May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer.

Well, beloved, in the three weeks since I last had the honor of preaching with you, I wish I could say that the great storm of this pandemic has passed us by. But alas, we are still in the midst of it. And it is only in faith that we can say that Jesus is saving us from the storm. We do not yet have the benefit of hindsight to say exactly how he’s saving us, as he did Peter. So this morning, I want to talk about how we can prepare ourselves for better perceiving God’s saving acts as they happen in our personal lives and as a community. And I want to use the story of Elijah from our first reading to do so.

Isaiah 55:1-5 – Psalm 145:8-9, 15-22 – Romans 9:1-5 – Matthew 14:13-21

It has been impossible for me to hear the readings for today without remembering, so long ago it seems now, this community gathered around the altar at St. Paul’s, our hands reaching out to receive the body and blood of Christ.

When you heard the words from Isaiah, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat,” did you find yourself recalling and longing for Holy Communion? I did.

When you heard the evangelist Matthew describe Jesus blessing and breaking the loaves, and giving them to the disciples, did you see in your mind’s eye the host being lifted up, broken, and shared among us? I did.

The Gospel reading today marks the end of a series of parables that Jesus tells to his disciples to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. Many thanks to Elise and Isaac who so ably shared the parable of the sower and the parable of the wheat and weeds in the last two weeks. Three Sundays of “The Kingdom of Heaven is like….” Do we think we understand? It is certain that Jesus used the images common in the lives of his hearers to describe the uncommon, unknowable, and extraordinary. The words of one commentary drew all six parables together for me: the Kingdom of Heaven is many-splendored but we see glimpses through the parables. “Jesus held the Kingdom up to the light, turned it as a prism, and, in parables, told us what he saw. Listen, enjoy, ponder”, the writer encourages. Let the parables do their work in us as they did in Jesus’ followers.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

It’s hard to believe, beloved, but it’s now been over four months since we have been able to gather in person for our worship. And I’m finding there is more bleakness in my heart now than when this strange new life took hold. The physical threat of a dangerous virus grows once more. Our nation yet again reckons with the reality that Black, brown, Asian, and indigenous lives seem to matter less, but with much rancor and division. Economic and psychological damage takes an increasing toll on tens of millions of people and any sense of certainty is painfully minimal.

Isaiah 55:10-13 – Psalm 65:1-14 – Romans 8:1-11 – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Jesus’ parable of the sower comes around every three years, and always in the summer. Although I know there is a deeper, spiritual meaning to this story of seeds and their various fates, I love that in our context, there is a convergence between the agricultural imagery of Jesus and the burgeoning summer harvest in New England.

Many of Jesus’ parables rely on experiences that are less familiar to us – shepherds and sheepgates, mustard seeds and bushes, lords and servants and winepresses, and all that. But even the most urban among us have probably played around with herbs in our windowsills or container gardens on the balcony; even if we haven’t done these things ourselves, they have become part of our culture in recent years.

When I was young I went to church every Sunday with my mom and my sisters. It is where my faith journey began; it is where God took hold of me, although I didn’t know it then. What I knew was that church school mattered and the prayers we recited Sunday after Sunday in Morning Prayer kept me listening for the words I most especially loved. “The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.” “O come let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.” “O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song.” The Collect for Peace, The Collect for Grace, The General Thanksgiving, and The Prayer of St. Chrysostom. Now, since worshiping with the Sisters of St. Anne who host our diaconate formation weekends, I cannot hear the closing prayer, “Glory to God whose power working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine….” without hearing Sister Ana Clara’s voice.