April 21, 2024
April 14. 2024
The Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, April 7th, was a children’s sermon and can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/live/-3Z0qTRMiHs?si=YcpDfgUOZCIJgb-u&t=1483
March 31, 2024
There was no sermon on March 24th, Palm/Passion Sunday. The reading of the Passion replaced the sermon.
March 17, 2024
March 10, 2024
March 3, 2024
February 25, 2024
February 18, 2024
February 11, 2024
February 4, 2024
January 28, 2024
January 21, 2024
January 14, 2024
January 7, 2024
December 31, 2023
December 24, 2023
December 24, 2023
December 17, 2023
December 10, 2023
December 3, 2023
November 26, 2023
November 19, 2023
November 12, 2023
November 5, 2023
The audio quality was unintelligible. The service is not as bad as the sermon for audio quality. See for yourself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxQoIVF--AQ&t=1641s
October 29, 2023
October 22, 2023
October 15, 2023
October 8, 2023
This sermon is a Children’s sermon with animal and plant blessings and is best if viewed-here-St. Francis on YouTube
October 1, 2023
September 24, 2023
September 17, 2023
September 10, 2023
September 3, 2023
There was a technical problem with the livestream on September 3, 2023. The sermon preached was excellent and can be found, to read, by tapping the green button below.
August 27, 2023
August 20, 2023
August 13, 2023
August 6, 2023
July 30, 2023
July 16, 2023
July 9, 2023
July 2, 2023
June 25, 2023
No sermon on Pentecost 3- June 18, 2023
June 11, 2023
June 4, 2023
May 28, 2023
May 21, 2023
May 14, 2023
May 7, 2023
April 30, 2023
April 23, 2023
April 16, 2023
April 9, 2023
April 8, 2023
April 7, 2023
GOOD FRIDAY
The Christian tragedy of Good Friday is not only the crucifixion of Jesus but also the inadequacy of our response to it. At this grave, we confront every violent human suffering and death the world has known, and we cannot help but see the safe distance we’ve kept from them. We feel the weight of all the vigils we did not keep. Today, Christians grieve the inhumanity capable of “Roman Crucifixion” as surely as we grieve the inhumanity capable of “Crusade,” “pogrom,” and “holocaust.” We are weighted with the insufficiency and impotence of our uncertain guilt to change or reverse what has come of this. And we are vaguely aware that something in us recoils from his body - tortured, dying, dead.
Some of us will see in Jesus’ crucifixion and death the way in which God means to carry, in God’s own body, the violence and trauma of all unjust, untimely endings. Though we may remember that such endings as these comprise the average human experience, or witness, of death, the tragic reality is that we who are living must sometimes learn to forget; this is the ever present, ever necessary, ever insufficient human capacity for denial. If we are discerning, we know that Peter’s denial is not only an act of betrayal, but an inner state we share, one in which we seek to preserve our own humanity by turning from the loss of someone else’s. Good Friday is the reminder of our inescapable shame for our inescapable fear that, unless we learn to forget the faces of the world’s condemned and slaughtered, we will forget how to live.
There is every good reason for even Christian reluctance to be fully present here. In bowing our heads at the foot of his cross, we bow inward to the echoes of our imagination, to the faintness of a voice that is hoarse with fear and panic. Should we open our eyes fully, we will see on this empty cross his body as it was, with its opened flesh, its leaking fluids, its failing organs, and the cold damp of its death.
We look upon this cross knowing what the earliest Christians did not know: that the Church to come would, to its own shame - and to the horror of the one who died here – wield it as a weapon of war and conquest. We remember today what the Church would come to forget: the "power" of the cross as one of the places that God, who so loved the world, emptied himself out for us.
Good Friday is a holy day for Christians, not because Jesus’ suffering and death mattered more to God than any other suffering or death, or because it should matter more to us; the cross becomes holy for us when we recognize it as a place where God keeps vigil over (and within) every condemned and slaughtered body
Today, we look for what we cannot yet see: how God’s redemption of the world is often strangely hidden from us, even in death on a cross.
April 2, 2023
March 26, 2023
March 19, 2023
Our live stream had audio problems (Lent 4). This post is the audio after it was fixed. We apologize for the inconvenience.
March 12, 2023
March 5, 2023
February 26, 2023
February 19, 2023
February 12, 2023
February 5, 2023
January 29, 2023
January 22, 2023
January 15, 2023
January 8, 2023
January 1, 2023
December 24, 2022
December 18, 2022
December 11, 2022
December 4, 2022
November 27, 2022
November 20, 2022
November 13, 2022
November 6, 2022
October 30,2022
October 23, 2022
October 16, 2022
October 9, 2022
October 2, 2022
September 25, 2022
September 18, 2022
September 11, 2022
September 4, 2022
The audio quality improves at 2:25
August 28, 2022
August 21, 2022
August 14, 2022
August 7, 2022
July 31, 2022
July 24, 2022
July 17, 2022
July 10, 2022
July 3, 2022
June 26, 2022
June 19, 2022
June 12, 2022
June 5, 2022
May 29, 2022
May 22, 2022
May 15, 2022
May 8, 2022
May 1, 2022
April 24, 2022
April 17, 2022
April 16, 2022
April 15, 2022
April 14, 2022
April 10, 2022
There is a prayerful pause at 12:16-13:14 when Jesus dies.
April 3, 2022
March 27, 2022
March 20, 2022
March 13, 2022
The echo on the audio spoken part of the service for the Second Sunday in Lent made it unbearable to listen to. We apologize for this and are doing all we can to fix the problem. The entire service can be found here: https://songforchristchurch.org/events-index for the brave, the music lover (the music audio was unaffected), or the brave music lover. Thank you for your kind understanding and, we hope, your prayers for guidance.
March 6, 2022
February 27, 2022
We apologize for the poor quality of the audio on this sermon. The text is below the audio file for reference. Tap the page and it will enlarge for easier reading.
February 20, 2022
February 13, 2022
February 6, 2022
January 30, 2022
January 23, 2022
January 16, 2022
January 9, 2022
January 2, 2022
December 26, 2021
December 24, 2021
December 19, 2021
December 12, 2021
December 5, 2021
November 28, 2021
November 21, 2021
November 14, 2021
November 7, 2021
October 31, 2021
October 24, 2021
October 17, 2021
October 10, 2021
October 3, 2021
September 26, 2021
September 19, 2021
September 12, 2021
September 5, 2021
August 29, 2021
August 22, 2021
August 15, 2021
August 8, 2021
August 1, 2021
July 25, 2021
July 18, 2021
July 11, 2021
July 4, 2021
June 27, 2021
June 20, 2021
June 13, 2021
June 6, 2021
May 30, 2021
May 23, 2021
May 16, 2021
May 9, 2021
May 2, 2021
April 25, 2021
April 18, 2021
April 11, 2021
April 4, 2021
March 28, 2021
March 21, 2021
March 14, 2021
The sermons for Sundays previous are found below
Themes:
We are lifted up to the kingdom of God by the grace of God through Christ.
We receive grace rather than achieving it. Grace is bestowed as a charism/charity by the favor of God.
Through the love of God, we are called to do great works not to attain salvation but because we have attained it.
Christ lifted up is not Christ on the cross but Christ risen as an exemplar.
“Why did it have to be snakes?” I asked myself after reading through the lectionary for Lent 4. In Numbers, we find ourselves plodding with half a million Israelites through wastelands of Sinai 3500 years ago on the Bible’s worst camping trip. (It’s hard to understand how it could have taken them 40 years to get off the peninsula until you remember how many of them there were.) Around this time of Lent, I can really relate to those infamous complainers. This is the terrible middle time. The doldrums of a dolorous season.
I have often been guilty of finding the old testament inscrutable. When I was younger, I couldn’t really understand the point of it. Our understanding of God has been molded by Jesus and His teachings. What was the point of returning to the era of God as a vindictive and mercurial father when he had asked us to call him Abba?
Going back to the OT fire and brimstone God — the God who sends snakes to kill people — felt like going back to the kind of misconceptions you get about someone when they make a bad first impression. Why would I ever take on those false assumptions about God when I know Him to be a God of mercy?
So why DID it have to be snakes? In the Gospel of John, Jesus has been approached by Nicodemus, an elder of Israel, who is looking for an explanation for baptism. To Nicodemus, the idea of being born again is as foreign as the idea of a camel passing through the eye of the needle might seem to us. It is very difficult to explain to someone a thing that you have experienced but they have not. Think of the ancient game of telephone that led from the Indian rhinoceros to the Ctesias’s descriptions that gave rise to the unicorn. (Indeed, any trip through the margins of an illuminated manuscript will transport you to a phantasmagoria of medieval imagination.) Jesus is constantly searching for metaphors that will explain the true relationship of God with humans. Some of them work better than others, and some of them require a bit of context to make sense to us now — think “salt of the earth”.
For Nicodemus, the metaphor back to the fiery serpents on Sinai made a connection that clicked with him. For us, the OT is the cultural context of who Jesus was as a man. To understand who he was ethnically, we need to understand Him as a Jew, and to do that, we need to have the context of who God was to the Jews.
People have been confused about God for a long time. Out of all the peoples of the world, the Jews were the ones chosen to know the true God. Everyone else wasn’t even in the same ballpark. Yet, even when God was revealing himself to people in physical manifestation during the time of Moses, Israelites needed a bronze snake talisman to remind them of God’s saving power. (Don’t judge them too harshly, though. They HAD grown up in ancient Egypt. Incidentally, you might see that same snake on a pole when you go to see your doctor or get your bill from your HMO. The Greeks called it the Caduceus — staff of Mercury — but it probably came from the same source. Snakes on poles were a thing in the ancient world.) Importantly, this snake was not mistaken for God at the time as the golden calf was. It would take about 500 years for that to happen. Hezekiah, the righteous 13th King of Judah had the statue broken up to bring them back to reality. The miracle of the snake reminds me of other saintly miracles involving people seeing images of Jesus or Mary and being healed. Images can be powerful things for people.
We are so connected to our own perception of the world. We experience the world through our senses, the beloved passions of the flesh that Paul warns us about in Ephesians. It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that searching for the creator of the universe in our experience of His creation is bound to give us a distorted perspective at best. Think of the Indian parable of the blind men and the elephant:
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. Another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear…
If we are constantly looking for God as a function of our daily experiences, we are liable to worship those experiences like the Judeans ended up worshiping the snake. We will become “children of wrath, like everyone else,” ruled by our emotions and a slave to our senses.
Often, we are brought to God through our fears. Fear of the future, fear of the unknown, fear of the harsh world around us, fear of our own loneliness, for we are born and die alone. And there is a sense in which fear of God is warranted, but it is fear in the sense of awe. Fear in the sense of wonderment. Fear in of the numinous infinite presence of God. A God who so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever”, proclaims the psalm.
It continues:
13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, *
and he delivered them from their distress.
14 He led them out of darkness and deep gloom *
and broke their bonds asunder.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy *
and the wonders he does for his children. — Psalm 107
Or, as Jesus reminds us in Luke:
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” — Luke 11:11-13
We are called to have faith in God despite the fiery serpents that may attack us in life. The life of Christ is an ultimate example. Christ, the anointed king of Israel. Raised up for death on a tree.
Jesus says: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” At first reading, the Gospel of John might bring this image to mind. Christ on the cross has dominated our symbology as Christians and redefined the meaning of the cross from a torture device to a symbol of hope. So much of our Lenten contemplation rests on the suffering of the Passion. The image of Christ on the cross is not dissimilar to the image of the snake on a pole. If the two were 100 yards away, you might have a hard time differentiating between them.
If we step a bit further back in the passage, though, we get this: “Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’... If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
The title Jesus gives Himself, the Son of Man, is always interesting in that it implies the truth that He has become human. In keeping our eyes on the prize, we should focus on Jesus raised above all. When we are lost in life, the risen Jesus is the beacon that leads us back to the wonder of the goodness of God. St. Paul teaches that we have been saved by grace. “God out of great love made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him”
Notice that he didn’t say that we have been saved because of our good deeds. There is a temptation to think of God as an extension of Santa Claus, keeping.a naughty and nice list and tallying up those good and bad things that we have done to make the final judgment. Not so!
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. - Eph 2:8-10
So our salvation is a result of a charism — a gift from God — and not of our charisma, unless it is charisma for goodness that comes from loving and being loved by Him. All of our good works spring from our excitement at being our true selves in Christ. Through the love of God, we are called to do great works not to attain salvation but because we have attained it. What Good News indeed!
The fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Laetare Sunday, from the imperative form of “laetari”: rejoice! This comes from the Introit to the Latin Mass:
Rejoice, O Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her; rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly bosom. I rejoiced when it was said unto me: "Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
(http://chantblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/introit-for-fourth-sunday-in-lent.html)
Let us rejoice, Christ Church! For Christ abides. He abides in us. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand in our hearts. Amen.
David Jutsum
March 11, 2021 - The Fourth Sunday of Lent
March 7, 2021
February 28, 2021
There was no sermon for the First Sunday of Lent
February 21, 2021
February 14, 2021
February 7, 2021
January 31, 2021
January 24, 2021
January 17, 2021
January 10, 2021
January 3, 2021
December 27, 2020
December 24, 2020
December 20, 2020
December 13, 2020
December 6, 2020
November 29, 2020
November 22, 2020
November 15, 2020
November 8, 2020
November 1, 2020
October 25, 2020
October 18, 2020
October 11, 2020
October 4, 2020
September 27, 2020
September 20, 2020
September 13, 2020
September 6, 2020
August 30, 2020
August 23, 2020
August 16, 2020
August 9, 2020
August 2, 2020
July 26, 2020
There was no sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
July 12, 2020
There was no sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 28, 2020
June 21, 2020
June 14, 2020
June 7, 2020
The video can be seen by clicking here and scrolling forward to 25:21
May 31, 2020
May 24, 2020
May 17, 2020
May 10, 2020
May 3, 2020
April 19, 2020
April 12, 2020
April 5, 2020
March 29, 2020
March 22, 2020
March 15, 2020
March 8, 2020
March 1, 2020
February 23, 2020
February 16, 2020
February 9, 2020
February 2, 2020
January 26, 2020
January 19, 2020
January 12, 2020
January 5, 2020
December 29, 2019
December 24, 2019
December 22, 2019
December 8, 2019
December 1, 2019
November 24, 2019
November 17, 2019
November 10, 2019
November 3, 2019
October 27, 2019
October 20, 2019
October 13, 2019
October 6, 2019
September 29, 2019
September 22, 2019
September 15, 2019
September 8, 2019
September 1, 2019
August 25, 2019
August 18, 2019
August 11, 2019
August 4, 2019
July 28, 2019
July 21, 2019
July 14, 2019
July 7, 2019
June 30, 2019
June 23, 2019
June 16, 2019
June 9, 2019
June 2, 2019
May 26, 2019
May 19, 2019
May 12, 2019
May 5, 2019
April 28, 2019
April 21, 2019
April 14, 2019
April 7, 2019
March 31, 2019
March 24, 2019
March 17, 2019
March 10, 2019
March 3, 2019
February 24, 2019
February 17, 2019
February 10, 2019
February 3, 2019
January 27, 2019
editor’s note- Due to technical difficulties there is no recording of the sermon for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany.
January 20, 2019
January 13, 2019
January 6, 2019
December 30, 2018
December 25, 2018
December 23, 2018
December 16, 2018
December 9, 2018
December 2, 2018
November 25, 2018
November 18, 2018
November 11, 2018
November 4,2018
October 28, 2018
October 21, 2018
October 14, 2018
October 7, 2018
September 30, 2018
September 23, 2018
September 9, 2018
September 2, 2018
August 26, 2018
August 19, 2018
August 12, 2018
August 5, 2018
July 29.2018
July 22, 2018
July 15, 2018
July 8, 2018
July 1, 2018
June 24, 2018
June 17, 2018
June 10, 2018
June 3, 2018
May 27, 2018
May 20, 2018
May 13, 2018
May 6, 2018
April 29, 2018
April 22, 2018
April 15, 2018
April 8, 2018
April 1, 2018
March 18, 2018
March 11, 2018
March 4, 2018
February 25, 2018
February 18, 2018
February 11, 2018
February 4, 2018
January 28, 2018
January 21, 2018
January 14, 2018
January 7, 2018
December 31, 2017
December 24, 2017 (10:30 pm)
December 24, 2017 (10:00 am)
December 17,2017
December 10,2017
December 3,2017
November 26,2017
November 19,2017
November 12, 2017
November 5, 2017 All Saints Sunday
September 3, 2017
June 18, 2017 the Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 11,2017 Trinity Sunday
June 4,2017 Pentecost
May 28, 2017 Ascension Sunday- The Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 25, 2017 The Feast of the Ascension
May 21, 2017 The Sixth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. Steven Metcalfe at Christ Church Rochester- 11am
As Easter coasts to an end, Jesus alludes to an increasing sense of anxiety within his community. Jesus tries to reassure his friends that, though he will be going away, he will not be lost to them: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.” I can only imagine how confused they were, certainly at least as bewildered as they have been all along. But that’s only part of it. The intensity of their community life, the new life that Jesus has brought with him, which he has given to them, now seems in jeopardy. Most importantly, they are afraid of losing this unimaginable man who has opened their hearts. Orphans…….what a forlorn and fearful word
Only this week have I come to see that “being orphaned” is an expression I can relate to throughout last year and in 2017. The country I have believed all my life exists, just as I was taught in school, on television, newspapers, or national holidays is not truly that pretty package. It is only mildly embarrassing to admit to that level of lifelong naiveté. Don’t imagine that that I am itchy to exhibit my child-like sense of reality. No. I just got the idea that maybe others might also be feeling a loss of innocence. There is a tangled mess at the top levels of our society, the other side of the coin of routine neglect of poor people and disinterest in ordinary citizens. Truth, justice, and the American way is the Superman myth. Influential people in high places value self enrichment above all else and our once honored institutions are stricken with paralysis or worse. It is an anxious time no matter whether the horse you’re riding is blue or red. And those whose horse got flimflammed are simply watching life slither and slide, here and there, feeling as dizzy as everyone else. To hold all this together low level, chronic fearfulness has cynically been prepared to for our daily bread.
So, anxiety perfumes the air with an odious and ominous scent. Do you know that there are lots of people who have only the foolish forces of this world in which to put their trust? Millions of non- church people have jumped headlong into the world of Caesar as if salvation can come from political parties, ideologies, hijacked religion or bloated military capability. So many embrace a life guide of maximum wealth, extravagant life styles, hunger for the privilege accorded to those with means, and as much control over as vast a portion of life as they imagine they have. Scripture denies that our taproot into this deceitful world will bring forth our highest good. I am always grateful to be among those who have vowed to “put my whole trust in God’s grace and love”. In God is the only actual Truth we know. As Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. We accept him as the unique incarnation of God, Love itself.
I have discovered (some might wonder what took me so long) that none of us can control the outcomes we prefer. I may participate as I choose in the drama of life, but I am not here to critique anyone else’s script. Who and what we are is not available to be fully understood. It is very freeing to be able to choose to believe that what other people think of me is none of my business. Perhaps the best we can do is treat human life as improv theater. Each actor plays off the other, moving in a direction that is not planned out, neither right nor wrong. Reality continually emerges as the interaction continues. Of course there are millions of these dramas going on at the same time, ranging in size from households to global geopolitical and corporate networks. Even the “powerful” cannot force reality to bend through the might of their pride. Christians can powerfully witness to the world that it’s not what we have accomplished in our time allotted, it is, rather, what kind of people we have become that will finally interest God. We promise to God and one another that we will allow ourselves to be transformed into the full stature of Christ.
Christians have thus accepted, in the exercise of our free will, to participate in our own spiritual evolution. The foundation of that choice is expressed by St. Paul when he says to the Greeks,
From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’…. Isn’t “groping for God” the same thing as becoming a person of Love.?
Nothing is outside God. Divine power is Love and there is nothing that can subvert God’s outpouring of love and goodness. This is God’s creative power which has no equal or superior. God is not so much the dictator of life, but the One who keeps the river of life flowing. Jesus talked about the “water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
Having life in Christ can energizes us in the Way, the Truth and the Life if we so desire. God has given to us human beings the awesome ability to be conscious of life, aware of events and piecing them together in some sort of form or rational idea, even though these “ideas” are always provisional and likely not accurate. We alone have been given the biological and spiritual equipment to live in conscious relation to God : so that we would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
It appears to me that we are here to fulfill this sort of mission with human life. As Jesus, who is no less and no more human than you and I, has lived his life as God leads, not to get something or somewhere for himself. In him this infinite power of Divine Love has transcended the despotic ego self. Jesus promises the same Love power is available to every single human being. All have the Spirit of God, which is essentially the same as the Risen Christ, and the Holy Spirit. As we grow in that love, we can grow out of the tricky deceit of the ego and reach that higher consciousness that contributes to the transformation of us humans, reconciling us with God and one another. In other words, being in God through the gate that is Christ, we will find better tools to avoid conflict, to accept our brothers and sisters with compassion, and trust in God rather than the nightmarish weapons too many people find so reassuring. We do not have to accept a reality based on winning and losing. The force of human will can never prevail over the power of Divine Truth.
May we release our anxiety, our wounds, our disappointments and even our rage to the God who is beyond our earthly squabbles and mortal acrimony. The world will be the world and we will be God’s loving children. Only the love we share from God in the Holy Spirit can raise us all up into the Mind of Christ.