Category Archives: What We Do

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Sermon–God says: “Can you hear me now?” February 17, 2019

Sermon

6 Epiphany—Year C–February 17, 2019

William Bradbury

Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1, 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Luke 6:17-26

I go back to the day as a kid in Atlanta when I listened to my music on AM radio. That’s where I heard for the first time the early Beatles songs like “I want to hold your hand” and “She loves you”. Then, in high school, I bought my first FM Tuner to listen to my music without all noisy talk and the commercials. That’s where I first heard one of my all-time favorite songs: “Beginnings” by Chicago Transit Authority, soon to be known simply as Chicago. Continue reading →

Sermon–What? Me a Mystic?!–February 10, 2019

Sermon

5 Epiphany—Year C, February 10, 2019

William Bradbury

Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13], Psalm 138, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11

Isaiah cries out: The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost!”

As a kid I enjoyed sitting on the floor building things: building a house of cards that would become this sprawling thing with two floors. Beautiful! Then the dog would get too close, wag his tail and down it came. Continue reading →

Sermon–What is good news for the poor?–January 27, 2019

Sermon

3 Epiphany—Year C–January 27, 2019

William Bradbury

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a, Luke 4:14-21, Psalm 19

Jesus, quoting Isaiah says, “”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” If you and I were poor, what would constitute good news? Continue reading →

Sermon–Are You Aware of Spirit Now? January 13, 2019

Sermon

1 Epiphany: Baptism of Our Lord-January 13, 2019

William Bradbury

Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

I want to start with a couple of questions: With a show of hands: how many of you have been baptized? Now, how many can remember your baptism? I certainly can’t remember mine and that raises the question we find in our reading from Acts: “Did we receive the Holy Spirit when we were baptized?” Continue reading →

Sermon–Who shrunk our faith? January 6, 2019

Sermon

The Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ-January 6, 2019

William Bradbury

Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7,10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

Because of Christmas pageants across the years, most of us have melded together Luke’s and Matthew’s story of the birth of Jesus. Fortunately our Church calendar pulls them apart, so that we read Luke’s story on December 25 and Matthew’s story January 6, today, which is known as the Epiphany—that is the manifestation—of our Lord Jesus Christ. I say fortunately because separating the stories allows us to focus on their important differences: In Matthew’s story, however, the angel of the Lord visits Joseph, not Mary, and a star leads wise men, not shepherds, from the east to visit the Christ Child. All this takes place, Matthew tells us, in the reign of Herod the Great, Rome’s vassal king in Jerusalem whose reign was from 40 BC to 4 BC. Continue reading →

Sermon–God’s Word with Us–December 30, 2918

Sermon

Christmas 1–December 30, 2018

William Bradbury

Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 147 or 147:13-21, Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7, John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

How we see God, how we imagine God, will determine how we understand the meaning and the force of this statement that the Word was God. If our image of God is the sky-god, living in another place, like heaven, we may imagine the Word being like the voice of our high school principal—a word of foreboding and possibly doom, since we really did smoke in the restroom. Continue reading →

Sermon-Christmas Eve 2018

Sermon

Christmas Eve 2018

William Bradbury

Isaiah 9:2-7, Psalm 96, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14(15-20)

On my way to Mass General Wednesday afternoon to visit All Saints’ sick toddler Molly and her mother, Cassy, my travel app had me on Blossom Street, when the traffic slowed and I saw something amazing: Santa and Mrs. Claus were five stories up in the sky in an enormous bucket attached by a ladder to a massive fire engine. They were right up against a large window halfway up Shriners Hospital for Children. Continue reading →