• Sunday’s Sermon on Vocations

    Here’s what I said on Sunday about vocations

    [Sorry about the poor audio. We’ve some major problems with the sound system that are going to take some weeks to sort out – however, the Vestry are well aware that Something Needs to be Done].

    The Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church have asked the whole church today to reflect on vocations. The idea is that on this Sunday, when the readings tend to reflect on the idea of Jesus as the great shepherd of the flock, we think about the notion of calling. So we must think about how we discern God’s calling and what we might make as an appropriate response.

    I am aware as I begin to open up that subject that we are stepping on sacred ground and must mind where we go. Immense amounts of sadness and disappointment have been the result of vocations, and not exclusively clerical vocations, which the church has not been able to affirm and rejoice in. On the other hand, this is, as the gathering place for the diocese, a place where vocations are delighted in and celebrated in ordination services and in various ways of thanksgiving for lay ministry, including the Ministry Celebrations Service in the summer.

    But I do with caution. And I begin with my own experience. (more…)

One response to “Christmas Day Sermon 2015”

  1. Meg Rosenfeld Avatar
    Meg Rosenfeld

    I enjoyed both of these sermons, and laughed heartily over the shark and other livestock. In our family, pigs and mice are beloved totem animals, and so they figure largely (in the case of the mice, not TOO large) into our Christmas décor as well as the cards and small gifts we receive. Since both are “unclean beasts” in the tradition of the Holy Family, I suppose this is heavily ironic; on the other hand, baby Jesus, having created them, may have found them as entrancing as we do. Happy Christmas/Boxing Day to you!

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