Mother Claire's Sermons

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?*     and are so far from my cry     and from the words of my distress? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;*     by night as well, but I find no rest. Yet you are the Holy One,*      enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Our forefathers put their trust in you;*      they trusted, and you delivered them. They cried out to you and were delivered;*      they trusted in you and were not put to shame. But as for me, I am a worm and no man,*      scorned by all and despised by the people. All who see me laugh me to scorn;*      they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying, “He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him;*      let him rescue him, if he delights in him.” Yet you are he who took me out of the womb,*      and kept ...

One of the things I appreciate about being an Episcopalian is the Revised Common Lectionary. That is, the source from which we get our scripture readings. I don’t get to choose the readings from week to week, which keeps me from starting from whatever message I want to give and finding the text that fits. Instead, I start from the scriptures for the day and find what the Spirit is saying to me through that text. Our Sunday readings are on a three-year cycle, so each set of lessons occurs once every three years. During the Season after Pentecost there are two Old Testament choices, but that is as close as we get to “choosing” - and even then we pick a track, either “Gospel related” or “semicontinuous”, and stick with it for the year. For Christmas there are options, Easter cycles and provides options on top of the usual Year A, B, and C. But Ash Wednesday lessons are the same. Every year. That is, there is no three year lectionary cycle.  Every year, on this fast day, the prophet Jo...

 I have yet to meet an American adult who, if the topic comes up, doesn’t acknowledge a “pyromania” stage at some point in their lives. We have a fascination with fire that tends to correspond to the time in our lives when we are least heedful of the future. High school chemistry teachers all give warning stories of how quickly your hair will go up in flames if you’re not paying attention when in too close of proximity to a Bunsen burner. The lighted Bunsen burner is vital to many labs, but without the proper precautions can turn into a head full of fire. An early warning given to acolytes lighting incense for the first time is to tie back their long hair to make sure it isn’t caught in the torch or coals and then to properly dispose of the coals after use. The burning incense can be a fragrant and visible sign of our prayers and offerings being lifted up to God, but improperly disposed of coals can be disastrous. The word translated as “fever” in today’s Gospel text is “πυρετ...