See you tomorrow!

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, which means we'll be celebrating God as Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What can we say about the Trinity? Perhaps an analogy will help? Well, the problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy. Check out this great video from Lutheran Satire for some examples, care of St. Patrick! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw

Tomorrow the church remembers Columba, Abbot of Iona, 597. In the troubled and violent Dark Ages in Northern Europe, monasteries served as inns, orphanages, centers of learning, and even as fortresses. The light of civilization flickered dimly and might have gone out altogether had it not been for these convent-shelters. Columba, a stern and strong monk from Ireland, founded three such establishments. He founded the monasteries of Derry and Durrow on his native island, and Iona on the coast of Scotland. Iona was the center of operations for the conversion of the Scots and Picts and became the most famous religious house in Scotland. There Columba baptized Brude, King of the Picts, and later a king of the Scots came to this abbot of the "Holy Isle" for baptism. The historian Bede tells us that Columba led many to Christianity by his "preaching and example." He was much admired for his physical as well as spiritual prowess. He was a vigorous ascetic and was still quite active when he died, nearly eighty years old. The memory of Columba lives on in Scotland. Iona, though desecrated during the Reformation, is today a Protestant religious community. Almighty God, you did choose your servant Columba to be an apostle to the people of Scotland, to bring those who were wandering in darkness to your true light: Grant us to walk in that same light. Amen.

Bring a salad or dessert and bring your cheer as we celebrate this past year together!

All the liturgical trappings (red vestments, a flying dove, red sweaters) aside, Pentecost at its heart is about forgiveness. "When he had said this, Jesus breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'" Forgiveness... Share it and live it! http://www.standrewshopkinton.org/sermons/

"My prayer is that we in the Episcopal Church will, in this and all things, follow the way, the teachings and the Spirit of Jesus by cultivating a loving, liberating and life-giving relationship with God, all others in the human family, and with all of God’s good creation. In spite of hardships and setbacks, the work goes on. This is God’s world. And we are all his children. And, 'He’s got the whole world in his hands.'" http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2017/06/01/presiding-bishop-responds-to-trumps-decision-to-pull-us-out-of-worldwide-climate-accord/

Come one, come all!

Today the church remembers Justin, Martyr at Rome, c. 167. An apologist is one who attempts to make clear the grounds for his belief or course of action, one who attempts to explain to others the truth and validity of what he stands for. Justin was an apologist for the early church. He was born in Samaria, but was a Gentile and a pagan. As a young man he engaged in a long struggle for truth and meaning. He was for a time a Stoic, later a Pythagorean, and then a Platonist. Finally, in the ancient melting pot of Ephesus, he embraced Christianity, which he continued to regard as the most sublime revelation of truth to his very death. Eventually Justin went to Rome and there, for some fifteen years, he operated a Christian school. He was not exceptionally skilled in either philosophy or literature, nor was he very original, but he compiled in his Apologies the most convincing and most popular arguments for Christianity extant. His strong, clear Christian witness became more than the Roman authorities could bear. He was prosecuted for atheism and found guilty. He and a group of his students were scourged and beheaded. Almighty God, who did give your servant Justin boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world: Grant that we likewise may ever be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us. Amen.

This Sunday is Pentecost! Come celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit then and now!

"Like those first disciples walking back to Jerusalem after the Ascension, we walk in faith, knowing that Jesus calls us and has greater things in store for us than we can possibly ask or imagine." http://www.standrewshopkinton.org/sermons/