Ascension Written Sermons

The Rev. Robert P. Travis The Feast of the Holy Name   –10:00am Service, Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN RCL  1/1/2015 Text: Numbers 6:22-27, Psalm 8, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 2:15-21 Sermon Text: It is good to be back in the pulpit, Preaching for you after a long time away. And it seems appropriate that I would begin my new season of preaching on our New Year’s Day celebration. It is a new year, and a new season of life for all of us! I commend you all for beginning your New Year in this way, for putting your hopes for the New Year in the hands of the Lord. By doing so you are a part of the tradition that many Anglicans observe in other parts of the world. When I was younger I got to experience this at an Anglican church in the Bahamas, where this Eucharist would begin around 11pm on New Year’s Eve and continue into the first hours of the New Year. It was a special gathering of those who were...

"Sharing God's Love" December 25, 2014 By Bob Wadley Well, here we are, Christmas Day!  Merry Christmas.  Have you ever wondered,  “How do we know Jesus was born on December 25?”  Well, actually, we don't.  Around the middle of the 4 th century, the Bishop of Jerusalem asked the Bishop of Rome to determine the actual date of Christ's birth.  He wrote back that it was December 25, knowing that was an arbitrary date.  But his picking that date wasn't arbitrary, it was deliberate.  For centuries before Christ was born, the month of December had been a time of pagan festivals.  He thought that if people would celebrate Christ's birth at the same time, it would cause people to become more engaged in spiritual things and draw them away from their revelry.  It was a nice thought, but as we know, it has only been partially successful.  For many, Christmas is still like a pagan festival, not a celebration of the most important moment...

Christmas Eve, Year A; December 24, 2015          Episcopal Church of the Ascension The Power of The Incarnation                                  The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess I. Introduction . It is the best of times; it is the worst of times . So opens the introduction to Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities . As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Sydney Carton, one of the main characters of the novel, has hatched a clever plot to switch places with a condemned friend in 18 th century revolutionary Paris. The city is in turmoil and by doing so he seals his own death. Carton asserted: “It is a far, far better thing than I have ever done before.” And as the story makes clear, this sacrifice is quite surprising because Carton was a self-absorbed, profligate man. What is it that allows Carton or...