SERMON ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION – AUGUST 19, 2007 – ST PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Lessons: Revelations: 11:19-12:6 Psalm 132:7-10;14-17 John: 19:25-27 Collect BCP Page 243 + In the Name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. Amen. Early last month, I traveled from Palm Springs to Pasadena for a mediation. For those of you who are not lawyers, that’s a meeting between attorneys, their clients, and a neutral facilitator to try and get a case settled so as to avoid a trial.  I guess that’s what Christian lawyers are supposed to do.  Now, a trip to Pasadena…

Read the full post

MY SERMON ON THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION: WELCOME JESUS INTO YOUR HEART

St. Paul’s Pomona May 31, 2006 Feast of the Visitation OT: Genesis 18 1-18 Psalm: 113 Gospel: Luke 1:39-44 David Justin Lynch, Esquire + In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. I like entertaining visitors at my house, particularly dinner guests.  Part of that is my feeling of anticipation of their arrival as I get the food and the table ready and my wife tidies up the house.  As the hour for the arrival of my guests draws…

Read the full post

SERMON ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

December 30, 2007 – First Sunday After Christmas St. John’s Episcopal Church, Indio, CA RCL Propers: Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147; John 1:1-18 + In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. AMEN. When I was growing up, I found the space program fascinating. As a nine-year old in 1961, which incidentally was the year I was confirmed, I thought that the cosmonauts would find God when they rocketed into space. After all, as a kid I was told “God…

Read the full post

WHAT IS EVERLASTING LIFE?

If someone asks me, “Why are you a Christian”, I answer one word: Easter. Arising and walking out of a tomb is an exciting concept. Who wants to die? Will those who have died someday get up and walk around? Will the dry bones come to life, as in Ezekiel 37:1-14, which we heard at Easter Vigil? Or will the bones disintegrate, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, as we were told on Ash Wednesday when we received our ashes?…

Read the full post

LET’S ELIMINATE SEXISM IN THE CHOIR ROOM!

Twenty-First Century America features men and women as fellow professionals  everywhere.  Nowwhere is this more true than in my own profession, that of an attorney. My law firm features men and women serving with distinction as partners, associates, and support staff.  We’ve come a long way from the days when Ruth Bader Ginsberg, now on the United State Supreme Court, was told after passing the New York Bar Examination that a prominent New York Law firm that they would hire…

Read the full post

GETTING CLOSE TO GOD

What is an “assumption?” An “assumption” occurs when God takes a person physically into heaven. When one is “assumed,” one encounters God and comes into God’s presence without death. On August 15, many Christians celebrate the Assumption of Our Lady in Glory. Yes, I know it’s not in the Bible as a historical event like the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  But let’s leave aside that debate.  The real question for Christians is how the concept of “assumption”…

Read the full post

PRAY FOR PEACE EVERYWHERE – SERMON ON THE FEAST OF ST. MARTIN OT TOURS

FEAST OF ST. MARTIN OF TOURS St. Paul’s Episcopal Church November 11, 2006 Preaching: David Justin Lynch, Esquire OT:Micah 4:1-4         Psalm:122     Gospel:Matthew 25:34-40             + In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. AMEN.             In December 1995, in my first month after admission to the practice of law, a man came to me for legal advice. He was upper middle class and could afford to pay me.  Believe me, I really needed the money, as I…

Read the full post

THIS LOVELY FRAGRANCE; WHEN INCENSE IS CONSPICUOUS BY ITS ABSENCE

A song I sang as a boy chorister began, “What is this lovely fragrance wafting like to the scents of flowers in spring?” I recall neither the rest of it nor the author’s intended meaning, but the words remind me of incense. The late Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, in his book, The Gospel and the Catholic Church, recognized that the intellectual insights of evangelical Anglicans are a valuable contribution to the life of the church, not the least of…

Read the full post
X
X