Ascension Written Sermons

The Second Sunday in Lent Luke 13:31-35 Entering Relationship “How often have I desired to gather your children together.......and you were not willing.” So, I'm going to kind of throw out two moments to you, two kind of stories from my life in the past couple of weeks, and for me they relate to today's Gospel, but just hang in there with me and hopefully I'll be able to show you why. Last time I preached two weeks ago, I spoke to you all about a new friend of mine who is dying of cancer, and unfortunately, the days that have followed up until now have continued to be heavy. When it rains, it pours, as they say, but that does not mean that within that heaviness, within those dark or hard times, that God is not present or that somehow we are unable to see His light. Last Monday evening, a classmate of mine, Ashley, a 30 year old mother of two and beloved wife to a great man, died after a 3 year battle with breast cancer. While, even though she was...

The Rev. Robert P. Travis 1st Sunday Lent Sermon - Episcopal Church of the Ascension 8 and 10:30am Scripture Text: Luke 4:1-13 Sermon Text: The exercise of fasting, in my experience has been an exercise in failure. That stands in special contrast for me today, with the fast that we read about Jesus doing in the wilderness. What Jesus accomplished is certainly unusual, some would even say supernatural. To fast completely from food for forty days is extraordinary, and even more amazing is that he did it successfully. Whenever I try to give up something for Lent, or even take on a fast, what I mostly remember is how often I fail at it. And so I repent, say I'm sorry, accept God's free forgiveness and return to trying. But I'm never fully successful at it, so that's how it's an exercise in failure. And I've come to understand that, exercises in failure may be a good thing, and certainly go against what the world tempts us to do. Some of you might be aware...

 The Rev. Amy Hodges Morehous Ash Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013 On this Ash Wednesday evening, we gather together to affirm that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. I don’t know if you’ve seen our Bishop’s message for this Lent this year. If you haven’t, I would encourage you click the link, and listen. The link to the video is also posted on the church’s Facebook page. (Of course, if you’ve given up Facebook for Lent, I suppose you’re out of luck til Easter.) In the video, the Bishop reminds us that Christ is tempted for 40 days, and that he is tempted because he is human, and temptation is part of being human. We are all tempted, daily, sometimes hourly, because we are human. We are dust, we are mortal. Our Bishop quotes someone as saying that our most basic human temptation - the time we are most dusty - is when we forsake our deepest values, and embrace those things that are counterfeit. Forsake our deepest values.... We frequently respond to our temptations by giving thin...

Epiphany 4, Year C, February 3, 2013 The Episcopal Church of the Ascension Revelation, Vocation, and Hesitation The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess I. Introduction . One of my most treasured discoveries in seminary is the vitality of the Hebrew Scriptures. Like many of you, through the years I had tired of the stories of war and killing in parts of the Old Testament and was drawn to the beauty and power of the New Testament Gospel message. But what I learned at Yale Divinity School was the timelessness of the story of God’s people, beginning in the Garden and ending in the captivity of Assyria or Babylon. By timeless, I mean the repetitive human cycle of experiencing God’s love and blessings, beginning then to believe that our blessings reflect our own worthiness, buying into the delusion of self-sufficiency, turning away from God, facing calamity, and crying out to God for help. This story would repeat itself time and time again. And right in the middle of al...