Proper 10.B.18
Amos 7:7-15
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

“Amos is tough. Amos is blunt. Amos says things that no one wished to hear 2,800 years ago; and things no one much wishes to hear today.” (John Holbart) To be frank about it, Amos is a chief ruffler of feathers.

The Bible tells us that Amos was called to the task of prophesy sometime in the middle of the eighth century before the Common Era. And his task was to speak of the matter of justice.

Trinity B.6.18
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Proper 8.B.18
Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Mark 5:21-43
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

We Episcopalians are a liturgized people. Unlike our Protestant friends, we are not a confessional church; nor do we possess a majesterium, pronouncing definitive moral judgements for us from on high. What we have, in essence, is our worship. Lex orandi Lex credendi. A belief which, loosely translated means that praying shapes believing. In other words, how we worship, shapes what we believe. Sometimes, this can be taken quite literally.

Proper 9.B.18
Mark 6:1-13
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Proper 4.B.18
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Proper 7.B.18
Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

David & Goliath is one of the great biblical stories. It has all of the elements making for a fine tale: an improbable hero as well as an evil protagonist, a slim chance for success, daring and action and, at the final moment, victory. From a theological point of view, it is a story of how God chooses the weak among us to shame the proud, and in the form of a short story it tells us that “pride goeth before a fall.”

Pentecost.B.18
Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

“When the day of Pentecost had come, the apostles were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”

6 Easter.B.18
Acts 10:44-48
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

The American naturalist, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau once said “Things do not change, we do.” That may be true. But it doesn’t make change any less difficult. Take today’s lesson from the Book of Acts as a case in point.

5 Easter.B.18
Acts 8:26-40
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

These weeks following the resurrection of Jesus bless us with stories of our Savior’s followers as they begin to make their way in the world, living out what they had seen and heard of Jesus. Today’s story is familiar to many of us. Philip baptizes the Ethiopian.

2 Easter.B.18
John 20:19-31
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

In an exquisitely beautiful sermon called “The Seeing Heart”, Frederick Buechner writes: “How can we believe that Christ is alive when we haven't seen him? I believe the sun rose this morning because there it is in the sky above us. I believe you and I are alive because here we are looking at each other. But when it comes to this central proclamation and holiest mystery of Christian faith that after his death Jesus returned to life and is alive to this day, how can we believe that?