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Trinity 7, 2021 – Sermon

(Modified 2021-07-18: Added audio recording of this sermon.)

Sermon for St. Mary’s Anglican – by Henry Friesen July 18, 2021

Scriptures Lessons: Jermiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:11-22 and Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Audio recording of this sermon

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts together, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

Caring for the Scattered

            When I read our Old Testament lesson earlier this week I was struck with the word “scattered” which Jeremiah uses to describe the actions of some of Israel’s shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord.” I looked up the word “scatter” and found that it can also mean dispersed, dissolved or spread. In English we use the word to mean objects randomly lying around as in leaves scattered on the ground or clothes scattered all over the laundry room floor.

            God, through Jeremiah the prophet uses the word to describe a group of people who are spread apart or dispersed and I think it is the opposite of a group of people who are united in both body and spirit; a group that feels comfortable and safe in the place where they live. 

            This morning I want to us to think about this word together. Even if we do not consider ourselves to be shepherds or leaders perhaps there are ways in which we contribute to a kind of “scattering” and more importantly, perhaps there are ways in which we can work to alleviate those who feel as if they have been scattered, dispersed or simply lost and uncertain.

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Trinity 6, 2021 – Bulletin

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
JULY 11, 2021

TODAY AT ST. MARY’S

10.30 A.M. HOLY COMMUNION. Claude Schroeder preaching.

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GOSPEL IN THE GARDEN. Children will be invited to gather at St. Mary’s Garden to care, tend, and delight in that which has been planted in the soil of St. Mary’s raised beds, and then will care for, tend, and delight in that which has been planted the soil of their hearts: the seed that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

PARISH LIFE NOTES

PROTOCOLS FOR WORSHIP. Today marks the beginning of the lifting of public health orders of the Provincial Government. With the blessing of Bishop Rob, today ‘social distancing’ and the ‘wearing of masks’ will no longer be required at worship, and food and beverages are allowed to be served. The Holy Communion, however, will continued to be shared in ‘one kind’ only. As we “feed on Him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving,”  ( BCP p. 84) we receive the fullness of the blessing of Christ’s self-sacrifice for us on the Cross.  In this time of transition, parishioners are encouraged to act in accordance with their conscience, wearing masks as desired, and participating in worship as they are able.

GUEST MUSICIAN. We rejoice and give thanks to Jeremy who is our guest musician at the piano today.

VESTRY MEETING will take place this Tuesday at St. Mary’s at 7:00 p.m. 

ST. MARY’S OUTDOOR YARD SALE will take place on July 24th. We will start accepting items starting July 18th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.   Household items, clothing, treasures, jewelry, toys, tools, books (no Encyclopedias or Reader’s Digest). Volunteers of all ages welcome! Please call Clara.

SPIRITUAL NOTES

Let your door stand open to receive Christ, unlock your soul to him, offer him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasurers of peace, and the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light that shines on every one. This true light shines on all, but if any close their windows they will deprive themselves of eternal light. If you shut the door of your mind, you shut out Christ. Though he can enter, he does not want to force his way in rudely, or compel us to admit him against our will.

Born of a virgin, he came forth from the womb as the light of the whole world in order to shine on all. His light is received by those who long for the splendor of perpetual light that night can never destroy. The sun of our daily experience is succeeded by the darkness of night, but the son of holiness never sets, because wisdom cannot give place to evil.

Blessed then is the person at whose door Christ stands and knocks. Our door is faith; if it is strong enough, the whole house is safe. This is the door by which Christ enters. So the Church says in the Song of Songs: “The voice of my brother is at the door.” Hear his knock, listen to him asking to enter, “Open to me, my sister, my betrothed, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is covered with dew, and my hair with the moisture of the night.”

When does God the Word most often knock at your door? When his “head is covered with the dew of night.” He visits in love those in trouble and temptation, to save them from being overwhelmed by their trials. His head is covered with dew or moisture when those who are his body are in distress. That is the time when you must keep watch so that when the bridegroom comes he may not find himself shut out, and make his departure. If you were to go to sleep, if your heart were not wide awake, he would not knock and go away; but if your heart is watchful, he knocks and asks you to open the door to him.

Our soul has a door; it has gates. “Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory will enter.” If you open the gates of your faith, the King of glory will enter your house in the triumphal procession in honor of his passion. Holiness, too, has its gates. We read in Scripture what the Lord Jesus said through his prophet: “Open me the gates of holiness.”

It is the soul that has its door, its gates. Christ comes to this door and knocks; he knocks at the gates. Open to him; he wants to enter, to find his bride waiting and watching.

From Commentary on Psalm 118, 12-14  by St.Ambrose (ca. 334-397)  Archbishop of Milan.

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Trinity 6, 2021 – Sermon

(Modified 2021-07-11: Added audio recording)

St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, Trinity 6, July 11, 2021, Canon Claude Schroeder 

Audio recording of this sermon

“Speak the Truth to Power.”

It 1942, the African American Civil Rights Activist, Bayard Rustin, wrote in a letter that “the primary social function of a religious society is to ‘speak the truth to power’.”

So it was in 1955 that the Quakers, a pacifist religious society, published a pamphlet entitled, Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence.

This really marked the beginning of the wide-spread adoption and co-option of the phrase ”speak truth to power” in North America, not only by various religious societies, but by journalists, social activists, educators, and all manner of whistle-blowers.

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Trinity 5, 2021 – Bulletin

THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

JULY 4, 2021

TODAY AT ST. MARY’S

10.30 A.M. HOLY COMMUNION. Beth preaching.

PARISH LIFE NOTES

ROGATION PROCESSION. Following the closing hymn, there will be a procession to St. Mary’s Garden, where we will offer prayers and ask God’s blessing on the land, the birds and animals, and the life of our parish.

EMERGENCY FINANCIAL APPEAL. Please see the attached letter from The Diocese of the People in British Columbia in regard to an emergency appeal for funds in the wake of the recent wildfire that swept through the village of Lytton.

ST. MARY’S OUTDOOR YARD SALE will take place on July 24th. We will start accepting items starting July 18th.  Household items, clothing, treasures, jewelry, toys, tools, books (no Encyclopedias or Reader’s Digest).  More information to come.  Volunteers of all ages welcome! Please call Clara with questions.  

WEEK DAY SERVICES. 8.30 A.M. Morning Prayer.  5.30 p.m. Evening Prayer

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME! (Matthew 19.14) See photos below from the service of Holy Baptism which St. Mary’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church which worships at St. Mary’s on Saturday mornings celebrated last Saturday!

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Trinity 5, 2021 – Sermon

(Modified 2021-07-04: Added audio recording)

Audio recording of this sermon

So I think we can all agree that human beings are pretty messed-up.  I used to feel pretty smug about my identity markers.  I’m a girl – that’s definitely better than being a boy.  I’m Canadian, and that’s better than being American.  Like a lot of people I thought of us as America Lite, the kinder, politer version of America, with all the good things like democracy and human rights and diversity and much less of the bad stuff like prejudice and arrogance and hyper-nationalism.

And I was smug about having Christianity as my identity marker in terms of the world’s religions.  The worst thing people ever seemed to accuse us of was the Crusades, and since those ended 700 years ago I thought we were doing pretty well on the problematic waging-war-and-murdering-people-in-the-name-of-God front.

Feeling smug about your identity markers is mostly a young person’s game.  If we are not actively deluding ourselves, life soon disabuses us of our illusions about the rightness of our own tribe compared to everyone else.  Someone you trusted to tell the truth lies to you.  You find out an institution you belong to has been hurting people.  A political party you believe in gets caught up in a scandal, and won’t admit to being wrong.  The longer we live, the more times we are disillusioned by our tribe, and by our own behavior, the more we realize that all human beings are pretty messed up.  No one has a legitimate claim on virtue.

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Trinity 4, 2021 – Bulletin

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
JUNE 27, 2021

TODAY AT ST. MARY’S

10.30 A.M. HOLY COMMUNION. Claude Schroeder preaching.

LIVE AUDIO STREAMING during today’s service is available on the Order of Service page. Recorded audio will be added following worship.

GODLY PLAY for children 3-6 years via zoom at 1:30 pm. Today’s story is  ‘Jairus’ Daughter’ Matthew 9:18-26.

PARISH LIFE NOTES

PASTORAL MINISTRY OF ANOINTING WITH OIL AND LAYING ON OF HANDS WITH PRAYER FOR HEALING follows the celebration of the Holy Communion today.

GOSPEL IN THE GARDEN UPDATE. Thank you to all who donated plants, seeds, and bulbs for our Gospel in the Garden in the project. Soil will be delivered to the raised beds on Tuesday morning , to be followed by a planting bee. Please contact Yvonne if you can help and have plants to donate.

ST. MARY’S OUTDOOR YARD SALE will take place on July 24th. We will start accepting items starting July 18th.  Household items, clothing, treasures, jewelry, toys, tools, books (no Encyclopedias or Reader’s Digest).  More information to come.  Volunteers of all ages welcome! Please call Clara with questions.  

ST. MARY’S ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH which worships at St. Mary’s on Saturday mornings celebrated Holy Baptism on Saturday.

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Trinity 4, 2021 – Sermon

(Modified 2021-06-27: Added audio recording of sermon.)

St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Trinity 4, June 27.2021 Revd. Canon Claude Schroeder

Sermon on Mark 5. 21-43

Audio recording of sermon

“The moment is coming when, having done the ‘right’ thing all along, your round peg will not fit in the hole that’s next presented to you. The time is coming when you will be on the outside: a divorce, a bankruptcy, a felony, a betrayal, a cancer, an addiction, a death. Well, yes, death.” (Timothy Kimbrough)

I don’t think there is a person here doesn’t know what it’s like to find yourself on the outside, when the round peg that is your life doesn’t go into the square hole that is presented to you. Divorce, bankruptcy, crime, betrayal, cancer, and death, well yes death, sooner or later come calling.  

The sooner one realizes this, the better. “It is good”, writes the author of the Book of Lamentations,” for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults.” (Lamentations 3. 27-30). It’s why if at all possible, you should try have your nervous breakdown early in life, in your youth, and learn what it means to place your hope in God. It will hold you in good stead for when things really get difficult later in life.

Our Gospel lesson for today from St. Mark tells the story of three people, whose round peg did not fit the square hole that had been presented to them. 

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