As a little boy, I was lucky to worship with my mother in lieu of consignment to Sunday School. I loved Mass: the music, the vestments, the incense, the ceremonies. But more than anything else, I wanted to receive Holy Communion. Not only did I want to join my mother at the communion rail, I wanted to receive Jesus. I was told – and believed – that the Mass changed the bread and wine into the…
I am a married, monogamous heterosexual male. But does that automatically make me qualified for ordination than an uncommitted, promiscuous lesbian? Conservative Christians would say, “Yes” to me, even though I’ve not yet been to seminary, but “No” to the uncommitted, promiscuous lesbian, even if she had earned a Summa Cum Laude Doctor of Sacred Theology degree and exuded enough charisma to pastor a sky-high parish of 4,000 pledging units with a seven million dollar budget and a liturgy beyond…
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…
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…
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…
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?…
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…
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”…