• Content

  • Pages

  • Upcoming Events

    • Sunday service - Holy Communion December 28, 2025 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.comTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID:…
    • Sunday service - Morning Prayer January 4, 2026 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.comTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)        +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)Meeting ID:…
    • Sunday service - Holy Communion January 11, 2026 at 9:30 am – 11:00 am Grace Church 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon, VT As of January 16, 2022 our service online only (via Zoom). Website: www.gracechurchsheldon.orgTime:  09:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)        Every week on Sun.Join Zoom Meetinghttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83929911344?pwd=alZQTWZMN0ZkWFFPS1hmNjNkZkU2UT09Meeting ID: 839 2991 1344Password: Call for detailsOne tap mobile+13126266799,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (Chicago)+19294362866,,83929911344#,,1#,816603# US (New York)Dial by your location        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) …

Pentecost 17 Proper 19 B RCL September 16, 2018

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Beth Crane

Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38

In our first reading today, Wisdom calls the people to return to God, to respond to God’s call. Wisdom is always a female figure. Wisdom is considered to be a part of God, an aspect of God, who was present at the creation. Jesus is often thought of as being one with Wisdom. Herbert O’ Driscoll says, “ Wisdom expresses the mind of God.” (The Word Among Us, Year B, Vol 3, p. 102.) Wisdom practice is designed to help us attune our minds to the mind of God and to follow the will of God.

Our passage from the Letter of James is also considered to be wisdom literature. It gives guidance on how to live our lives in harmony with God’s will.  Much of today’s reading focuses on that very small but very powerful part of our body, the tongue. James tells us that it is easier to control the rudder of a ship that it is to control our tongues.

Biblical scholar Beverly Gaventa quotes that old adage that we all recited when we were children: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Gaventa writes, “The lines carry within themselves their own contradiction, for if words did not in fact have the power to do harm, the lines would not be necessary.”  (Gaventa, Texts for Preaching Year B, p. 509.)

With social media, we can send messages to hundreds and thousands of people. We are not saying something to just one or two people. The misuse of social media to send negative messages is particularly harmful to our children and youth. We have all read or heard accounts of young people actually committing suicide because of bullying that has occurred over social media. James points out that with our tongues we can either bless or curse, and we pray that, in everything we say, we will be extending blessings.

In our gospel, Jesus has been doing healings and touching many lives. He has realized that his ministry is to all people. He has also endured verbal attacks by the religious authorities who scold him for putting the needs of people before the traditions.

In today’s reading, Jesus asks his followers who he is. They report on the opinions others have been offering. Jesus asks them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” Then Jesus tells them what is going to happen. He is going to suffer, he is going to be rejected by the authorities, he is going to be killed, and then he is going to rise again.

Peter cannot bear this, He takes Jesus aside and begins to scold him, “Lord, this simply cannot happen.” In one way or another, all of our readings today are about how we respond to God’s call. Jesus knows what he is called to do. His revolution of the spirit is so frightening to the authorities that they are going to kill him. He is going to suffer.

I think Peter is responding to this on at least two levels. First, he loves Jesus. He has left everything and followed this man, and now Jesus has become like a big brother to him. He cannot bear the idea of Jesus suffering and dying.

Secondly, there are two strains of thought regarding the messiah. One is that the messiah will come as a conquering hero, defeat the oppressor—in this case, the Roman Empire—and establish a new kingdom, the reign of God. It’s one thing to be following a military hero who achieves a military victory. It is another thing to be following a leader who suffers and dies. Prophets such as Isaiah clearly present the concept of the suffering servant, and Peter knows this, but it is still very difficult to hear.

But let us consider how Jesus is feeling. He knows what he is called to do. But now his dear friend Peter, the one who will lead the apostles, is saying that this simply cannot happen. He loves Peter. He knows Peter is emotional and impulsive at times, but Peter is the one who has recognized Jesus as the Savior. When Peter tells Jesus that our Lord’s description of his death and resurrection can’t be true, it tempts Jesus to waver in his resolve. And that is why our Lord says, “Get behind me, Satan.” Peter is tempting Jesus to veer from the path he is called to walk. Peter is setting his mind on earthly things instead of heavenly things.

And then Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him. He calls us to lose our lives for his sake. That does not necessarily mean dying for his sake, but it does mean putting heavenly things above earthly things.

If we go back to the theme of Wisdom as expressing the mind of God, or the mind of Christ, following Jesus means that we are called to make our minds and hearts one with his mind and heart. This means that we are called to be people of love and compassion, to care about others as our Lord did.

As we pray our collect for today, we are asking that we nay follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all things. That is what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus— to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all things. When we do that, we are following our Good Shepherd, who is leading us into new life,  Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Pentecost 16 Proper 19B RCL September 13, 2015

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Beth Crane

Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38

Our first reading today is from the Book of Proverbs. Wisdom is portrayed as a woman. Herbert O’Driscoll says that wisdom is “a part of God, an aspect of God. The figure of wisdom expresses the mind of God.” Wisdom, or Sophia in Greek, is often associated with our Lord. Wisdom is more than ordinary knowledge. O’Driscoll writes, “We are being asked to consider a relationship with God as the deepest and richest knowledge of all.”

In our gospel for today. Jesus and his disciples are in Caesarea Philippi. They have gone beyond Galilee into a major center of the Roman Empire where troops were brought for rest and recuperation.

Jesus asks the disciples a question. “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples tell Jesus what they have been hearing. Some people are saying that Jesus is John the Baptist come back to life; some are saying that he is the prophet Elijah, and some say that he is a prophet. Jesus is getting a report on what they have been hearing on the street.

But them he asks that searching question, “But who do you say that I am?” This changes the situation from giving a report to expressing our beliefs. Immediately, Peter says, “You are the messiah.”

At that time, most people believed that the messiah was going to be a great military leader like King David who would go out into battle, against the Roman Empire, defeat the Romans, and bring about a revolution in which the reign of God would begin on earth.  In one way or another, we can assume and imagine that the people following Jesus were beginning to think that this was what he was going to do.

So, when Jesus begins to say that he is gong to suffer and that he is going to be rejected by all the authorities, and he is going to be killed, this simply does not fit the expected scenario. We can imagine that the disciples were in shock. Here they thought they were going to be part of a triumphal military revolution, and now they are hearing that their leader is doomed. What if Winston Churchill had said he was gong to die and we were going to be defeated in World War Two?

We would have been shocked. Well, Peter was shocked, He took Jesus aside and tried to tell him, “Lord, you’re mistaken. This can’t happen!”

When you know that you are called to do something that is going to be very difficult and painful and will probably cost you your life, you need the support and understanding of those closest to you. In Isaiah and other prophets, there is another understanding of the messiah. The messiah is the servant who carries out a quiet but very powerful revolution that will change the world. It is a revolution of peace and harmony. It is God’s shalom. But Peter did not want to hear about that. And that hurt Jesus. It was difficult enough for him to walk the way of the cross, and he needed his friends to help him to do that, not to try to argue him out of it.

That is why Jesus told Peter to get behind him. Get out of the way. That is why he called him Satan, Adversary. Because Peter was like an attorney arguing Jesus out of the way he knew he was called to go. Peter had dreams of following a General Eisenhower or a General Colin Powell to victory and Jesus was talking about dying on a humiliating instrument of torture called the cross.

To be sure, Peter loved Jesus and he didn’t want his Lord to have to go through that. We want the best for those we love. We don’t want them to suffer. So Peter said what he said, and Jesus said what he said, and other things happened, and later the two of them reconciled all that.

But the bottom line is that our Lord is calling us to take up our cross and follow him. Sometimes that involves choices that the world thinks are crazy. Somebody has a great job and is making lots of money and moving up the career ladder and they feel a call to work with an NGO in Zimbabwe or work with adolescents in a juvenile correctional facility or teach kids in Thailand or go into the Peace Corps at a fraction of the salary. Yet when you see them, they have an unmistakeable serenity and joy. That’s what it means to take up our cross. People may scratch their heads and wonder what in the world we are doing, but we know it’s what our Lord is calling us to, and we find a deep joy in answering that call.

When we lose our life for Jesus’ sake, we are not jumping into a black hole of destruction or hurting ourselves. We are allowing him to free us from our limited ideas of what life is about. We are the little seed jumping into the fertile soil and growing into a field of wheat. We are a little creature clutching onto a rock and finally letting go and allowing ourselves to be part of a loving, flowing current. We are becoming part of his shalom.

We live in him. He lives in us. We become one with him. There is much joy in that. There is much peace in that.

If we are following our Lord, we will also be following wisdom, and our tongues will speak words of compassion because our hearts are filled with compassion and our lives are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ.

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with  you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »