Ascension Written Sermons

The Rev. Robert P. Travis Eighteenth Sunday after the Pentecost – 8:00 & 10:30 RCL Proper 21 Year C 9/26/2010 1.Text: Jeremiah 32:1-3a,6-15, Psalm 91:1-6,14-16, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31 I was going through my old sermons and I discovered that the very first sermon I wrote in Seminary, was on this same Gospel pericope we heard today. I read through that sermon and found some good parts for today. But a great deal of the text was disappointing to me, because it showed me how immature I was then, and especially that I had a sort of chip on my shoulder about wealthy people. I was fresh out of my experience as a youth minister at an Episcopal Church on the Northshore of Long Island, commonly called the Gold Coast of Long Island. Some of the wealthiest people in the world live in that town. You couldn't buy a house, not even a shack, for less than $600,000. Parents would commonly buy $80,000 Lexuses for their children when they turned 16. And yet, at the Episcopal Church wher...

Proper 20 Year C Luke 16:1-13 Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost September 19th, 2010 Written by Fr. Brett Backus Delivered at 8am by Fr. Brett, at 10:30am by Fr. Rob Giving Ourselves to God “For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” Today's message is about Christian living. It is about our very real need as Christians to struggle constantly with the giving over of ourselves to Christ in order to make room for God in our hearts. You know, one of my favorite things about taking people on mission trips is being provided with the opportunity to witness the people we have taken grow before our very eyes. Being able to provide people with life altering experiences and having the chance to see how each individual responds to challenges and changes as a result of the various challenges that come along with mission work is both a blessing and a privilege. One of my favorite challenges, which presented itself on b...

Given at 8am Service Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Proper 19C September 12, 2010 (Rally Day) Luke 15:1-10 Fr. Rob Travis How many of you have ever lost a sheep? I know I haven't, so it's kind of hard for me to appreciate the joy that a shepherd would have, if he went in search of a lost sheep and found it. But the losing money thing, and finding it, that makes sense to me, as long as I realize that a silver coin, back then, was worth a lot more than a simple quarter today. The most common silver coin was the denarius, which was what was typically paid for a day's wage. So let's say you lost a $100 bill. I would certainly spend a while searching for that, and be pretty thrilled if I found it. Or let’s take a more recent example, say you lost a whole lot of money in the stock market your retirement savings, wouldn’t you go about doing everything you could, to try to get that money back? You might even neglect some things that need your attention in order to get back wh...

Proper 18 Year C Luke 14:25-33 The Cost of Discipleship The Rev. Brett P. Backus “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Today's message is about the cost of discipleship. It is about learning to let go of all we love in order to truly grasp Christ. So, I had a very hard time preparing today's sermon, a harder time than normal actually. I spent the majority of this week racking my brains as to how to begin this sermon, torturing my poor pregnant wife by using her as a sounding board for my ideas, staring at my computer until my brain went numb, and roaming the halls of the church desperately trying to trick someone else into thinking it was their Sunday to preach (it almost worked on Deacon Amy, by the way). Then, in desperation, and because I could no longer stand the site of my office, I somehow found my way up to our labyrinth sometime late Thursday afternoon. It was there, walking the labyrinth, that I unexpectedl...