Rev. Ann M. Saunderson “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God, while I have being, may my meditation be pleasing.”   As Pentecost fulfills what Jesus promised let us find a place in our hearts for the Holy Spirit. We’re at another threshold in the liturgical year—Pentecost– fifty days from Christ’s resurrection on Easter becomes the entry point to the churches longest season. Ordinary time or the season after Pentecost, spans the end of Spring to late Autumn.  Today our focus is on the promised coming of the helper, the advocate, the Holy Spirit and how that coming manifests in our lives now.  On Pentecost the awesome power of God is revealed seven weeks after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The intimacy of Jesus’ relationship with God and what that meant for Jesus’ followers and what it means for…

Sermon for Easter 7 (C) May 29, 2022 Holy Spirit, Vashon The Rev. Jeffrey Gill Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26 This past Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension, the day on which Jesus ascends into heaven, no longer bodily present, and the disciples are left to carry on his work.  It ushers in this liminal time when Jesus is no longer present, and the Spirit has not yet come, and the disciples are left alone to figure it all out. A few years ago I was at an Ascension Day service with our then-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in Bogota, Colombia, and in her sermon she noted that artists have often depicted the Ascension with Jesus ascending into the clouds, and only his feet dangling below.  Ever see one of those?  Those feet, she said, are ours.  We are the ones left to take…

Easter 5, Year C-2022                   Fifth Sunday of Easter      May 15, 2022   The Reverend Martin Yabroff Our opening prayer or Collect today refers to Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Some will remember in John 14 where the text continues: “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Now to say in this community and for many of us in our families and relationships, that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life is to espouse a minority view.  It may be offensive to some.  At the very least, it is to take a perspective among lots of different perspectives, religious positions, spiritual paths. Today, church attendance all over the country is going down (not just at Holy Spirit).  So many people reject the Church as judgmental, arrogant, close-minded, and even abusive.  Their attitude towards Jesus is similar, given what they have seen and heard…

Easter 4, Year C-2022                               May 8, 2022 at Holy Spirit, Vashon   By the Reverend Martin Yabroff   Opening prayer – Lord, open our ears that we may hear the words you have for us.  And open our hearts that we may receive the grace by which you have brought us together for reasons we may not yet fully understand . . . .   Introducing me:  retired last Fall from St. Andrew’s, Tacoma, where I served as Rector for 14 years.  I have been blessed to know Sarah Colvin as a colleague and friend, and I miss her with you.  You are in transition – liminal time, between ending and beginning anew – as am I in retiring from full-time parish ministry and seeking what this next chapter will be like. Today is a special day in both our American cultural calendar and in the Church calendar.  In our…

“Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” The book of Revelation is so misunderstood, and so we avoid it, and it gets even more misunderstood. During this year, lectionary year C Eastertide, you will hear quite a number of readings from the Book of Revelation. If you remember nothing else about the book of Revelation (Or book of apocalypse) according to St. John of Patmos, remember it is not a predictive text of the future, instead this is a vision or dream… However, what it truly IS a word of hope to a community who was experiencing suffering and rigors of martyrdom, persecution, and internal conflict about belonging. John of Patmos knows well these churches to whom he writes, and he is clear that salvation from Christ is for all, that we ALL belong to God. Every community, every sinner, every single one…

The two main stories of the Christian life, here we are: Christmas and Easter. These stories juxtapose nicely. In one, we are like proud parents or grandparents cooing over the little baby Jesus, no crying he makes. And then there is Easter… Houston, we have a problem. Dead people are supposed to remain dead, and preferably where you left them. Although the surprise has worked its way out of the story due to familiarity; can you imagine what this was like the first morning? It seems happy now, but I imagine that for the original disciples this was absolutely terrifying. I think about the fearful disciples, losing Jesus twice. In 2004, I was deployed to Gulfport, MS after hurricane Katrina. Because of the timing of when I was sent, we were identifying remains from coffins that had washed out due to the high waters. These families were faced with so…