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Why I keep thinking of Edgar Allen Poe’s works these days, I’ve no idea, but here’s a bit from the opening stanza of The Raven:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

A little later, “Nevermore.”

I was reminded of that when I thought on all the noise and distractions, all the rapping rapping and tapping tapping of the world. All those noises and distractions, from cell phones to the internet to co-workers interrupting can have such an impact on productivity that companies have begun to study it. These studies indicate that it takes four minutes to get back on task following an interruption, so if your cellphone chimes ten times a day for personal business and you are on the call or responding to a text for two minutes, then between the call or text and the recovery time, you’ve lost an hour of work. All the time lost in a year cost businesses about $800 billion in lost salaries. That may not bother you much if you are the one getting the paycheck, but all the noise harms us in other ways. Continue reading “Sermon: Advent 2 RCL A – “Noise!””

“I now observed — with what horror it is needless to say — that its nether extremity was formed of a crescent of glittering steel, about a foot in length from horn to horn; the horns upward, and the under edge evidently as keen as that of a razor. Like a razor also, it seemed massy and heavy, tapering from the edge into a solid and broad structure above. It was appended to a weighty rod of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.” The unnamed narrator used those words to describe the pendulum in Edgar Allen Poe’s, The Pit and the Pendulum. On the whole, a very good Halloween story, but I’ll not scare you with the entire tale today. There is, however, a pendulum story that I will. Continue reading “Sermon: All Saints’ Sunday”

One day Pierre went to Boudreaux’s house and Boudreaux was working on a jigsaw puzzle.

A year later, Pierre again visits Boudreaux and Boudreaux is still working on the puzzle.

Another year after that, Pierre went to Boudreaux’s to go fishing with him.
Boudreaux comes out of the house and says “Mais Pierre, I’m so proud of myself, I finally finished dat puzzle and it only took me two years!”

Pierre says “Mais, Boudreaux, I don’t tink dat it should take you dat long!” Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 21 RCL C – “Decision Time””

A brother whom another brother had wronged came to see Abba Sisoes and said to him, “My brother has hurt me and I want to avenge myself.” The old man pleaded with him saying, “No, my child, leave vengeance to God.” The brother said to him, “I shall not rest until I have avenged myself.” The old man said, “Brother, let us pray.” Then the old man stood up and said, “God, we no longer need you to care for us, since we exact justice for ourselves.”

Today in our Gospel we read the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, which Jesus tells in response to the Pharisee’s criticism: “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The parable of the coin less so, but the parable of the lost sheep is probably one of the most familiar and iconic. All those pictures of Jesus walking along with a young white lamb on his shoulders. Simply put, in both parables, we understand that the lost sheep or coin represent the sinners, and it is Jesus who comes to find them. Luke 19:10 – “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” When they are found, when they come to faith, there is a great celebration, for in being found, they are forgiven. They have been restored to God. God forgives out of his great love and mercy, but we… sometimes we can be very stingy in giving that forgiveness and sometimes we say with the young monk, “I shall not rest until I have avenged myself.” Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 19 RCL C – “Lost Sheep””

Little Johnny was out in his backyard. He had his baseball cap, his baseball knickers, and his socks pulled up to his kneecaps. He had his plastic bat and plastic ball. His mother overheard him as he announced, “I am the greatest hitter in the world.”

He threw the ball up in the air, swung the bat, and missed the ball completely. He said aloud, “Strike one.”

He picked the ball up and said a little louder, “I am the greatest hitter in the world.”

He threw the ball up again, swung, and again, missed the ball. He said, “Strike two.”

He stopped to examine his bat. Satisfied there was no hole in it , he retrieved the ball and said with determination, “I am the greatest hitter in the world.”

He threw the ball up a little higher than before, got set, and then swung the bat with all his might. He missed. “Strike three,” he said, and then added, Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 18 RCL C – “The Greats””