A Sermon for All Saints Day 2020.
Click on "Read More" to listen to Sharon Rodgers' sermon, and be sure to listen through to the end to hear the hymn she quotes, hymn #293 "I sing a song of the saints of God"
Love, Even in a Pandemic
As we talked about last week, Paul is writing this letter to a community that he misses immensely and desperately wants to see in person, but he can’t. So he is writing a letter using the technology of his day in order to communicate with them and to connect with them. It is not unlike what we are doing here, using the technology of our day, the video and internet, in order to connect with one another. As you read Paul’s letter you will see that it is quite clear that Paul is deeply affectioned to the people there in Thessalonica. Again, not unlike today. We are deeply affectioned to one another. I miss you immensely, I care for you deeply. This is what Paul was feeling.
Read Bingham’s entire sermon, or listen to the audio version, by clicking on “Read More.”
Offering Thanks Even in a Pandemic
For me, this year as we have been working our way through the Epistles, I have been connecting with them in a new way. I am connecting with Paul in a new way. The past month or so we have been working our way through Paul’s letter to the Phillipians, and today we move on to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. We will be here about a month, we’ll take one week off for All Saints Sunday, but over the next month or so we are going to make our way through Paul’s letter to this community, the church of the Thessalonians.
Read Bingham’s entire sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, or listen to the audio, by clicking on “Read more”
Forward in Faith Together
“My brothers and sisters whom I love and I long for.” I resonate like never before with these words of St. Paul that we just heard. My brothers and sisters, my siblings in Christ, you the people of St. Mary’s whom I love and I long for, I miss you. I miss being together, in person, at the church, crowded together, singing hymns, greeting one another with the sign of the peace, kneeling side by side to receive the Sacrament. I miss you.
Click “Read more” to read the rest of Bingham’s sermon or to listen to the audio version.
Stewarding God's Gifts
Most of our readings today have a common image of a vineyard. We see that in the Isaiah reading, in the Psalm, and again in the Gospel. Each of the authors of the different readings use the image a little bit differently, but fundamentally at the core of the image of the vineyard is the question of stewardship.
Click “Read more” to read the rest of BIngham’s sermon or listen to the audio version.
For the Sake of Others: Considering the Common Good
Paul says, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” This passage, of course, is so consistent with the Gospels. It is so consistent with Jesus’s teachings on loving your neighbors as yourself, his teachings in the Beatitudes, his teachings in washing the Disciples’ feet. It resonates with his very life. Paul goes on in this passage to say that looking not to your own interests, but to the interests of others is the mind of Christ.
Click “Read more” to read the entire sermon or to listen to the audio version.
