Homily for Lent 4, March 31, 2019

Sherman Hesselgrave

Joshua 5:9-12     Psalm 32       2 Corinthians 5:16-21  

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

There is no way to write a sermon and be oblivious to what is happening in the world around us. Two weeks ago, on the Ides of March, fifty people lost their lives in a shooting rampage at two New Zealand mosques. Millions turned out around the world to grieve the horrific loss of lives. This week, closer to home, a Muslim woman from Philadelphia was being sworn in as a new state representative in Pennsylvania, and at that legislative session another freshman representative, a Christian, was given the opportunity to offer an invocation. In her minute-and-48-second “prayer” she invoked the name of Jesus 13 times, in such an obviously  targeted way that an offended member in the chamber actually shouted, “Objection!” It was probably foolish of me not to give up Facebook for Lent, since I then felt compelled to find her official FB page and leave a comment. Of course, that released the proverbial Kraken, and a swarm of people who identify as Christian were not going to be convinced that the God of Jews, Christians, and Muslims was, indeed the same God, or that there was anything inappropriate about a politician using the name of Jesus as a cudgel in a secular government setting.

Homily for Lent 2 (St. Patrick’s Day)

Scripture Readings: Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 Psalm 27 Luke 13:31-35

by Michael Creal

The committee planning for Lent this year chose “sustainability” as a Lenten theme. Sustainability is a term that came into currency at a famous 1987 Conference on the Environment and the economy held in Norway and presided over by the Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundland. She was a major leader at that conference and she defined sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the poor without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

It was a conference filled with optimism and promise, and what was called the Brundland Declaration was hailed as the way forward because, it was hoped, the conflict between environmental concerns and concerns about the economy could actually be addressed creatively, without either concern being pushed aside. Maurice Strong, a Canadian, also played a major role in that conference