells us that he is tru...

Acts 2:37-42 “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Look at a picture of a smiling young man in a tuxedo, standing hand in hand with a young woman dressed in a flowing white gown, and you know what’s been happening. You don’t need any words. The picture tells the story. You enter the church and you see a table set with a chalice and a loaf of bread, and you probably know what’s going to happen. These ancient symbols bring to mind an ancient story about God’s love for humanity, a love that was most fully expressed on a cross. Words may be shared, but the symbols themselves carry the story. This picture of the table set, or a picture of a baptistry filled, call to mind a sacred covenant that God has made with us. They’re reminders that we, though flawed human beings, may rest in peace while standing in the midst of God’s grace. We know this to be true, because these symbols continue to speak to us, from one generation to the next. I. Why Sacraments? These sac...