Sermons

I work as a volunteer chaplain at the Hebrew Home nursing home in Rockville.  My biggest task there is leading a weekly Bible Study Class for Christians, which I’ve been doing for 3 ½ years now.  (Yes, I teach a Christian Bible Study class at a Jewish nursing home!)  I need to mention that I am NOT a Bible scholar, and I wasn’t even a regular Bible reader when this class started – I only started it because I was required to lead a group activity as part of my training, and I didn’t have a better idea.

Each week, with the help of one other able-bodied person, I bring 12-18 Christians in wheelchairs together for an hour to study a short passage from one of the Gospels. We spent 2 1/2 years going through the Gospel of Matthew; now we are in the Gospel of John, usually covering 10-15 verses each week that I print out in large print that most (but not all) are able to read.

I love Pentecost, though I’m not the type to speak in tongues and I hope it never happens to me.  I imagine other Seekers would be tolerant but somewhat baffled if I did.  Still, the idea of the Holy Spirit coming down in tongues of flame is exciting to me.  The image of a bunch of Jesus’ followers speaking in many different languages but all understanding each other is inspiring.  It’s how I would like the world to be, not just for Christians but for everyone.

Please pray with me for a moment.

Holy One, let the words of my mouth and the ideas they express make sense in the minds and hearts of my hearers. Beyond this, dear loving God, may these words strengthen our connection with you and with each other and support us as we seek to love and serve your broken world.  Amen.

As I suggested in my prayer, my sermon this morning is about connection, connection with God, with one another, and with our hurting world. It is about one specific form of connection, the one known as presence. Peter mentioned it this morning in his offering in our gathering circle about the mocking bird behind his porch. Our first hymn this morning reminded us that “we need your living presence, O Christ of Galilee, a presence that revives us and sets our spirits free.”

Good morning community. Please hear my prayer –

Let the words of my mouth
And the meditation of my heart
Find favor in your Heart
O my Beloved, my strength and
My joy!
Amen, and amen.

I take these words from Nan Merrill’s version of Psalm 19 in her Psalms for Praying, from which I also draw inspiration for the opening of this sermon. Ms. Merrill offers the first stanza of Psalm 67 not as prayer, but as a strong reminder of the Holy One’s power in our lives, and couples that with an injunction, to my mind anyway, that as believers we are charged with responsibility for the spreading of love throughout creation.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

– John 13:31-35

“Love one another.” This commandment sounds terribly simple, unspectacular, and banal. And yet, Jesus gives this commandment to his disciples. Moreover, he gives them this commandment after washing their feet and teaching them to do the same. He gives them this commandment on their last night together before his death. “I am going away and soon you will be on your own”, he tells them, “but in my absence please, above everything else, ‘love one another’.” But, why? Why is this important? What makes this commandment is remarkable?