Ascension Written Sermons

The Rev. Robert P. Travis Easter 6A Sunday Sermon – 8 and 10:30am Service, Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN 5/29/2011 Scripture Text: Acts 17:22-31, Psalm 66:7-18, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21 Sermon Text: It has been bothering me, maybe for a longer time than I previously thought, what the non-Christian world sees of Christians. Maybe you have heard what Mahatma Gandhi said, “ I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” How long does it take for people to understand, that the living nature of Jesus Christ, his death, his resurrection and his continuing to live in the world is most clearly revealed to others in how we treat each other and the world around us? Little kids seem to get it, as they get most things that are explained best without words. Sometimes we see this when they make mistakes. A father whose kids I baptized called me once to tell me, that his older son was going around the house ...

The Rev. Amy Morehous Easter 5, Year A May 22, 2011 Church of the Ascension Roll Away Your Stone Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 1 Peter 2:2-10 John 14:1-14 How does it feel To be on your own With no direction home Like a complete unknown Like a rolling stone.... ----- Bob Dylan Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine Together we can see what we can find. Don’t leave me alone at this time, For I am afraid of what I will discover inside. You told me that I would find a home, Within the fragile substance of my soul. And I have filled this void with things unreal, And all the while my character it steals. The darkness is a harsh term don’t you think? And yet it dominates the things I seek. It seems as if all my bridges have been burned, You say that’s exactly how this grace thing works It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart, But the welcome I receive at the restart. ---- “Roll Away Your Stone,” Mumford and Sons Well, how many of y...

The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A May 15, 2011 The Guardian at the Gate The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess I. Introduction: The Guardian at the gate . This morning we enter into a familiar story. This is Good Shepherd Sunday. In John’s Gospel, Jesus described himself as both the shepherd who protects his sheep and the gate through which the sheep as a flock enter into the safety of the fold. We know that we are the sheep, and the metaphor seems ever so clear. Yet, I wonder if this familiar set of images has lost part of its original power due to our cultural distance from the world in which Jesus lived. Israel is a rocky land, some of which cannot support cultivation. This rocky land is useful only for herding. The landscape Jesus walked upon was often harsh, not at all lush and green. Many people were poor, living on the margins and scrounging day after day to meet basic needs. When Jesus saw his people, he knew that many of them desperately needed care and p...

The Third Sunday of Easter Luke 24:13-35 Infinite Presence “Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” I have always known that my parents love my brothers and I very much. That was very clear in the home where we were raised, and it continues to be clear in the healthy relationship that we all still enjoy with one another. (I mean not that everything was just always peachy. I was known to get the old wooden spoon once in a while!.........You know its a funny thing, those wooden spoons never quite hurt like you thought they would. I am actually quite thankful for that come to think of it!) Personally though, I don't think I ever was really able to fully understand just how profound my parent's love for my brothers and I was and continues to be until I was blessed with children of my own. For me, it was in the birth of my own children that I realized just how deep and un...

2nd Sunday of Easter, 8 and 10:30am Services Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN The Rev. Robert P. Travis Text: Acts 2:14a, 22-32, Psalm 16, 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31 Sermon Text: In the storm Monday night a large tree fell at our house, while we were eating dinner. It fell exactly the way it should have fallen, if a professional were taking it down, and it didn’t damage our house, or anything of value behind our house. Still after it fell, I was afraid, I forgot the message of Psalm 16, even though it’s one of my favorite psalms which has comforted me in fear in the past. “ I take refuge in you. . . it is you who uphold my lot. My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; indeed I have a goodly heritage.” By late Tuesday, I thought seriously about cutting down all the other trees that surround our house. Then Wednesday came, and the cluster of storms, we have all heard so much about, and experienced for ourselves. Our neighborhood got hit pretty hard,...