Sacred Words and Art

This Generous Undertaking A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost June 30, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley   As you excel in everything-- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you-- so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something-- now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has-- not according to what one does not have. I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure ...

What is Your Storm? A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost June 23, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley   When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Mark 4:35-41 Jesus Stilling the Tempest, James Tissot   Set in the hills of northern Israel, the Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater la...

Answer the Phone A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost       June 2, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley   1 Samuel 3:1-20          Mark 2:23 – 3:6   Sometimes, when we are in church, someone’s phone will ring, or quack like a duck, or play a great song. This happens because we are blessed with technology and because we sometimes forget to silence our phones. During one of our Holy Week services there was a phone ringing in the vesting room, proving that clergy are not exempt from forgetfulness either. If this ever happens to you, please know that God forgives us. But I also need to tell you that every time it happens, I am so tempted to stop in the middle of the sermon or liturgy and say, “It’s God calling, answer the phone!” Samuel Relating to Eli the Judgments of God on Eli's House, John Singleton Copley   Our reading from the Book of First Samuel is one of many "call narratives" in the Bi...

God Is Not A Banana A Sermon for Trinity Sunday May 26, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley   There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born ...

  Loving One Another A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, St. John’s, Richmond May 5, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley     Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.   “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give y...

The Voice of the Shepherd   A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter at St. John’s, Richmond April 21, 2024 The Rev. Robin Teasley     Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up aga...