Ascension Written Sermons

The Rev. Robert P. Travis Trinity Sunday Sermon –  8 and 10:30am Eucharist Services, Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN RCL Year C 5/26/2013 Scripture Text: Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31, Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 Sermon Text: I'm so excited that I get to preach to you on Trinity Sunday. I'm serious. Many preachers dread this day, because they think somehow Trinity Sunday requires the preacher to explain how God can be three in one and one in three. But I don't see it that way. The Trinity is of crucial importance to Christian belief, but we don't have to understand how it happens, though many people have spent thousands of hours arguing about how it happens, we just need to understand why. In a way it's sort of like the Eucharist in that way. So let me dive right into it and tell you the Trinity is important because of Love. Our shared belief, our Holy Scriptures t...

The Day of Pentecost John 14:8-17 Your Ordination      Welcome, my friends, welcome, to the celebration of the Church's birth. Welcome, welcome my friends to the day of Pentecost. Welcome, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, welcome, to your day, to the day of your ordination. Before I forget or go any further, let's pause for a second and applaud our music director, Jim Garvey and all who helped him make this special day so joyous and festive! Indeed this is an occasion for celebration. It is considered the birthday of the Church. Being a Greek word meaning 50, Pentecost celebrates the Holy Spirit's coming 50 days after the resurrection of Christ. Forty days preparing His disciples through His various appearances and 10 days of His followers waiting after His Ascension. Yet this day also connects far back to ancient Israel, to the times of the wheat harvest, which were held 50 days after the slaying of the Passover lamb, as well as in Biblical times and in Ju...

The Rev. Robert P. Travis Seventh Sunday Easter Sermon – 8 and 10:30am Eucharist Services,  Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN (Mother's Day, and Baptism)  RCL Year C 5/12/2013  Scripture Text: Acts 16:16-34, Psalm 97,  Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21, John 17:20-26 Sermon Text: Well, happy seventh Sunday of Easter! Or as believers and non-believers in our country know it today, happy Mother's Day! There are not a lot of things we are unified on as a country these days, and even the hallmark holidays are not practiced by everyone, but I'm pretty sure that anyone who forgets their mother today is in the dog house. I'm going to do something very unusual, later on in this sermon, given today's importance to so many, but first let me look at the gospel reading. As Fr. Howard said last week, we have been looking for the past few weeks at the Farewell Discourse of Jesus with his disciples, and the gospel today is...