Sacred Words and Art

Deep Water   A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany                       February 9, 2025 Robin Teasley   Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in...

We Become Like Water A Sermon for the First Sunday after the Epiphany January 12, 2025 The Rev. Robin Teasley As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."   Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased." Luke 3:15-17, 21-22                         ...

The World Spins, Jesus Remains A Sermon for Christmas Day December 25, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley   Our family gathers for a simple dinner at the end of Christmas Day, and there is always a German Christmas pyramid in the center of our table. It was a gift from my mother early on in our marriage, and it came from the Lillian Vernon catalog before there was such a thing as online shopping. There are three levels filled with angels, shepherds, magi, sheep and camels, and in the center, the Holy Family. When the candles at its base are lit, the warmth from the candlelight rises up and when it reaches the blades at the top, the pyramid begins to spin, a beautiful Christmas merry go round.    Over the years, the scientists in our household have experimented to determine the best height of the candles, how many candles should be lit at one time, and the perfect degree of slant for the adjustable blades to make the pyramid rotate at just the right speed. Some years my boys deli...

Rituals A Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 1, 2024  The Rev. Robin Teasley   When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’ You abandon th...

Sharing Wisdom A Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost August 25, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley   Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.   “But will God ...