There is no them

Preached at St. Paul's SLC on Sunday July 6th at both services. The kingdom of God has come near to us. It has been over 10 years for our journey together as Rector and congregation of St. Paul’s Salt Lake City.   After much faithful discernment and prayer, I believe it is time for us to move to our next chapters of faithful ministry.   It is very important to me that Sienna be in the same place for middle and high school, which means my being Priest in the same community for at least the next 8 years.   If I answer honestly, I believe this would be too long for us to grow into what we are called next to be, and I want what is right for all of us.   With that in my heart and mind, I have accepted a call to be the next Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Marble Falls TX, and to share in their mission to be a major Christian Presence in the Hill Country of Texas, proclaiming the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. This will be a return to the Diocese of my seminary edu...

I begin this morning with a definition clarification: In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a bishop is a man ordained and set apart to lead a local congregation, known as a ward. He is the presiding high priest of the ward, responsible for both spiritual and temporal needs of the members. Bishops serve without pay, are usually married, and typically serve for five years.  ( Google AI Overview ) Bishops are different in The Episcopal Church They are part of the professional clergy of The Episcopal Church with seminary education required, experience first as a Priest, and are inclusive in gender, sexuality, race and marital status.   Bishops represent Christ and his church, and they are called to provide Christian vision and leadership for their dioceses. The Book of Common Prayer (p. 855) notes that the bishop is “to act in Christ's name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the church; and to ordain others to continue Chr...

Pentecost is often referred to as the birth of the church: the start of the full understanding of Christian truth.   Pentecost is also sometimes described as God’s reversal of the Tower of Babel: building on what was broken when the languages were scattered. The story of the Tower of Babel, from the 11th chapter of Genesis, answers a question that many an inquisitive child has likely asked a parent: Why are there so many different people and languages in the world? The story tells us that once upon a time, the whole earth had one language. A group of people migrated to a new land, and started building a city, and then decided that they would build a tower with its tops in the heavens. The motivation for this tower is “To make a name for ourselves, otherwise, we shall be scattered abroad upon the whole earth.” In other words, the tower was an attempt to consolidate sameness into a channeled power: power that was believed could rival God’s power, reaching the very heavens. God comes ...

The event of Paul’s life that is best known is, without a doubt, the Conversion story found in chapter 9 of the Book of Acts.   This story is so critical to the book of Acts that it will be repeated twice more:   with Paul telling it to a Roman office in Jerusalem in Chapter 22, and near the finale of Acts when Paul tells it to the Jewish King, Agrippa the Second, in Chapter 26.   In the “as it happened” form we just heard, Paul called Saul is blinded by a light from heaven on his way to Damascus, He hears a voice:   “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?   Saul asks, “Who are you, Lord?”   and the reply comes “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”   Note that Saul not only loses his sight, but chooses not to even eat or drink as he waits to be told what to do. Meanwhile, the disciple Ananias receives a vision from the Lord, with instruction to go restore Saul’s sight.   ...