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Sermons: 2009-2010
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
August 1, 2010
A priest I know came to the end of his
ministry in a congregation he had served for years, maybe for too long,
and he wanted to explain to the congregation his reasons for retirement.
On his last Sunday he described the events that had led to his decision.
He said that he had been at prayer one morning, and Jesus came and said
to him: “My son, it is time for you to retire.” He responded, “But Lord,
I have these four things I still must do before I retire.” And Jesus
said, “No, I will take care of them. It is time for you to retire.” And
the rector said, “But Lord, what about the people? The people are not
ready yet. Let me prepare them, and then I will retire.” And Jesus said,
“No, they are my people, and I will care for them. It is
time for you to retire.” So the priest said, “Yes Lord. I will trust
your word.” And he finished his sermon, and went to sit down in his
place. Whereupon the organist stood up and announced, “In light of
today’s sermon, we will change the next hymn. Let us stand and join in
singing Number 289. ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus!’”
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
July
25, 2010
Mary Davis told me this
week of an experience she had while working as a chaplain’s intern at
Kessler Rehabilitation Institute. She had a patient who was comatose,
unable to speak or communicate. She wondered how she could pray with
this man — what to say, or what to ask for. Then she noticed on his
chart that he was a Roman Catholic. “Hey,” she thought, “that means he
probably knows "The Lord’s Prayer.” So, at his
bedside, she prayed aloud the familiar and comforting words of the
Lord’s Prayer. And the patient — still in a coma — seemed to smile in
recognition, and move his lips as if he were praying with her. That’s
interesting, because it squares with my own experience in similar
situations. more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
July 18, 2010
If you have been to an
event in our Parish Hall recently or if you have a child in our Sunday
School, you probably have met Martha, the parish cat. Martha is rather
small, mostly black, except for a white blaze around her neck that looks
like a clerical collar — pretty appropriate for a parish cat. Her story
is this: Martha was born in the barn at Laurie Matarazzo’s farm and came
to live at Calvary about three years ago, through the urgings of Cimi
Petrela, our sexton, and Lillian Cochran, then junior warden, and
through the generosity of Dr. John Hatch, a parishioner who is a vet.
Now I am not a cat person . . . more
Mary Davis, Deacon,
July 11, 2010
“Go and do likewise.” Jesus’ charge at the
end of our Gospel reading today is a phrase that sticks with us. It
moves us - in the way that an uplifting recessional hymn might move us –
lifting us up and carrying us right from our seats in the pews, out into
the world, beyond this church building. It’s the perfect end to a story
that involves challenge, testing and tension, risk, reassurance, and
then, resolution; a story that describes, in no uncertain terms, who our
neighbor is. “Go and do likewise,” is a phrase that drives us into the
world as do-ers, words that we all resonate with, words that
direct and inspire our many acts of service and compassion.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
June
27, 2010
Once or twice a week I
like to leave the TV on after the late news and weather to watch a few
minutes of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Sometimes Jay does a funny
thing called “Jay-walking,” where he walks out on the street with a
microphone and camera and asks passersby simple questions, easy ones,
really. But often people cannot answer them, or at least they pretend
they can’t. On one occasion about this time of year he asked about our
nation’s birthday: What holiday is coming up? One woman answered, “The
Fourth of July.” What does it celebrate? “July fourth,” she said. But
why, what does that mean? “Oh,” she answered, “Independence.”
Independence from whom? A long pause. Then she said, “America?” A man
about 30 was asked what famous general was in charge of the army. He
answered, “Churchill.” A woman identified herself as an instructor at a
college in business and general education. Jay asked her the year of
independence. She said, “1922.” He corrected her to 1776. After that
she wouldn’t tell him what college she taught in. It’s a good thing he
didn’t ask any of them to sing the National Anthem.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
June 6, 2010
We preachers often like to sneak up on our congregations with the punch
line…But this morning I’m going to give you the punch line up front. I
think this is one of the more difficult sermons I will preach here at
Calvary, but it has weighed heavy on my heart for some time now…. So,
there it is: I’m going to ask you to consider raising your pledge, I
really am. more
Audio version of
this sermon
Mary Davis, deacon-to-be, Trinity Sunday,
May 30, 2010
Today’s liturgy offers
us an opportunity to wrestle with, ponder and live-into one of the
age-old questions of our faith – the dogmatic description,
representation, and action of our God, using Trinitarian language. Now,
over the past few years, I’ve learned that this morning is notorious for
the hordes of seminarians - God bless them all – who have just finished
their year-long programs, limped into and out of their final exams, and
now climb into the pulpit to preach. Why wouldn’t they? The historical
truth is that people have been thrown into exile - even killed - over
this Trinitarian language! What says to the Rector of a parish,
“Seminarian Sunday,” more than that?
more
The Rev.
Dr. Robert C. Morris, Day of Pentecost,
May 23, 2010
The apostles were very
worried about the future of the church. But 50 days later there they
were, out in the streets finding new recruits for the Jesus movement.
Rather than huddling in the upper room for fear of the leaders they
became risk-takers, entrepreneurs, adventurers. What happened? Holy
Spirit. The Spirit of Messiah, the risen Messiah, got ahold of
their lives and their hearts and changed them.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
May 16, 2010
This morning we observe the Feast of the Ascension. In this feast we
remember the moment when Jesus, having reappeared after his death, does
not die again, but ascends to heaven where he sits at the right hand of
God eternally. This is of course a metaphor, a way of putting into words
a truth that is ineffable. We noticed during the Easter season that the
disciples had been in mourning after the crucifixion, because of the
tragic loss of Jesus. And we noticed that in the time after the
resurrection, the disciples had regained their hope and their lives had
been transformed in ways even beyond the way they had been transformed
when they first left their nets at the edge of the shore and began to
follow Jesus because of his teachings and miracles. They realized that
they could go on. more
The Rev.
Dr. Robert C. Morris, May 9,
2010
Lydia, the woman we
discover “down by the riverside” has an open heart — open to welcome the
good news Paul tells the Jews gathered in this place of outdoor prayer.
She’s a “god-worshipper,” that is a non-Jew, a gentile drawn to Judaism,
a woman who has already opened her heart and mind to the Torah and
Prophets. Like many non-Jews, she finds the God of Israel a more
ethical, compassionate deity, and the Jewish way of life full of calls
to righteousness and justice.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, May 2, 2010
Our gospel this morning is arguably the most important passage in the
New Testament in terms of what it means to live as a Christian. “I give
you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved
you, you also should love one another.” This is the closest thing we
have in the Gospel John to the Summary of the Law or the Two Greatest
Commandments: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself as Matthew,
Mark, and Luke all agree Jesus urged. But in John it is only the second
half: love one another. Now, there is a lot about love in John; in fact
the Gospel of John includes more references to “love” than all the other
three gospels combined. Jesus is always talking about the love shared
between him and God. And Jesus is always talking about the disciples
loving one another. And in John God is love. But curious there is
no greatest command in John to the disciples to “love God!”
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
April 25, 2010
At the Chapel of the Good Shepherd of the General Theological Seminary
in New York, the focal point of the worship space is a statue of Christ
holding a lamb in the central niche behind the altar. Many of the
representations of Christ the Good Shepherd show him with a lamb over
his shoulders as our bulletin cover this morning depicts. But the statue
of the Good Shepherd at the seminary has Jesus cradling the lamb in his
arms. The lamb is looking up into the face of Jesus who has the look of
care and devotion. When I was at the seminary a couple of years ago
finishing my training for ordination, I often went into the chapel
during the day between classes. It is a place where sitting quietly in
prayer before the Good Shepherd one can encounter the compassionate face
of Christ. more
The Rev.
Dr. Jane A. Tomaine, April 11,
2010
n 1952 a man named Brother Roger founded an
ecumenical community of Taize in France. Today the community is made up
of 90 brothers, Protestant and Catholic, as well as an associated group
of nuns who serve the women who come to Taize. Some of you may remember
that Brother Roger was killed during a worship service a number of years
ago. A sad and tragic loss of a truly holy man.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Easter Day,
April 4, 2010
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from
the tomb.” Mary has come, the other gospels tell us, in order to anoint
the body of Jesus, a common Jewish burial custom of the day, which the
followers of Jesus hadn’t had opportunity for on Friday. Mary has been
worried how she would move the stone from in front of the tomb, but
instead, when she sees that it has already been moved, her heart skips a
beat—but not in joy or hope. In fear: What has happened? Have the Romans
come to abscond with the body of Jesus and perpetrate further disgrace?
more
The Rev.
Dr. Jane A. Tomaine, Good Friday,
April 2, 2010
The Story of Naomi
I had followed him for nearly three years,
leaving father and mother, brother and sister when he had come to our
village in the Galilean hills. I had cooked with Sarah and the other
women and did what I could to help him. Often we would talk with the
women of the villages that we journeyed through. With a child on their
hip and another hiding warily behind them, these women would listen
intently to us as we spoke of the kindness of the Master, his respect
for women and the words of God that he shared.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
March 21, 2010
As we’re beginning the fifth week of Lent, one more week before Palm
Sunday, I’m wondering, are you feeling worn down by Lent? Tired?
Overwhelmed yet? Anxious? Do you find yourself wringing your hands,
thinking, enough of this already? Do you find yourself wishing you
hadn’t made that decision to read yet another book as your Lenten
discipline? “I really don’t have time for this!” Maybe the last few days
of sunshine have lightened your mood. Or maybe they haven’t. But we’ve
all felt this way at some point—ready for the end of the wilderness. But
we’re still not at the end of our journey and we can only choose to
stick with it. more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, January 31,
2010
The Bible is full of reluctant leaders. From
the most ancient Jewish patriarch to Jesus himself, figures in scripture
are often unenthusiastic about what needs to be done. It begins with
Moses. Not even the voice of God speaking out of a burning bush (that
doesn’t burn up) is enough to initially persuade Moses to confront the
Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out from under his oppression. Moses
responds “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh...?” and follows up with
a bevy of questions and excuses for God: “What if they do not believe me
or listen to me?” “O God, I have never been eloquent, but speak rather
slowly.” And after God gives pretty decent answers to all of this, Moses
finally just says, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
January 17, 2010
Jennifer and I have occasionally been making
small five-gallon batches of homemade wine since the first years of our
marriage. Up until this year we had always used a kit which makes
everything quite easy. They provide just the right amount of concentrate
juice at the right sugar and acid level and just the right amount yeast
and other additives in small foil packets. It is really a no-fail
enterprise, kind of like making a Duncan Hines cake out of a box. After
doing this several years, we got a bit bolder and this year we excitedly
decided to try starting with fresh grapes, which meant a more
complicated process. Without going into all the embarrassing details,
let’s just say that it would truly be an inhospitable act to serve this
wine a party. We have unwittingly become the Vintner Anti-Christs: Jesus
turned water into wine, but we have turned wine into water.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, January 10,
2010
In all three scriptures this morning God has
an audible voice. The Psalm says “The voice of the Lord is … powerful.”
“The voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.” “The voice of the Lord
splits the flames of fire.” “The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees
writhe….” While scripture also attests to the diversity of God who
sometimes speaks in a “still small voice,” our God this morning has a
great booming James Earl Jones sort of voice. According to the Psalm,
this voice of God echoes over the waters: This may refer to God’s voice
over the primal waters of creation, saying let there be light. Or it may
be God’s voice following the flood in the time of Noah, saying never
again. But on this, “The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord” we hear God’s
booming voice over the waters of Jesus’ baptism, saying “You are my Son,
the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Christmas Day,
December 25, 2009
We’ve all heard that the culture doesn’t
know the true meaning of Christmas. It’s all shopping and red bows and
gifts—busy consumerism. And yet it is supposed to be about peace and joy
at the birth of the Christ child. But you are here today. You have taken
time away from the comfort of your fireplaces and Christmas brunches.
So, you know something of the meaning of Christmas. You know the story.
A baby, who is said to be the Savior of the world, is born to the Virgin
Mary in a manger, because on their travels to Joseph’s hometown, there
is no room available at the inn. And our images of this scene—perhaps a
crèche in your own home—always make everything appear so serene. But the
truth is, this time was filled with quite a bit of stress. Is Christmas
really a time of joy of peace?
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik, Christmas Eve
December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas,
everyone, and a warm welcome to Calvary Episcopal Church. We gather
tonight to celebrate the annual festival of the birth of Jesus Christ.
It is always a special honor to worship together on this most holy
night, to sing the carols in harmony, to pray in unison for the
continuing hope of peace and good will on Earth, and to hear once again
the story of Christmas. And to share communion as well. I want to make
sure you know you are invited to join in Holy Communion at the altar
when that time comes in the service. This is God’s holy table, not our
own, and we believe God wants us to offer fellowship at the table, just
as God offered to everyone the special gift of his Son on that night in
Bethlehem. more
The Rev.
Dr. Jane A. Tomaine,
December 20, 2009
II’ve
never had a child. This part of being a woman I have missed. I don’t
know what it’s like to suddenly discover within you that new life is
miraculously forming. To notice the changes within the body. To feel
that first little kick from inside when the yet-to-be-born child calls
out, “I’m here. I’m growing.” Mothers, what was that like for you when
you first found out that you were to have a child? What did you feel?
Who did you share this miracle with first? What was that like? When
something important happens in our lives most of us want to share it,
right?
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
December 13, 2009
Transition is what defines human life. We
humans are always in the process of becoming. If we’re not in the middle
of a transition, there’s a good chance we’ve just been through one, or
are about to have one around the corner. We might be starting a new job
or moving into a new home, going to a new school or looking forward to
graduation, dealing with an illness or facing death—our own or the death
of a loved one. Transitions may be full of joy and celebration or
sadness and fear. Very often we’re ambivalent and our emotions are
complex. more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik, Annual Report
December 6, 2009
This is my annual
Rector’s Report to the Congregation. Let’s get right into it. What I
have to tell you today concerns not so much the internal workings of the
parish, which are largely healthy and good, but more the external
influences — the trends or even threats — that increasingly affect our
parish seemingly without our control. There are two of them. Let’s call
them influences rather than threats — two externalities that I’d like to
point out today. more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, November 29,
2009
What a strange way to begin the Christian
Year.... What a strange way to look forward to Christmas…. If anyone
came to church this morning expecting happy images of excitement looking
forward to the birth of the baby Jesus, they may be a little
disappointed by these texts of the First Sunday of Advent. Those who
have already begun their Christmas shopping, fuelled by turkey and
cranberry sauce, may be confused or disappointed that there is no Santa
here. There are no shepherds gathering. There are no jingle bells and
holiday parties. Instead, we are confronted with weird apocalyptic and
eschatological images—or in more everyday words—images of the End Times
and the Second Coming of Christ.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
November 22, 2009
We all know what “not
yet” means. Not yet is what we tell a child who wants to know if she can
have a cookie while they’re still on the cooling rack right out of the
oven, or the boy who wants to know if the family has arrived at the
destination of their car trip. Not yet. Not yet is the season
coming up in the Christian calendar, Advent, as we anticipate and wonder
at the arrival of Christmas. Advent — Four weeks long. Christmas— Not
yet. Not yet is a big theme every evening at our house as we approach
the time when the dogs are fed. As far as I can tell, Labrador
retrievers are always hungry. A late member of the parish, Jean Hoppin,
once described Labs to me as “a stomach with four legs.” About an hour
before feeding time my dog, Nallie, the older one, sits and stares at me
with longing in her big brown eyes, as if to say: Have you forgotten
me? Can’t you see that I’m hungry? I point to my watch and tell her, Not
yet. more
The Rev.
Dr. Jane A. Tomaine, November
8, 2009
In the women’s court of the Temple there
were 13 large conical shaped metal containers, like inverted megaphones.
The large sums of the rich would create a roar as they were poured into
the containers. Heads must have turned to see who was giving all that
money to the temple. Putting in a couple copper coins that were the
smallest denomination in circulation would scarcely be heard. This
gospel lesson is popular for stewardship season. “Look at the generosity
of this poor widow,” the preacher exhorts. “She gave all she had and
risked her own existence;” i.e., give until it hurts, give until it’s
risky. Now this may be true, that we need to have faith and give
generously, but is this the message that what Jesus wants us to hear?
Could there be another message?
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
November 1, 2009
America has been called a nation of death
deniers. There may be some truth to that. Death and dying were once much
more present within our everyday lives. Over the past hundred years or
more there have been major improvements in science, medicine, and
technology, so that mortality rates (especially among infants and
children) have greatly decreased. But with these improvements, we have
also increasingly placed the care of the dead into the hands of
professionals. Family members once kept the dying person in their own
homes to the end, instead of hospitals or care facilities. When the
person had died, the family themselves laid the bodies of their dead out
in the parlors of their own homes, cleaned the bodies, and readied them
for burial. Sometimes they did the actual digging and filling in of the
graves. Today the dying and dead are cared for by hospice workers,
doctors, clergy, and funeral directors; families have less of a role.
Perhaps for this reason it has become more difficult for us to deal with
death in our culture, because we have been forced to relinquish the care
of the dead from the family circle.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
October 11, 2009
I wish we could sit down
and have a discussion on stewardship at this time of year. I wish we
could talk about it, face to face, asking questions, sharing our
experience of stewardship, supporting each other. Because stewardship is
about our faith, responding to what we believe with action, expressing
our relationship to and with God. Briefly put, stewardship is about our
priorities. The place where I’d begin is with the night sky. Nothing
impresses me more than an encounter with the cosmos on a cold, clear
night away from the city. I can recall the first night I camped above
timberline and looked out of the tent after a few hours sleep. The depth
and clarity of the stars literally took my breath away. It was later on
that trip that I sensed I was being called by God to ordained ministry.
To this moment I believe nothing inspires my sense of God’s awesome
creative power than reacquainting myself with the wilderness sky on a
dark clear night. more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, October 4,
2009
Much of the Bible operates on the assumption
that if you follow God and are faithful to God and live an upright life,
you will be blessed. You will have lots of land, great flocks of sheep,
lots of kids … lots of blessings all around. This is God’s promise to
Abraham. It gets reiterated in Deuteronomy and then throughout the
prophets. And there are hints of it in Paul’s writings. And I know
you’ve heard this kind of Christianity, the health and wealth gospel
perhaps being the most egregious version…. But then you have a book like
Job—a “one-of-these-things-is-not- like-the-others” kind of book—that
fractures feel-good faith, that shatters such a worldview. The book of
Job maintains that you can be a really good person doing all the right
things and you can still have a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad
day” as one of my daughter’s picture books puts it. Life is not always
roses and Job tells it.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik, September
27, 2009
It is now fall, the
first week of autumn. And while fall can be a colorful and beautiful
season, it is also the season God created to remind us of the cycle of
life and of our mortality. Back in the days before powered leaf-blowers
and paid landscapers, many of us spent fall afternoons wielding a good
old-fashioned rake. Bob Morris tells a story on himself from 20 or 25
years ago when he was raking leaves in his yard. He was feeling some of
the gloominess of the season, and certainly felt he had better things to
do with his time than rake leaves. This was in the early days of
Interweave, when the project was not quite off the ground and there was
plenty of uncertainty about its future. He says he was feeling “bereft,”
sort of lonely without the community he had known in parish ministry
while he was assistant rector of Calvary Church. And he would much
rather have been out saving the world than raking leaves.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, September 20,
2009
One Thanksgiving when I was around eight
years old, my extended family came together for Thanksgiving. And I was
really wanting to help out in the kitchen. You see, I was the kind of
kid who, instead of watching cartoons on Saturday mornings, would watch
Justin Wilson whip up a Cajun feast or the Frugal Gourmet on PBS. I
loved to cook as a kid. And this Thanksgiving I wanted to try my hand at
the giblet gravy. But the kitchen must have been a little too small and
the occasion much too serious to have a little one like me at everyone’s
feet, because I remember my unceremonious expulsion from the kitchen. I
was disappointed so much that I vividly remember the event today. It
wasn’t so much that I really wanted to cook, though, I think, than I
felt excluded from the grown up activity, just like later I would be
relegated to the notorious kids table, always a card table.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
September 13, 2009
If you thought some of
today’s readings sounded like a bit of old-fashioned advice, I’d say
you’re right. This morning’s reading from the Epistle of James (James
3:1-12) was one of my grandmother’s favorite Bible passages. She was a
pastor’s wife, a former missionary, who had made up her mind to control
what she said and never to gossip. “The tongue is a rudder,” she would
tell us, “a small thing that steers our lives.” And she lived by the
teaching that controlling what one said was the guiding principle of a
good life. My father once told me he never heard his mother speak ill of
anyone except to call them a Democrat. (She had made up her mind about
that, too.) But she was a kind, gentle person who, because of her
commitment to the advice of St. James, gave very much the impression of
being soft-spoken. more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, September 6,
2009
I first encountered a real live homeless
person seventeen years ago this summer, when as a high school sophomore
my church youth group went on a mission to New Orleans. The man was
sitting outside a McDonalds scruffy and shabby with a pack full of his
life belongings. My initial learned instinct was fear mixed with
curiosity and then guilt. “Keep a distance; don’t stare too long,” I
told myself. After all, what could I, a teenager, do to help this man? I
had grown up sheltered in the suburbs and never seen a homeless person,
and knew nothing of how to react. Give him a quarter? Ignore him. Look
at him and smile? more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
August 23, 2009
When the Interstate
Highway System was built, it left in place a perfectly good collection
of roads, mostly two-lane, that once had been primary routes but now are
off the beaten track. Many of them are designated U.S. highways. And
they still cross and connect the nation. Robert Frost might have called
them the roads less traveled. William Least Heat Moon gave them the name
“Blue Highways,” because they appear in blue on roadmaps, and he wrote a
fascinating book with that title on his travels across the country
driving those blue highways. It’s roads such as these that I like to
explore while on vacation. They have few trucks; they still traverse the
towns and villages of America; they have “road character,” unlike the
boring monotony of the interstates. more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
August 16, 2009
Dear President Obama,
First let me say how pleased I am that you and your family visited
Yellowstone National Park yesterday. Ken Burns has called our national
parks “America’s Best Idea.” By taking your wife and your girls to the
oldest national park — in fact, the world’s first national park —
you are in the great American tradition of family vacations amid the
natural beauty of our land. Too often these days families and children
have become isolated from nature. A journalist named Richard Louv wrote a
book whose title almost says it all: Last Child in the Woods: Saving
Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. You might say his point
could be a program called “No Child Left Inside,” For he examines the
negative consequences when kids don’t have the opportunity for play and
experience in the out-of-doors. more
Mary Davis, seminarian,
August 9, 2009
Good morning – First of all, I want to tell
you how great it is to be back, here at Calvary, my family’s home church
for almost twenty years now. I’ve been absent from the pews here, for
the past two years, because I was serving as a seminarian intern, at St.
George’s Episcopal Church in Maplewood. My two years in Maplewood were
incredible, but I’m thrilled now, to return to the pews here for the
upcoming year, as I finish up my final semester of seminary and as I
hopefully ease into ordination next June.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
August
2, 2009
One thing about going on
vacation: you lose touch with the cycle of current events. Especially if
you’re on a wandering camping trip of the West — as I was this summer —
you can go days without seeing a newspaper or a television. Pretty soon
the river of news has passed you downstream. And you return to news
stories that surprise and confuse you: 44 leaders arrested in New
Jersey?? Congress in a tizzy but still going on a break? Admittedly,
even in a democracy that we believe functions on ideals of public
service, politicians are generally regarded with our sarcasm, or
sometimes our contempt. But these stories about leaders — well, it goes
all the way back to King David and his conflict with the prophet Nathan,
I suppose. But I wonder if I missed something important while in the
news vacuum of vacation. more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
July 26, 2009
The story of David and Bathsheba is another
episode in the soap opera that is the Old Testament with its drama,
deception, passion, and plotting. This is one of those stories where
David does just plain wrong and nothing goes right. He abuses his power,
sleeps with another man’s wife, lies, and worse, conspires to murder,
and then acts like nothing happened, that is until he’s caught. Sounds
like the perfect plot for a soap opera to me. Of course, it’s easy to
condemn the shenanigans of the actors in the Old Testament soap opera.
But it’s always a good idea to try to read sympathetically—after all,
these are people’s lives we’re reading about, and not just a script for
a television show. So let’s consider David’s perspective, how it might
have felt to be David in this story.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, July 19, 2009
It is summertime. Kids are out of school. The
weather is beautiful. Picnics and cook outs. It’s vacation time or maybe
this year it’s a “stay-cation.” This is for many a time of increased
rest and relaxation. Though perhaps for others there is no break. Summer
school is in session. Work grinds on. There is no respite from the
pressure of business as usual. Sometimes we buy into the deception that
there is no time for rest. Being overworked is a problem in our society,
a society that bases worth on production and profit. It is a plague of
the well-educated professional, for lawyers, doctors, business people,
and even more so for those a paycheck away from disaster. And especially
when the weight of family life also comes to bear: the responsibility of
caring for children or aging parents. We know what sleep deprivation is.
We understand the benefits of caffeine.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
July 12, 2009
Sometimes doing the right thing results in
getting your head chopped off. In the case of John the Baptist, it was
speaking out against Herod. This is the same Herod who questioned Jesus
before his trial under Pontius Pilate. His father, Herod the Great, was
the one who supposedly attempted to have Jesus killed as a toddler by
murdering all the two-year-old boys in and around Bethlehem. Now John
spoke out against Herod’s divorce and remarriage to his own
sister-in-law. Herod’s new wife and step-daughter (also niece) respond
with a scheme to pay John back for his embarrassment of the family. The
result is John’s head on a platter.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
July 5, 2009
It seems to me that we humans love to obsess
about other humans, especially the powerful and famous, musicians,
actors, politicians, world leaders, and sports figures. As I watch the
news, and not just in the last week, I’ve noticed that coverage is
increasingly dealing with the lives of celebrities. We love to obsess
over every detail of these people’s lives, from their charity work to
what they eat and wear, from who they are sleeping with or who they’ve
broken it off with to what cars they drive and what they name their
pets, from the births of their babies to their own tragic deaths. And
while I think fixation with the rich and famous is an ancient
phenomenon, now in the year 2009 we have the tools to obsess even more
efficiently, not only TV and radio, but the internet, blogs, and
twitter. more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, June 21, 2009
In our story from the Hebrew Bible this
morning, Goliath and the Philistines have gathered for battle on one
side of the Valley of Elah, while King Saul and the Israelites have
assembled on the opposite side, a face-off between two peoples who had
been quarreling for several hundred years. During a stand-off of forty
days, Goliath, the mighty Philistine warrior, a giant of a man and
formidable opponent of the Israelites, had come out daily to taunt the
Israelites. Having geared up with body armor, javelin, and sword, he
would shout at the Israelite army, intimidating them with threats of
oppression, and tempting them to send out a suitable challenger.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
June 14, 2009
The parable of the
mustard seed (Mark 4:26-34) is one of the great stories for doing a
children’s sermon. In fact, the first children’s sermon I ever preached
was on this parable. It had a simple outline. Find a box of mustard seed
on the spice shelf in the kitchen. Show the seeds to the kids — how
small they are. Let each child pick one up, and roll it around in their
palm. Encourage an adventurous kid or two to try eating a seed. And talk
about how this little seed grows into a tall bush. The message is about
growth, and how a little bit of something can grow a long way.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Trinity Sunday,
June 7, 2009
This morning is both Trinity Sunday and our
Rite 13 Ceremony, and I’ve got something to say about both of these. The
Rite 13 ceremony is a relatively new liturgy that celebrates with our
youth at Calvary who have turned 13 years old in their transition from
childhood to womanhood and manhood. It is a ritual loosely based on the
Jewish Bar/Bat Mitzvah that marks the passage from one life stage to
another. It is different from confirmation, in that it marks the life
passage rather than one’s assent to Christian belief.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Day of Pentecost,
May 31, 2009
What is your image of a peak spiritual
experience? Perhaps the calm of meditation, the ecstasy described by
medieval mystics during prayer … those private, inward and almost
indescribable moments. But that’s not Pentecost: Pentecost was crowded,
public, noisy. More like the magic of a crowd at a Yankees game, where
team devotion rivals religious faith, the shocked audience of Susan
Boyle’s performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis on
Britain’s Got Talent, or election night when the crowd celebrated
the election of our first African American president. In the same way,
God’s Spirit stirs, not simply in the quiet times, but also within
communal worship gatherings, where we have glimpses of Pentecost.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
May 24, 2009
Watching the ball game
on TV the other night I saw a commercial for the latest new gadget, and
it caught my eye: It’s an electric hammer for use in tight places, in
spots where you can’t swing a regular hammer. I had three quick
reactions to this product, all within the thirty seconds of the
commercial. First, I wondered how it worked. I’m interested in matters
mechanical, and the ad didn’t show enough or explain enough of how this
thing operated. It looked like glue gun, or a child’s water pistol, not
a hammer. My curiosity means that — while it isn’t worth a special trip
to the store — the next time I’m at Sears, I’ll make a point of checking
it out. Secondly, though I am curious, I was a bit skeptical about such
a tool. After all, the hammer has been with us for thousands of years.
It must be among the first of many human inventions. How could anything
replace its elegance, the efficiency and simplicity of a steel head and
a wooden handle? more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
May
17, 2009
A couple of times in my
life I’ve had the chance to attend a professional golf tournament. One
of these chances was just last week, when I took a break from some
family business in Florida to go to the final round of The Players
Championship. Now don’t get me wrong: I am not a golfer. Even though I
had to pass a golf test to graduate from college, I do not know the
intricacies of the game, I cannot read the fine points of actual play.
But through the winter I often watch golf on TV from sunny locations
like Arizona or California on a cold February afternoon in New Jersey.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
May 10, 2009
I believe one of the greatest maladies of
our modern life is loneliness. While our technologies and gadgets may
have improved efficiency, and while our lives may have become more
comfortable, is it possible that our resulting lifestyles may make us
more and more lonely? One of my favorite magazines, The Utne Reader,
which is a kind of Reader’s Digest of alternative press articles,
and one that I highly recommend, recently included a series entitled
“The Lonely American.” The articles show how Americans have become
increasingly socially disconnected. More Americans are living alone than
ever before. The 2000 U.S. census indicates that one in four households
consist of only one person.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
April 26, 2009
“In our family there was
no clear line between religion and fly fishing.” So begins the famous
first paragraph of Professor Norman Maclean’s story, “A River Runs
Through It.” The paragraph continues, “We lived at the junction of great
trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian
minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others.
He told us about Christ’s disciples being fisherman, and we were left to
assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the
Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman, and that John, the favorite, was a
dry fly fisherman.” more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
April 19, 2009
The Second Sunday of Easter—today—according
to medieval English tradition, is called “Low Sunday,” which probably
refers to the contrast between all the pomp (all the flowers, music, and
special liturgy) of Easter day and our return to the usual way of
worshipping. Or does it refer to the low attendance after everyone has
had their fix of religion? Whatever it means, we must remember that
Easter is not one day, but an entire season—50 days, in fact. For all
intents and purposes, we are still celebrating Easter!
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik, EASTER DAY,
April 12, 2009
Today marks the 114th
time that the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ has been celebrated
within these stone walls. In fact the first services in this church
building were on Easter Day in 1896. Believe it or not, this church, the
third building for Calvary, was constructed over a period of just ten
months in 1895-96. Nowadays that’s only enough time to get two calls
back from your architect. Many things have changed since then.
Originally the Church had gas lamps for illumination — you can still see
traces of the gas light system here and there. This pipe on the side of
the pulpit, for example, once had a gas lamp attached. And those of you
sitting on the aisle side of the pew, look down beneath your elbow to
that nickel-silver plate on the armrest. The number there was the number
of your pew back when pews were rented out, and the family’s name and
number — along with the amount of their rent! — was posted publicly in
the back of the church. We don’t do it that way anymore.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Maundy Thursday,
April 9, 2009
Over the past few years, Jennifer and I have
become interested in what some are calling the slow-food movement. This
is in contrast, of course, to the bombardment and temptation of easily
accessible fast-food establishments. The Slow Food movement began in the
mid-1980s in protest to the opening of a McDonald’s in Rome. Its
proponents talk about it as a way of living and eating that seeks to
connect “the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the
environment.” So on top of the obvious health benefits of slow food, the
idea is to foster a greater connection to each other and to the planet.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Palm Sunday,
April 5, 2009
Life is full of contradictions and tensions,
joys and sorrows. The last week of Jesus’ life, which we begin to
commemorate this morning, started on a joyful and jubilant note, but
ended with a sad and somber scene. You can see this tension in the
readings for this morning’s liturgy. The reading from Mark just before
the procession with palms from outside into the church told about Jesus’
triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The readings from Isaiah, the Psalms,
and Philippians are graver, reflecting Christ’s suffering. And just wait
for the passion reading after communion.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
March 22, 2009
Did you know that there are 30,000 Burmese
Pythons wreaking havoc right now in southern Florida? It sounds like
something on the cover of a supermarket tabloid or the plot of a 1960s
B-movie. When I learned that the Old Testament lesson for this Sunday
was a “snake attack” story, I knew this had to be my opening
illustration. Here are a few chilling details: These Burmese pythons,
which can grow to be 250 pounds and 20 feet in length, have established
a breeding population in the Everglades National Park. They are capable
of swallowing deer and alligators whole. And as scary as that sounds,
the real threat of the pythons is their taste for endangered species.
Originating from India, they have no natural predators in Florida to
keep their population down. more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
March 15, 2009
Some years ago, back in
1837, the Morris & Essex Railroad struggled to build its way out of
Newark westward towards Morristown. After completing the track through
the villages of Orange, it turned left to confront the Short Hills of
the Watchung Mountains. Not only did the surveyors have to plan a way to
traverse the hills, railroads were such a new conveyance at the time
that no one was even sure a train could climb a mountain — all that had
been built by then had been constructed on flat terrain. (Even to this
day, on a rainy day in fall, wet leaves on the tracks can make a New
Jersey Transit train slip and lose traction climbing the Short Hills.)
But the idea did work, and in summer of that year the Morris & Essex
crested the mountain. The builders, proud of their achievement and more
than a little relieved at the success of their expensive experiment,
erected a water tower at the top of the grade for the thirsty
locomotives, along with a sign that read, “The
Summit.”
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
March 8, 2009
When God seeks to create a relationship with
Abram and Sarai, our spiritual ancestors, which in effect founds our
Judeo-Christian heritage, God creates the covenant by an interesting
gesture. God changes their names. Today too in our culture a change of
names signifies something important, whether through marriage or
divorce, or whatever reason.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates, Ash Wednesday,
February 25, 2009
Picture in your mind a dark, damp cathedral
in 16th century France. The smell of incense lingers from
Mass earlier in the day. A pilgrim wanders into the church and lights a
candle in prayer for a deceased child. A peasant woman kisses the feet
of the Madonna and thumbs her prayer beads. A merchant man, sweating
under the weight of a great and secret sin, drops a substantial amount
of money into a box and waits as the priest writes out the man’s
certificate of indulgence, which guarantees to reduce or perhaps even
completely forgive his time in Purgatory, the spiritual realm where sins
are purified through suffering…. While hundreds of miles away in
Germany, a Roman Catholic monk, priest, and professor of theology named
Martin Luther is nailing a list of Ninety-Five Theses for why he opposes
indulgences to the door of the Wittenberg Castle. Thus the Protestant
Reformation begins.
more
The Rev.
Dr. Jane A. Tomaine, February
22, 2009
“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen
to him.” (Mk 9:8.)
This season of Epiphany so ends as it began – with a
confirmation and affirmation of who Jesus is. The experience must have
imprinted on the minds of Peter, James and John that they weren’t
following just anybody. They were following the Son of God, Emmanuel –
God With Us. And this assurance of Jesus’ identity has been passed down
to you and me. We follow one with infinite authority, wisdom and grace.
We are to listen to him. We can trust in him and he can speak deeply to
us.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik, February
15, 2009
I want to say two things
this morning, and they are not really connected. First a word about
Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, born on the same day in 1809, whose
200th birthdays have been celebrated this week -- Darwin,
originator of the theory of natural selection, noted for his influence
on scientific thought, and Lincoln, known for his profound vision of the
American union. Let me list some of by the similarities and the
differences between these two men, perhaps the most notable figures of
the early modern era, adding an occasional comment.
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
February 8, 2009
Here’s what we know from
the gospel readings we’ve recently had in church. Jesus was born in
Bethlehem. On the eighth day his parents presented him for circumcision,
as was the custom of his people. When he was about 12, he lost himself
in the Temple in Jerusalem, so busy was he talking and listening to the
teachers. He was baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin John. Born,
grown up, baptized — but was he ever married?
more
The Rev.
Robert Corin Morris,
January 25, 2009
Most Americans have two
faiths, one secular and the other religious. The secular faith is what
we sometimes call “Americanism:” Freedom, progress, democracy, the
chance to prove your worth regardless of class or clan or creed. As Rick
Warren put it, “…we are Americans, united not by race or religion or
blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.” And a
faith it surely is. The United States is the first creedal nation in
history — it is built primarily on human faith in human possibility:
"all are created equal." This fundamental American truth, to be
effective, must be accepted on faith, for reason alone does not
establish it...
more
The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
January 18, 2009
We are in church today
on what, from all accounts, may be an historic weekend in American
history. Not only are we about to inaugurate our first African-American
President. This is the holiday commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.,
the great prophet of the 20th century. Dr. King would have been 80 years
old on his birthday last Thursday. Had he lived, he would have seen some
part of his famous dream materialize this week in the presidency of
Barack Obama. Not only have those dates in the calendar converged like
stars heralding some importance, these events come at a time of historic
insecurity and concern. For economic trends and financial forces have
also converged in frightening ways on this historic weekend.
more
The Rev.
Dr. J. Brent Bates,
January 11, 2009
This morning we observe the holy feast day
of “The Baptism of Our Lord.” As I contemplate the meaning of Jesus’
baptism by John, I can’t help but think about last Sunday and the
baptisms of Will and Caroline Babbitt. I’ve seen a lot of baptisms in my
life: babies like Will and Caroline, adults choosing to claim the new
life God promises us, full immersions in rivers and fountains and
sprinklings in baptismal fonts. But last Sunday was the first baptism I
performed as a priest; and that new perspective awoke a new joy and
wonder in the ritual of baptism for me.
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The Rev.
Christopher Brdlik,
January 4, 2009
Habits are made up of
virtues and vices. There isn’t a soul alive with an operating conscience
who doesn’t know the difference. And there isn’t a soul alive who
doesn’t know about itself which virtues need encouragement and which
vices need change. At the start of this new year, 2009, pause for a
moment, and consider, what to encourage and what to change in your life.
In this new year, resolve to take time for things that make your life
fuller and richer, for that is God’s desire for the people of God.
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