Funeral Sermon for Aida Suarez
St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJNovember 25, 2009The Funeral of Aida SuarezWisdom 3:1-5, 9Psalm 232 Corinthians 4:16-5:9John 14:1-6aThe Language of Love One of my favorite parts of my job is teaching the youth confirmation class. I’m a little surprised I like it as much as I do, because, I wouldn’t have expected a class full of teenagers that meets on Sunday nights to be fun for them or for me.Part of the fun, at least in the two years I’ve done it, comes from the fact that the kids are all over the place when it comes to their

The In-Between Time
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJNovember 15, 2009The 24th Sunday after PentecostYear B: Proper 281 Samuel 1:4-20Psalm 16(Hebrews 10:11-25)Mark 13:1-8The In-Between TimeMaybe you’ve noticed that we’re living in an in-between time. If you drive or walk around you can see that some people still have their Halloween decorations up while others have put out their cornucopias and cardboard turkeys in anticipation of Thanksgiving. And, many retailers are desperately trying to get us into the spirit to buy Christmas gifts by putting up their decorations and assembling piles in their stores.

The Adventure of Stewardship
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJThe MessengerNovember 2009The Adventure of StewardshipWe all owe thanks to this year’s Stewardship Committee. Under Karen Koster’s able leadership, the committee has developed an informative, creative and exciting stewardship campaign. The testimonials given in church over the course of several Sundays were inspirational and challenging. The very attractively-designed printed materials clearly explain how pledging at Grace Church works and how the church pays its bills. If we haven’t already, I hope

Funeral Sermon for Margaret Helmers
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJOctober 31, 2009Funeral Sermon for Margaret “Peg” HelmersIsaiah 35:1-10Matthew 6:19-21; 25-33John 14:1-6aThe Priority of Love Even after two thousand years the passage I just read from the Gospel of John has lost none of its power. The setting is the Last Supper and there is a sense of urgency as Jesus says good-bye to his friends. At the Last Supper Jesus knows he has only a short time left to teach his disciples. And what he wants to teach them is the priority of love. Jesus teaches them about the priority of love

What Kind of Crowd are We?
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJOctober 25, 2009The Twenty-First Sunday after PentecostYear B: Proper 25Job 42:1-6, 10-17Psalm 34:1-8(Hebrews 7:23-28)Mark 10:46-52What Kind of Crowd are We? Although the Gospel of Mark is probably the earliest of the four gospels to be written, that doesn’t mean that it is a simplistic piece of work. Actually, it’s clear that the Evangelist Mark took great care in drawing from earlier traditions and stories about Jesus as he shaped his gospel. The gospel is not a random series of events. Mark offers clear themes that run through the gospel