Sermons at Lawrencefield Church

The following is a collection of recent sermons written and delivered (unless otherwise noted) by the Rev. Cynthia Byers Walter at Lawrencefield Parish Church. Each can be downloaded and viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

12/13/09 :: ADVENT HOSPITALITY (Advent 3) — There is something that must be emphasized when Christians talk about what they “should do.” The doing does not make God love us. Nothing we can do can either make God love us or make God stop loving us. God loves, period.

12/6/09 :: DEEPEST LONGINGS (Advent 2) — What’s the difference between the promises of holiday advertising and the promises of Jesus? One has to do with the gratification of our latest desires. The other is the fulfillment of our deepest longing.

11/29/09 :: DOOMSDAY SHMOOMSDAY (Advent 1) — One thing Jesus never does is promise that bad things won’t happen to his followers. Jesus never promises freedom from death and desolation. Jesus does promise redemption.

11/26/09 :: THE GIVING FAMILY (Thanksgiving) — Thanksgiving, of course, is a family time. Have you heard about a family called the Givings? The three pillars of the Giving Family are Giving, Thanks-Giving, and For-Giving.

11/22/09 :: POWER AND CONTROL (Pentecost Last—Christ the King) — How does power differ from control? Most people demur when you ask them whether or not they are powerful, but I have yet to meet a human being who isn’t at least sometimes hung up on the question of control. Jesus wasn’t.

11/15/09 :: THE GIFT INSIDE THE PACKAGE (Pentecost 24) — Part of Jesus’ message is, “Do not confuse the gift with the packaging.” The Temple at Jerusalem, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, all our most beautiful churches and shrines, are worthy dwelling places for God, but they are not God. The container is just that.

11/8/09 :: GIVING ALL (Pentecost 23) — How can we, like the widow that Jesus praises, give away everything we have? Jesus asks many difficult things, but this is an impossible thing.

11/1/09 :: FOR ALL THE SAINTS (All Saints Day) — The Episcopal Church stops short of actually venerating saints, while recognizing that nothing is quite so instructive and inspiring as the example of another human being doing good in the world for the sake of Christ. All Saints Day seems a good opportunity for teaching about the role of saints in our unique tradition.

10/25/09 :: A PRAYER PRIMER (Pentecost 21) — Some people say that God has not responded to their prayers. But could it be that people assume that God has not responded because God has not responded as they expect? The Gospel-writer Mark has given us a primer for prayer to help us out.

10/18/09 :: SCARCITY AND ABUNDANCE (Pentecost 20) — Followers of Jesus are not to follow “the ways of the world,” and assume that there is not enough to go around. That’s because there is enough of Jesus’ love, and grace, and forgiveness to go around.

10/11/09 :: BLIND SPOTS (Pentecost 19) — Following Jesus means light will fall on our blind spots, and we may not like it. Fortunately, there are no barriers to eternal life that God cannot overcome.

9/27/09 :: SUPER POWERS (Pentecost 17) — Jesus has a different idea of power than that projected by super hero cartoons. Here is Jesus’ definition of a super power: If I am thirsty and you give me a glass of water, that is super power.

9/13/09 :: ON LOAN (Pentecost 15) — The more we can think of our things as our things on loan, the lighter we hold them. The lighter we hold them, the happier we will be in the long run. This is wisdom, and it stands in sharp contrast to a culture that emphasizes acquisition, possession, control.

9/6/09 :: BREAKING THE CYCLE (Pentecost 14) — It seems to be human nature to draw lines between people, distinguishing between “us” and “them.” Even Jesus seems to do it. What’s this all about?

8/30/09 :: INSIDE OUT (Pentecost 13) — Though religious conversion takes place on the inside of a person, it is an incomplete conversion unless it finds itself to the outside of a person.

8/23/09 :: ENEMIES (Pentecost 12) — A good part of the imagery in the Bible references battle and armed struggle. Do we write these parts off as situational and irrelevant? Or are there enemies we don’t like to name or even acknowledge?

8/16/09 :: THE FLOW CHART OF CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR (Pentecost 11) — Decisions can make a person’s life resemble a flow chart, one decision branching off from another. Does the flow chart of your life resemble Solomon’s, or Bernie Madoff’s?

8/9/09 :: BEYOND NICE (St. Lawrence Day) — Niceness as a defining social value has many advantages. But is being nice enough?

8/2/09 :: MESSING UP, DRESSING DOWN AND THE ONGOING LOVE OF GOD (Pentecost 9) — We really don’t want our heroes to be complex, to mess up. But, people mess up. God keeps faith.

7/26/09 :: GOD MAKES DO (Pentecost 8) — Some people say that they can’t believe in any god who would allow all the suffering in the world. It’s an understandable view, but it gives God a bum rap, and too easily lets humanity off the hook.

7/19/09 :: DEFENSE AGAINST SHOULDS (Pentecost 7) — In this day and age, one of the most crippling barriers to a fulfilling relationship with God is “The Shoulds.” God does not want people Shoulding themselves.

7/12/09 :: LIFE, DEATH, MICHAEL JACKSON AND JOHN THE BAPTIST (Pentecost 6) — An imagined relationship with Michael Jackson costs nothing, but offers nothing. A relationship with Christ offers everything than matters.

7/5/2009 :: POWER TO THE PEOPLE (Pentecost 5) — God limits Godself in order to redeem humankind at our lowest points. What the Bible further suggests is that God also limits Godself in order to work in the world. And guess what? We’re recruited!

6/28/2009 :: WHERE’S MY MIRACLE? (Pentecost 4) — The person who is really suffering asks, “That woman in the Bible got her miracle. Where’s my miracle?” Where, indeed?

6/21/2009 :: FEAR, FAITH AND FEELINGS (Pentecost 3) — Telling someone not to be afraid is a little like telling someone not to sweat when it’s hot, or not to bleed when they’re cut. What we need is a strategy for what to do when we do feel afraid.

6/14/2009 :: AS GOD SEES (Pentecost 2) — Given the overwhelming evidence that one person does not see as another sees, you would think that it would be clear to Christians by now that one person does not necessarily see as God sees. What does that mean to us?

6/7/2009 :: CHEMISTRY LESSON (Pentecost 1 -- Trinity) — We don’t have to understand everything about chemistry to understand that chemicals underlie most of our lives. Theology is like that, too.

5/31/2009 :: TOOLS FOR THE JOURNEY (Pentecost) — At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit issues us survival kits, whether we’re graduating high school or just on the verge of the rest of our lives.

5/24/2009 :: BOWLING WITH GOD (Easter 7 – Ascension Sunday) — Some of us are overachievers when it comes to religion. We may just have to lighten up.

5/10/2009 :: ANGELS UNAWARES (Easter 5) — Ever seen an angel? Ever been an angel? Consider that God uses humans as God’s angels. This has meaning for us as both receivers and givers.

5/3/2009 :: LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE, AND OTHER DIFFICULTIES (Easter 4) — There are certain professions like soldiers and police and firefighters who, in the course of their work, have a higher probability of having to lay down their lives than the rest of us. But the biblical admonition is not confined to people with high risk jobs.

4/26/2009 :: FLESH AND BLOOD (Easter 3) — Our faith is not airy-fairy, pie-in-the-sky, theoretical stuff. It is more than words, it is more than ideals, it is more than theology. It is visceral, down-to-earth, blood-sweat-and-tears reality.

4/19/2009 :: FORGIVENESS POWER (Easter 2) — In appearing to the disciples after his death, Jesus moves them up from middle management to CEO status. They not only are given the responsibility, they are given the power.

4/12/2009 :: FOLLOWED, NOT GRASPED (Easter) — Appearing to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, Jesus tells her, “Don’t hold on to me.” What kind of a thing is that to say to someone who is happy to see you?

4/10/2009 :: A GOOD DEATH (Good Friday) — Even Jesus succumbs to some really soul-shaking, negative feelings toward the end. If this is so, what hope do we ordinary mortals have of maintaining a cheerful faith through all things?

4/9/2009 :: THIS IS IMPORTANT. PAY ATTENTION. (Maundy Thursday) — A person’s last words before dying bear special attention. What did Jesus say to his disciples on the last night of his life?

4/5/2009 :: THIS IS POWER. THIS IS GLORY. (Palm/Passion Sunday) — It would be nice to bask in the sunny joy of Palm Sunday, but the liturgy impels us on to the story of the Passion and “Crucify him!” Why?

3/29/2009 :: BEING AND DOING (Lent 5) —“Christian” is who we are. “Christian” is what we are. But is “Christian” what we do? And if what we do is not fully supportive of being Christian, can we ever be truly happy?

3/22/2009 :: OF SERPENTS AND ROTTEN VEGETABLES (Lent 4) — Sin is like rotten potatoes. Or like poisonous snakes. Either way the solution is to hold it up to light and let God heal (Though I don’t expect God to clean my vegetable bin.)

3/18/2009 :: House of Bishops Letter — A Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of the Episcopal Church meeting in Hendersonville, North Carolina, March 13-18, 2009 to the Church and our partners in mission throughout the world.

3/15/2009 :: COVENANT POWER (Lent 3) — Our current economic crisis is due at least in part to the misuse of power. If we can look at power in the context of covenant, we can avoid and to some extent repair the damage.

3/8/2009 :: BEARING CROSSES (Lent 2) — Jesus chooses to take up his cross. What would happen if we looked at our own crosses in the same way?

3/1/2009 :: LONESOME VALLEY (Lent 1) — If there is anything akin to wilderness in our country’s history, it is our history of racism and slavery. Jesus is with us in this lonesome valley, as in all our lonesome valleys.

2/25/2009 :: WHAT WILL YOU GIVE UP FOR LENT? (Ash Wednesday) — In considering a Lenten discipline, whether it is taking on something new or giving up something old, let it be something that matters to God.

2/15/2009 :: NUMBER ONE PRIORITY (Epiphany 6) — Jesus, in his infinite compassion, turns no one away. But why does he want the people he’s healed to keep their mouths shut?

1/25/2009 :: BE THERE (Epiphany 3) — Captain Sully saved the lives of everyone on board his plane, but doesn’t consider himself a hero. When God does call to heroic action it is to ordinary people who are there at the time.

1/18/2009 :: BETTER THAN YOU KNOW YOURSELF (Epiphany 2) — God knows you front-back-and-sideways, so guess what? You have a friend, you belong, you have a home.

1/11/2009 :: GLORY BE! (Epiphany 1 – The Baptism of Our Lord) — To combat the tendency to focus on human obligations, we ought to go through our Bible and underline all the verbs that pertain to God.

1/4/2009 :: EXILE (Christmas 2) — The experience of exile is a common one for the people of God. Far from being a sign of God’s withdrawal, exile is portrayed in the Bible as a situation in which God acts.

12/21/2008 :: DON’T DO ME ANY FAVORS (Advent 4) — In light of the fact that the favor God shows Mary is in worldly terms a small favor, let’s consider other situations in which favor seems scant.