Author: Fr. John

I am an Episcopal priest serving at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in downtown Enid, Oklahoma.
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Sermon: Proper 19 RCL A – “Seventy Times Seven”

The podcast can be found here.

True story: Andy Thomossan was fishing aboard the boat named Citation during the 52nd Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament on June 14, 2010 off the coast of North Carolina, when he hooked a whopper – an 883 pound marlin. He set the record and won the prize. The prize: one million dollars. Not bad for a day fishing.

After posing for pictures, the team began to celebrate their first place million dollar prize. Just one small problem: it was discovered that one of Thomossan’s partners, Peter Wann, didn’t have a valid fishing license.  That oversight was a direct violation of tournament rules, and after deliberating, officials disqualified the catch, and denied the entire team the winning purse.

Further adding to Wann’s shame, the fisheries division of North Carolina revealed that Wann purchased a license after the fish had been caught. He was hoping to keep his secret…secret.    Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 19 RCL A – “Seventy Times Seven””

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Sermon: Proper 18 RCL A – “Two or Three or More”

The podcast of this sermon can be found here.

A crowd of individuals can be a very fickle creature. It begins with each of us doing our own thing, but when we come together, we no longer pursue what makes us different, but what makes us alike. Given the right motivation, we will do what is necessary to be like everyone else and do what everyone else is doing. For example, take the wave at a football game, when 1,000s will go round and round the stadium, raising their hands and cheering.

Two physicist spent a summer studying this phenomenon. Perhaps it would be better to say, two bored physicists or two government funded physicists spent the summer studying the wave at sporting events. They reported, “The reason why we got interested in stadium waves was that people, apparently, very often behave like particles.” They say that in participating in the wave, we act like matter. Interesting points about a wave: in order for it to be sustainable, it must span from the top to the bottom of the stadium, it travels at about 20 seats per second, requires only 20 to 30 individuals to start a stadium of 50,000 moving, and typically the waves run clockwise. The primary factor though, in getting one started, is timing, when the mood is ripe. If it is an intense moment during the game, all you’re going to do in trying to start a wave is anger the people around you, but in times of celebration or even better, boredom, your chances of success increase considerably. So, like matter, given the right circumstances, a very small catalyst can start a very large reaction and get things moving. (source) Which, when applied to how individuals respond in a crowd, tells us that even if you’re sitting there trying to enjoy your supper with a beer in one hand, hotdog in the other, and some peanuts balanced on your knee, you’re still going to attempt to pop up when the wave comes to you, so that you can be like everyone else. Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 18 RCL A – “Two or Three or More””

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Sermon: Proper 17 RCL A – “Your Cross”

The podcast can be found here.  You can now follow on iTunes.

For those who enjoy social media, Facebook would seem to be the place to be; however, like all such outlets, you can be as anonymous as you want, often allowing unrestrained digital bile, but also a place where you can be the person you want to be whether you are or not. One wrote – probably Abraham Lincoln – “Welcome to Facebook, the place where relationships are perfect, liars believe the lies they tell, and the world shows off they are living a great life: where your enemies are the ones that visit your profile the most, your friends and family block you; and even though you write what you are really thinking, someone takes it the wrong way!”

Not only that, there’s often a bit too much self-disclosure, which is causing some folks their jobs, and in one case, $150,000. Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 17 RCL A – “Your Cross””

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Sermon: St. Augustine

The podcast for this sermon can be found here.

In the garden of Eden, the piece of fruit that Adam and Eve took that bite from is never identified as an apple.  Although never named, that apple has perhaps become the most infamous piece of fruit known to humankind.  Today, I would suggest to you that the second most infamous piece of fruit is a pear, because it was a pear that St. Augustine stole when he was sixteen years old.  Why did he steal a pear and what is his significance?

He wrote in his work Confessions, “Yet I was willing to steal, and steal I did [… the pear …] although I was not compelled by any lack, unless it were the lack of a sense of justice or a distaste for what was right and a greedy love of doing wrong. For of what I stole I already had plenty, and much better at that, and I had no wish to enjoy the things I coveted by stealing, but only to enjoy the theft itself and the sin.” Continue reading “Sermon: St. Augustine”

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Sermon: Proper 16 RCL A – “Mistaken Identity”

The podcast for this sermon can be found here.

An old cowboy named Bud was overseeing his livestock in a remote mountainous pasture in California when a fella in a fancy car comes skidding up. He gets out and is wearing this outlandish high fashion getup, a Rolex, with his hair slicked back, and a California tan – the works. When he opens his mouth, he’s clearly from “back east.”

Coming over to Bud he asked, “If I tell you exactly how many cows you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”

Bud sized up the fella another moment then agrees, “Sure, why not?”

The guy pulls out is iPad and iPhone, makes a call, and ask for a photo from a satellite above. Once received he runs it through some computer analysis and has it count the number of animals on the ranch. After a few minutes, he turns to Bud and says, “You have exactly 1,562 cows in your herd.”

“That’s right, pardner,” replied the old cowhand. “Well, I guess I owe you a calf. Pick one out.”

The fellas looks over the herd, picks one out and then proceeds to cram it in the backseat of his car.

Bud interrupts this process. “Listen. If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”

“Why not?”

“You’re a U.S. Congressman.”

The man is shocked. “Yeah, how’d you guess that?” Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 16 RCL A – “Mistaken Identity””

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Sermon: Proper 15 RCL A – “Dog?”

You can find the podcast for todays sermon here –

A man goes to see his Rabbi. “Rabbi, something terrible is happening and I have to talk to you about it.” “What’s wrong?” “My wife is poisoning me.” “How can that be?” “I’m telling you, I’m certain she’s poisoning me. What should I do?” “Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I’ll see what I can find out, and I’ll let you know.” “A week later the Rabbi calls the man.” “Well, I spoke to your wife. I spoke to her on the phone for three hours. You want my advice?” “Yes, Rabbi.” “Take the poison.”

The dog on the front of your bulletin – head cocked to one side, trying to hear, trying to understand – can represent us all at times. Something happens, someone says something so out of character, so out of place, that we tilt our heads and can only respond by saying, “Huh?” “Take the poison” is one such remark, but not the only one we’ve heard today: Jesus said, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Huh? Did Jesus just call this lady a dog? Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 15 RCL A – “Dog?””

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Sermon: Saint Mary the Virgin

Listen to the podcast of this sermon at Podomatic : 

C.S. Lewis summed up a very Anglican perspective of the Virgin Mary in the preface to Mere Christianity (it’s a bit wordy and a bit heady): “There is no controversy between Christians which needs to be so delicately touched as this [that is, the question of Blessed Virgin Mary]. The Roman Catholic beliefs on that subject are held not only with the ordinary fervour that attaches to all sincere religious belief, but (very naturally) with the peculiar and, as it were, chivalrous sensibility that a man feels when the honour of his mother or his beloved is at stake. It is very difficult so to dissent from them that you will not appear to them a cad as well as a heretic. And contrariwise, the opposed Protestant beliefs on this subject call forth feelings which go down to the very roots of all Monotheism whatever. To radical Protestants Continue reading “Sermon: Saint Mary the Virgin”

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Sermon: Proper 14 RCL A – “On Dry Land”

In December 1971, Time magazine reported on the volunteer fire department in Genoa, Texas, just outside of Houston. We’d need to ask Michael Baker if its true, but as the article stated, we often think of firemen spending the times between fires polishing brass, playing checkers, and showing kids the firetrucks. Not so for the Genoa VFD. The article states, “In the past three years, eight bored Genoa firemen have set about 40 fires in abandoned buildings and grass fields. As soon as the blazes were going, the arsonists would dash back to the firehouse and rush off to put out their own fires.

The Genoa firemen were quite busy until they made the mistake of setting fire to a barn owned by the brother of a Houston fire department official. An investigation of the blaze led to the Genoa firehouse, and the overeager fire fighters were exposed. Explained one of the firemen charged with arson: ‘We’d hang around the station on the night shift without a thing to do. We just wanted to get the red light flashing and the bells clanging.’” Continue reading “Sermon: Proper 14 RCL A – “On Dry Land””

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Sermon: Dominic

About the image: Meeting of St. Francis of Assisi with St. Dominic, Josep Benlliure y Gil.

A man curious about Catholicism approached a Dominican monk.

He asked the Dominican about various subjects and eventually the conversation turned to religious orders. “So you are a Dominican?”

“Yes.”

“What can you tell me about the Dominicans?”

“Well, in short, we were founded by St. Dominic in the 13th century, in part to counter the Albigensian heresy.”

“I see. What about the Jesuits I keep hearing about?”

“They were founded by St. Ignatius of Loyala in the 16th century, in part to counter the Protestant Reformation.”

“Hmmm … so which is the greater order?”

The Dominican pondered this question for a moment and then replied: “Well, when was the last time you met an Albigensian?” Continue reading “Sermon: Dominic”

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