Easter Sunday Joy!

Easter Sunday - April 9, 2023 – 10am service

Baptisms: Elias and Annalise

The Acts of the Apostles 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Matthew 28:1-10

I am so grateful to be gathered with all of you this morning to celebrate the joy of Jesus’ resurrection on this Easter Sunday. There’s something extra-special about the joy we celebrate this morning…. I know there are many other joyful occasions we celebrate…such as Christmas, one’s birthday, the birth of a new baby or grandchild, high school or college graduation, new jobs, weddings, a clean bill of health…to name just a few…

But there’s something about Easter that brings an abundance of joy to this day….there’s the beautiful flowers, all the people gathered here today, the music, the scriptures…and of course, one of the highlights of today is that we will baptize Elias and Annalise, and welcome them into the “household of God”….the family of God...

But, there’s something else about this special joy we celebrate on Easter morning…

It’s a joy that has perhaps been pushed aside for too long, because of our fears, our grief, our daily worries….

It’s a joy that perhaps, we’ve been longing for, after going through some particularly troubling times…

It’s a joy that grows and bursts forth from the depth of our hearts, where the love of God dwells within us…

It’s a joy that proclaims that death does not have the final say…

It’s a joy that proclaims new life, not just for today, but every day we choose to walk the way of love with the risen Christ Jesus……Christ has arisen, Alleluia.

And it is indeed a joy for us to be witness to the wonderful, good news story we just listened to, as proclaimed in the gospel of Matthew…

I think what I love most about the resurrection story according to Matthew…is that the joy is palpable….even in the midst of so much fear and chaos and uncertainty…As I listen to or read this scripture passage, I feel my heart rise and fall and rise again with a joy and a hope that cannot stand still any more….or keep quiet any longer…I sense the spirit prompting me to GO! And share this exciting, good news with someone else…that the tomb is empty…Jesus is not there – He is risen! Alleluia!  

It’s one of those stories that’s surely meant to be shared with others…it’s a joy-filled, hope-filled message that our hurting and fearful world needs to hear…it’s a good news, joyful news story…that has the power to transform people’s lives…through sharing the love of God, as revealed to us, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ…

At the time of our baptisms, in our baptismal covenant…we make a vow to proclaim boldly, by word and example, the Good News of God in Christ: The good news, the joyful news, the hope-filled news that Jesus Christ is Risen… The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

In just a few moments, we will renew our baptismal covenant, along with those about to be baptized…Elias and Annalise…

It’s an opportunity for all of us to begin again, together, on this joyful Easter Sunday…by saying yes, as the church of God, the household of God, the family of God, to following Jesus and his way of love and life proclaimed so boldly for us…

And to re-affirm our commitment to proclaim boldly, by word and example, the Good News of God in Christ…. The good news, the joyful news, the hope-filled news that Jesus Christ is Risen… The Lord is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

Rev Julie Platson, Rector

St Peter’s by the sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, Alaska

Hymn after sermon: (WLP) 738  - Day of delight and beauty unbounded

Day of delight and beauty unbounded,

tell the news, the Gospel spread!

Day of all wonder, day of all splendor,

tell Christ risen from the dead!

1        Sing of the sun from darkness appearing,

          sing of the seed from barren earth greening,

          sing of creation, alleluia!

          Sing of the stream from Jesus’ side flowing;

          sing of the saints in water made holy;

          sing of salvation, alleluia!

          Refrain

2        Sing now of mourning turned into dancing,

          sing now the myst’ry, hope of our glory,

          sing with thanksgiving, alleluia!

          Sing now of fasting turned into feasting,

          sing the Lord’s favor lasting forever;

          sing all things living, alleluia!

          Refrain

Good Friday Sermon by The Rev Kellan Day

The Hour Has Come, Good Friday – April 7, 2023

The Rev. Kellan Day is the assistant rector at Church of the Incarnation in Highlands, North Carolina. She is a graduate of The School of Theology at the University of the South. Kellan and her spouse, Kai, relish time outside – climbing, hiking with their dog, and sitting on porches with friends.

The hour has come.

For much of John’s Gospel, it was not the hour. It was not the hour when Mary, his mother, told Jesus about wine running out at the wedding. It was not yet the hour when Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well. It was not quite the hour, as Jesus preached and healed and made his way toward Jerusalem.

But the hour finally came; it arrived as Jesus said it would. The hour of the Passover, the hour of Jesus’ suffering, the hour of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Yet, in this “hour,” that time is warped. The hour unfolds and doesn’t it feel like eternity? An eternity that passes like a millisecond. We know not how it began, only that it did, and suddenly too: an arrest, a trial, a betrayal, a flogging, an execution, a death, his death. The hour has come, the Lord confirms for us, when he offers: “It is finished,” and he breathed his last.

It is an hour, a time, a moment, that our lives are forever marked by. How could it not change everything? It is during this hour when our humanity is revealed, exposed, unmasked.

Our humanity is revealed in Judas, who gives Jesus up to the authorities for a sack of silver. Greed or cowardice or infidelity, pick the one that fits you best. Which one is it: profit or fear or fantasy that has power over our lives?

We hear an echo of our own voice in Pilate’s famous question: “What is truth?” a question reverberating throughout the halls of time. We ask the question in college seminars and in moments of confusion and as mass media empires regale us. We love to ask the question, but I wonder whether we’re as interested in the answer.

We see in the mirror, looking back at us, a version of Peter, fearful or embarrassed or nervous to be associated with the recently arrested Jesus, denying our involvement, protesting our connection. We, too, would rather not be related to those other Christians or with religious people in general, and so we never let Jesus’ name slip off our lips. We deny our involvement.

And yet, there we are also, present with the women at the foot of the cross. Sorrowful and shocked. Overwhelmed and nauseated by the violence but unwilling to move away, bearing witness to his life and now his death, for where else could we go, to whom else could we go?

We see in Mary’s eyes, our own anguish. We see in her exhausted body our own defeats. Our own nightmares made real. We see her, and we stand near her, we bear her weight, we hold her tight. We refuse to leave.

We, too, are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, showing up at the eleventh hour, but showing up nevertheless, bearing the weight of his corpse, anointing his stiffening body with spices, wrapping it in linens, laying it, ever so gently and tenderly, tears rushing forth as his body is placed into the hewn rock.

What has this hour revealed us to be? Who have we been?

We are fickle and violent and tremendous and terrible and loving and paralyzed and overwhelmed and cowardly and touchingly gentle and intrepid and filled with an astonishing sorrow.

Because of the truth of ourselves, because of what we uncovered at this hour, and what we discover still to this day, our next question is all the more essential: What has this hour revealed about God?

If we are who we are, who has God been for us?

Jesus, in light of the many faces we humans can put on, shows us his face: a face set, with resolute conviction, toward our redemption. He is unmoored, resolute, afraid yet willing. He is pure love, love to the bitter end.

John’s Gospel narrates Jesus’ commitment to our redemption with precision and craft.

 Jesus, in John’s Gospel, is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. He is the one who will be killed for our redemption, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. The timing of his death means everything. The hour is here, and Jesus is executed on the day of preparation, when all the unblemished lambs were sacrificed, in preparation for the Passover. He is the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

And yet, there’s more.

John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus wears a tunic with no seams. A detail most of us quickly gloss over, given the powerful presence of the cross and the tomb. But let us linger on this seamless tunic for just a moment. The soldiers cast lots for it; it was a prize to be won. It was likely beautiful, like he was beautiful, but it was also in one piece. A singular garment for a singular ministry. But more importantly, it is the tunic of a priest, the seamless garment that a priest would don on the Day of Atonement. Such a day was when Israel’s sins were wiped clean, forgiven by the sacrifices made by a priest. 

Jesus goes to the cross as a presider, as a priest. He presides over his own passion with tears and lamentation, with grief and pain, with struggle and anguish, but he presides, nonetheless. It is the liturgy of heaven on earth, it is the mass unfolding, and Jesus is our great high priest through it all. The one who offers earth to heaven and the one who brings heaven to earth. In such a liturgy, at such an hour, salvation has arrived.

Jesus goes willingly, he chooses this path, he drinks the cup, he faces the hour. He is not coerced but freely offers himself. A priest who offers a lamb, a priest who offers his own life.

This willingness on Jesus’ part, this offering of himself, does not just reveal a piece of who God is. It reveals God himself. It is an apocalypse, the Temple curtain torn in two, it is heaven split open. We see on the cross the One who set the foundations of creation, the One who created humanity, the One who drew Israel into a Covenant, the One who spoke through the prophets, the One who came as babe, wrapped in cloth.

The One on the cross is the One we worship, the One who long ago, set out to save us, who has saved us, who continues to save us.

We are who we are, and thankfully God is who God is: Devoted to us, in love with us, one of us. As lamb and priest, as host and meal, as human and divine, Jesus spends every breath of his life, until the very last one, redeeming and forgiving and saving us.

The hour has come. It is here.

Come to the foot of the cross, then, and behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Behold our high priest who intercedes for us in heaven. Behold our Savior and our God.

Maundy Thursday Sermon 2023

Maundy Thursday – April 6, 2023

(SERMON BY Chip Camden)

Readings: Exodus 12:1-4,(5-10),11-14; I Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17,31b-35; Psalm 116:1,10-17

"You will never wash my feet." Peter said.  You can hear the gears grinding in Peter's mind: "What are you doing, Jesus?  I can't let you abase yourself in this way -- not to me.  If this is some sort of loyalty test, I'll show you that I care deeply about honoring you as the Messiah.  If this is you going off the rails again like you did at Caesarea Phillipi when you talked about being killed and called me Satan, then maybe I need to set you straight.  Every time your brand is at its peak, you undercut it with something like this.  You're supposed to be sitting at God's right hand with your enemies as a footstool, not washing other people's feet like a slave!"

Jesus says, "Unless I wash you, you will have no share with me."

"Oh, I get it now, this is about cleansing.  In that case, lay it on, Jesus!  Wash me all over!  My hands and my head are particularly prone to sin, so make sure you cover those!"

Jesus' response, that the feet are enough for one who has already bathed, indicates that this isn't about purification at all.  Peter still doesn't get it.  It is rather exactly what Peter did not want to embrace: a Messiah who is a humble servant.  Jesus tells the disciples that this is to be a model for their behavior towards each other.  Servants are not above their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them, so they should not seek power over others that their Lord has refused.  Although Jesus doesn't say so here, this also reflects on the nature of God.  The Messiah is sent as a humble servant because humble service is what God does.

This is in stark contrast to the usual image of God as a powerful King sitting on His Throne.  A king needs to project an image of power to discourage disobedience, revolt, or attack.  Nor can a king be bothered by the small details of his subjects' lives -- he has more important things to occupy his limited attention.  Both of these aspects of the metaphor of kingship fall apart in the face of the infinitude of God.  If God's power is infinite, then she has no reason to fear any threat.  If God has no limit to her attention span, then she can take delight in paying loving attention to all the small details. 

As Psalm 113 says:

Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned on high

but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?

He takes up the weak out of the dust

and lifts up the poor from the ashes.

Or as Jesus says:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. (Matthew 10:29-30)

There is no paradox in God's transcendence and God's immanence -- they are one and the same thing.  Because God is not limited, God is intimately present to us in everything.  The incarnation is an expression of that willingness of God to enter into our lives, and our mutual caring for each other is part of our formation into the likeness of God.

Not all Biblical authors understood that.  Many passages in the Hebrew Bible emphasize the distance between God and humanity, at the expense of intimacy.  One such author is Qoheleth (the nom de plume of the author of Ecclesiastes):

Never be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

In Qoheleth's mind, it is better not to get God involved in your life, just as it is best not to draw the attention of a king.  How then, should one conduct one's life?  This is the primary question that the book of Ecclesiastes tries to answer.  During this Lent, I reread Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew, and one word kept popping out of the text at me: ׳תרון yitron, which is usually translated as "profit."  This specific word does not occur in any other book of the Bible, but Ecclesiastes uses it nine times, beginning with chapter 1 verse 3: "what profit is there to a man in all his labor which he labors under the sun?"  Spoiler: there isn't ultimately any profit in anything we do, according to Qoheleth, so the best one can do is to enjoy life, as vain as it is, before it gets swept away.

Even though the word yitron doesn't occur elsewhere, we can understand its meaning because it is evidently derived from a root that means "left over" or "exceeding."  A profit is what is left over in your favor from a transaction. 

It's the reason why you put money into sending a caravan across the desert to trade in a distant city -- you expect to get something back in excess of what you put into it.  Qoheleth extends this transactional model to all of life's activity.  If it doesn't give you a return on your investment, why do it?  In this Qoheleth sounds almost contemporary with us here in the twenty-first century, and like us unable to imagine any value outside that model.

And yet, in tossing aside the notion of finding any profit in life, Qoheleth brushes up against a truth: the one thing you can get out of life is enjoyment.

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and beautiful is to eat and to drink and to see goodness in all one's labor that one labors under the sun, all the days of one's life which God has given because that is one's portion. (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

We tend to hear this as an exhortation to abandon ourselves to pleasure, potentially self-destructive.  But we can also hear it as a call to deeply experience the moment, rather than to focus on outcomes.  In every experience, there can be joy -- even in the deepest sorrow, if and only if we allow ourselves to feel it deeply instead of tossing it aside as unprofitable.  This deep joy at the root of all things is where we meet the immanent God who holds the sparrow and counts the hairs of our heads.

The meaning of life isn't to be found in deriving any profit from it, but rather in experiencing it in joy, in love, in relationship.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

If we learn to find joy and love in each moment, how much more will we be able to find that love and joy in each other.  If we can see God's caring hand at work in the most minute details of our own lives, shouldn't we be able to see that love at work in the lives of others, and won't we want to take part in it?  Let us look deeply into each other's eyes, and with joy serve the divinity we see there at the great feast of life.

The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday reflection

Palm Sunday/Year A/April 2, 2023

Reflection before the Passion Gospel

Before we move into listening to the yearly Passion gospel that gives us a glimpse of what unfolds in Jesus’ life in the midst of what we call “Holy Week”…the time frame between today, Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday…and then culminating with our celebrations of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead next Sunday, Easter Day…

I want us to enter into this Holy week, with a clear understanding of whose life we are contemplating….not only through the events of what unfolds this week in the scriptures, but the complete story of Jesus’ life as revealed to us in the hearing of the scriptures throughout the entire church year… The stories that point us to Jesus, the One whose love and light and way of life in the world…has shown us and can lead us even now to discover what matters most…who matters most…loving God, loving all the God loves, loving one another, as Christ has loved us…and shown us the way…

*Read the story: Jesus, by Brian Wildsmith…

Click here to listen to a recording of this story

As we move now to contemplate the stories about Jesus and God’s people that unfold throughout Holy Week…remember…it is not the end of his story…or ours…Jesus tells us in Matthew 28… “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Instrumental Hymn after the passion gospel: (LEVS) 37 – Were you there when they crucified my Lord…

I invite you this week to consider whose life we are contemplating as we walk through Holy Week…and to ask yourself if Jesus is the One you will seek to follow all the way to the cross, to his rising from the dead on Easter Sunday…and beyond that…and to make a choice to follow him in walking the way of love in the world…

Rev Julie Platson St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, Alaska

This is the hope and the good news we can hold onto...

5 Lent/Year A/March 26, 2023

Ezekiel 37: 1-14; Psalm 130; John 11:1-45

Opening prayer: written by Nancy Johnson

Holy God, Creator of Life, you call us out of our dark places, offering us the grace of new life. When we see nothing but hopelessness, you surprise us with the breath of your spirit. Call us out of our complacency and routines, set us free from our self-imposed bonds, and fill us with your spirit of life, compassion, and peace, In the name of Jesus, your anointed one, we pray. Amen.

On the 1st Sunday in Lent, we heard the familiar gospel reading, that begins with Jesus, being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, after his baptism…

The wilderness story every year, unfolds with the devil, the tempter, Satan, challenging Jesus in his time of extreme hunger and weariness through a variety of ways…trying to tempt him to give into the empty power of the ways of the world, that leave us famished way beyond any 40 day fast in the wilderness. Jesus emerges from his time in the wilderness, having wrestled with some questions about his purpose and calling after his baptism… Bishop and author Jake Owensby posed these questions simply, and suggested that they are two questions that we ought to consider, too throughout the season of Lent: “Who or what is your God? Who are you?”

As we come to the 5th Sunday in Lent, and our final week of Lent set to begin…I’m hoping that you’ve had a chance to spend some time with these questions the past several weeks of your Lenten journey, discerning your own answers to these questions…“Who or what is your God? Who are you?”

Those questions are certainly important and profound ones to consider on this day when the gospel reading prompts us to consider what we believe about God and ourselves, in the context of death, grief, and suffering…

In our gospel reading today, the raising of Jesus’ beloved friend, Lazarus, we are given a glimpse into a story that opens to us not only a window into the lives of those experiencing the death of a loved one, but we get a glimpse of Jesus, being fully human, who was deeply immersed in the lives of others. We see that he was not just a heavenly, spiritual being only…Jesus had skin, flesh and blood, and had deep connections and relationships with others

. He experienced anger, discouragement, frustration, sadness…profound love for others…deep sorrow in his own heart…we were shown how he reached out with compassion, with empathy…and after a brief back and forth conversation with Martha and Mary, pouring out her heart over the loss of her brother, and seeing how she and the others were weeping and so deeply grieved…Jesus, too, began to weep. Jesus wept.

Weeping, crying, sobbing, tears…this is the most universal human response to what deeply grieves our hearts and unites us to Jesus and one another.

Jesus wept. We weep for our loved ones, we weep for ourselves, we weep for all those suffering, we weep for a broken world, where not everyone knows they are a beloved child of God…we weep for those who wait and long for answers in times of grief and suffering…waiting for the Lord; more than watchman for the morning… more than watchman for the morning…

Jesus knows what grieves our hearts, as human beings. And Jesus is right there with us, in the waiting, when we wrestle with so many questions, that don’t have easy answers…Jesus knows…

We can trust and believe that indeed Jesus sees us, hears us, knows us, and loves us…most especially in those times we might feel like no-one could possibly understand us or what we are going through…

This is the hope and the good news we can hold onto…

Jesus offers us hope in these words, too when he proclaims this good news:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

And then he asks the question: “Do you believe this?”

“Do you believe this?”

In our minds, from the vantage point of our being fully human…it may be hard to make sense of Jesus’ words or believe them. How can we be alive if we die, how can we never die? That’s not possible, we tell ourselves…we know that all of us will die someday…because of illness, diseases, accidents, from our bodies growing tired and breaking down…

Yet, here is one small nugget of hope that can help us believe this good news proclaimed by Jesus:  On the day of our baptism, surrounded by loved ones and our faith community, we are reminded that in life and in death, in body and in spirit, we belong to God and each other… We are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own for ever.

We belong to God, Jesus reminds us of that…our baptisms remind us of that…

Our bodies and our spirits belong to God… our baptisms remind us that we belong to one another, too…

Not just for today…but for all the days ahead…in this life, and in the life yet to come…we are marked as Christ’s own for ever…

This is the hope and the good news we can hold onto…

“Do you believe this?”

Let us pray: Hymn after sermon: (H) 335  - vs 4 & 5

4        I am the resurrection,

          I am the life.

          They who believe in me,

          even if they die,

          they shall live for ever.

And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up,

and I will raise them up on the last day.

5        Yes, Lord, we believe

          that you are the Christ,

          the Son of God

         who has come into the world.

And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up,

and I will raise them up on the last day.

Rev. Julie Platson, Rector

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, Alaska

Imagine a world… where loving God, by loving one another is the expectation…

4 Lent/ Year A/March 19, 2023

Collect of the day: Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; John 9:1-41

We are mid-way through the season of Lent according to the church calendar, or the liturgical calendar as we formally call it. There are a few historical traditions associated with this 4th Sunday in Lent.

(from An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church -  https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/)

In some church circles, notably the Catholic Church, and observed by some Episcopal parishes with a traditional Anglican-catholic piety, this fourth Sunday in Lent is known as Laetare Sunday.

The term is derived from the opening words of the Latin Mass, “Rejoice (Laetare) Jerusalem” (Is 66:10). The church is called to joyful anticipation of the victory to be won. This joyful theme provides lightening from the penitential emphasis of Lent. Since the thirteenth century the celebrant of the eucharist has been permitted to wear rose-colored vestments which express the change of tone in the Lenten observance. Laetare Sunday therefore may be called “Rose Sunday.”

This fourth Sunday in Lent is also known as Refreshment Sunday or Mothering Sunday. It was the traditional mid-Lent Sunday. It was a time of refreshment and relaxing the penitential discipline of Lent. Rose-colored vestments were allowed to take the place of the purple vestments of Lent. “Mothering Sunday” was a popular name in England for the fourth Sunday in Lent because the traditional epistle reading for the day from Paul’s letter to the Galatians states that the heavenly Jerusalem “is the mother of us all”. It was customary in some places to visit the mother church of one's diocese or chapel on this day. In other places it was customary to visit one's mother on “Mothering Sunday.” Apprentices visiting their parents on this day often took home a “mothering cake.”

(I’m still waiting for one of the fabulous bakers here at St Peter’s to bake one of these cakes for us to enjoy here on this 4th Sunday in Lent some year. But until then, come join us after the service for some other delicious refreshments).

I think we’ve probably all had an experience at one time or another…when we could use a boost…something to help get us moving in the right direction again after a time of draught or discouragement or even right now in the midst of a string of hard and heavy times for so many people…

In the season of Lent, today is the day we set aside to do just that…and we do that by reflecting on who it is that can restore and refresh our spirits…who it is that gives life to the world…

Both of those traditions that I just shared with you provide for a sacred “pause” to help us return, once AGAIN, to the source and center of our being, who gives life to the world…to take a moment to be still and rest in the presence of God, and be reminded that it is the Holy One who gives us joy and refreshment, it is the Holy One who can breathe new life into our weary souls, and it is the Holy One, the love of God made known to us in the life and teachings of Jesus, who can nourish our hearts, souls, bodies and minds to be instruments of God’s love and healing in a broken and hurting world. 

In today’s gospel reading and healing story, Jesus, as he does in nearly all of his teachings, seeks to open our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to see, through the lens of God’s love, that there is surely another way for us to to live together in this world that better reflects our love for God, and one another in a way that brings peace, hope, joy, love and healing to a broken and hurting world…and as Bishop Mark noted this week in his e-news reflection: The gospel story for this Sunday is one of blindness and sight. Jesus heals vision by calling us to see beyond the limits of our sight and expectations. (Bishop Mark Lattime).

If we are truly honest with ourselves, we can see that we are people who go through this life setting up all kinds of expectations of God, for ourselves and others….Expectations, and setting goals in life, are well and good and needed…but when expectations lead to the oppression and exclusion of others, or if we keep doing something over and over, because we’ve always done it that way, or if other well-meaning expectations fail, or our best-laid plans are upended or don’t come to fruition, we often seek to blame and judge others, or we convince ourselves that there is not another way, or that we didn’t try hard enough, or do enough to make something happen or perhaps prevent something from happening.

If our expectations are solely rooted in what we envision or what we believe we have control over, when the unexpected, when the unimaginable happens, as they will, as long as we are a living, breathing human being walking this earth…it can feel as if the very ground beneath us is falling away.

If our expectations are solely rooted in what we have always known and believed, then we are blinding ourselves from seeing where God is always doing a new thing in this world all around us…

If our expectations are solely rooted in our own needs and desires,

we are blinding ourselves from seeing the love of God, the face of Christ, in every human being we encounter…We are cutting off the very lifeline that leads to healing and reconciliation which begins and ends with the assurance of God’s love, that is intended for everyone…

Imagine a world…

·        where loving God, by loving one another is the expectation…

·        where the expectation is that we will all work towards justice and peace and reconciliation without the need for violence of any kind…

·        where the expectation is that every child is loved and cherished just as they are…

·        where the expectation is that every elder is cared for with respect and dignity…

·        where the expectation is that everyone has a place to lay down their heads to rest in a safe dwelling…

·        where the expectation is that all would have access to healthy food and nourishment every day…

Imagine a world…where our expectations of God, ourselves, and one another, are strongly rooted in the love of God made known to us in the life and teachings of Jesus, the true bread which gives life to the world, the One who can nourish our hearts, souls, bodies and minds to be instruments of God’s love and healing in a broken and hurting world….

On this 4th Sunday in Lent, let us pause to rest, refresh, rejoice and re-envision, through the lens of God’s love, our expectations of God, ourselves and one another, and seek to align our vision with God’s vision and dream of a beloved community, here on earth, where all God’s children and all of creation are healed and reconciled to one another…

Let me close with this blessing based on Psalm 23 written by Roddy Hamilton – one that I commend to you for your daily pause with God…

In the lush pastures of life that hold meeting places with love,

may your feet know the way to find them.

By the still waters of the running stream,

may your hands shape a cup in it and drink deep from it.

In the valley of death’s shadow that ever threatens,

may your sense of life find the way through.

At the banqueting table set before your enemies,

may your cup be full and overrunning.

Like the anointing oil that runs down your head,

may the blessing that is you spill into the world with eternal promise.

In the way a shepherd’s staff warms off lameness from fear,

may trust be your protective companion on the way.

Through each day’s living as it unfolds,

may goodness and mercy make their way into every moment.

At the doorway to the house of the Lord of life,

may you recognise your home and your hearth.

And in the song that makes a dwelling-place in your heart,

may its music rise in your soul.

~ written by Roddy Hamilton, and posted on Mucky Paws. http://www.nkchurch.org.uk/index.php/mucky-paws

Hymn after sermon: (LEVAS 104 -The Lord Is My Shepherd)

Rev Julie Platson, Rector

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK

Questions...2 lent sermon

2 Lent/ Year A/March 5, 2023

Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; John 3:1-17

Questions, questions, questions…we all have them…throughout our entire lives…

But, children, are especially well-known for their curiosity, their minds full of wonderings and questions that are sometimes endless…

Children never seem to tire in wanting to know who, what, when, where, why…morning, noon, and night…especially nighttime… when they should be closing their eyes to finally get some rest…And for the most part, they trust in the answers that we adults give them…even when we just answer with…I wonder about that too… I wonder, too how these things could be….

My oldest son and I had a ritual every evening before turning out the light for sleep…I would be sitting on his bed, letting him know that the time had come to turn out the light…and that’s when the questions would begin…What are we doing tomorrow? What time will we have dinner? What will we have for breakfast the next day? Where will we go on Saturday? Will grandma and grandpa come to my birthday party (that was still 5 months away!)?

I allowed quite a bit of time for his questions every night…I felt like it was important to spend this time just listening and honoring his questions…and at the same time, building a relationship with him, based on trust….offering him assurance…that even in times of not having all the answers…he could still trust…that I was listening…and that I was there with him… and that I indeed loved him and cared about him…

I think there’s something to be said about night-time and questions…for children of all ages…but especially us adults….think about yourself for a moment…How many nights, do you lay your head down on the pillow, to finally rest after a long day…and in a matter of seconds or minutes…you are wide awake…your brain is fully awake and processing everything that happened in the past day, the past few months, the past year….while simultaneously thinking about the present moment, tomorrow, next month…later next fall….Our brains are an amazing thing…too amazing at times…

But do you know what is even more amazing…God’s love for every one of us…a love so amazing and wonderful…that God gave his only Son, Jesus, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. A love so amazing and unconditional that… Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. A love so amazing and life-changing, that it has the power to save us and comfort us in times of trials and temptations, to give us hope, to give us peace of mind and heart, in times of uncertainty, in times of suffering, in times of unknowing, in times of question, after question after question… How can these things be?

I wonder if the questions seem to arise more in the night-time, because we finally rest from the busyness of doing things, whether it’s caring for loved ones at home, attending to the needs of one’s children, running all around attending to everything that needs to be done during the daylight hours…thinking it’s all on us…to do it all… and get it done today…

I wonder if the questions seem to arise more in the evening because it’s dark, or because we are fearful of something, or we’re anxious about many things, or because it’s quiet,  or that we find ourselves feeling alone for a moment… and in that moment of quiet and stillness, an inner longing and hope swells up in us, telling us that there has got to be something more to this life than running around all day, in a state of worry, concern, and fear…there has got to be more than what we think we already know and allow ourselves to believe about God, ourselves, and one another…

IN our gospel reading today, I wonder if Nicodemus, a Jewish Scholar, who was very knowledgeable on matters of Jewish law and religion, was longing to believe that there was more to know about this life…more to understand about this Jesus who seemed to be stirring up so many questions wherever he went…and challenging all he thought he knew about God and himself…

IN those hours of the night when Nicodemus’ encountered Jesus…there were lots of questions that came up for Nicodemus…and Jesus offered responses that perhaps boggled Nicodemus’ mind…yet at the same time, seemed to slowly break open Nicodemus’ heart (and mind) to hear what the Spirit was trying to teach him anew…

Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can these things be?”

The short answer, here…Love…God’s love…

A love so amazing and wonderful…that God gave his only Son, Jesus, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. A love so amazing and unconditional that… Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. A love so amazing and life-changing, that it has the power to save us and comfort us in times of trials and temptations, to give us hope, to give us peace of mind and heart, in times of uncertainty, in times of suffering, in times of unknowing, in times of question, after question after question… How can these things be?

I like to imagine Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night…as a young child again…allowing himself to ask questions through the heart of a child…a heart full of curiosity and wonder…allowing himself to grow closer to comprehending the mystery of God and God’s love for all people..

I wonder if we might try that? Instead of lying awake at night worrying and thinking we have to answer all of life’s difficult questions all by ourselves…we go to talk with Jesus with a seeker’s heart, as a child of God, curious and wondering….

But, not only at night time…but, in the morning, the day time…today, tomorrow, and the next day….go to Him, by spending time with Him, getting to know more…about earthly things and heavenly things…physical things and spiritual things…getting to know more about God’s love…God’s dream for the world, for you, for me, for our neighbors…

Do this, by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word, spend time in prayer, time in silence, time in worship and sabbath-keeping…

Do this, by striving to build loving relationships with one another, built upon the love of God that has been so graciously poured out for every one of us…

A love so amazing and wonderful…that God gave his only Son, Jesus, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. A love so amazing and unconditional that… Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him… A love so amazing and life-changing, that it has the power to save us and comfort us in times of trials and temptations, to give us hope, to give us peace of mind and heart, in times of uncertainty, in times of suffering, in times of unknowing, in times of question, after question after question… How can these things be?

Let us pray: (Hymn: Lord of all hopefulness)

1          Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy,

            whose trust, ever child-like, no cares could destroy,

            be there at our waking, and give us, we pray,

            your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day.

2          Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith,

            whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe,

            be there at our labors, and give us, we pray,

            your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day.

3          Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace,

            your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace,

            be there at our homing, and give us, we pray,

            your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day.

4          Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,

            whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm,

            be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray,

            your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.

Rev Julie Platson, Rector

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK

Time to wrestle with the difficult questions

1 Lent/ Year A

February 26, 2023

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Matthew 4:1-11

Opening prayer: God of the wilderness, your Spirit leads us to face the truth, unprotected and exposed: in our times of trial help us to resist the worship of empty power, so that we may find our true food in Jesus Christ, the broken bread. Amen.  (Prayers for an Inclusive Church 2009)

Every year, on the 1st Sunday in Lent, we hear a similar version of today’s gospel reading, that begins with Jesus, being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, after his baptism…

The wilderness story every year, unfolds with the devil, the tempter, Satan, challenging Jesus in his time of extreme hunger and weariness through a variety of ways…trying to tempt him to give into the empty power of the ways of the world, that leave us famished way beyond any 40 day fast in the wilderness. Jesus emerges from his time in the wilderness, having wrestled with some questions about his purpose and calling after his baptism… Bishop and author Jake Owensby poses these questions simply, and suggests that they are two questions that we ought to consider, too: “Who or what is your God? Who are you?”

We might want to keep these two questions close to us…in our heart, mind, and prayer life… as we move through these 40 days of lent in the church year and as we draw closer to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, the true Bread of Life, on Easter Day.

Lent is a season of the church year when we are invited to go a little deeper to wrestle with the more difficult and challenging questions we face in our daily lives, to help us discern our identities, the purpose of our life and being in this world…

This Lenten season…I, personally, will be considering these questions in relation to the first temptation in today’s gospel reading:

The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

I will also be considering the two questions, this scripture verse, in the context of our Baptismal Covenant…to help me discern who God is calling me to be as a beloved child of God, and in my relationships with all those I’ll encounter in the coming weeks, and throughout my life…

Especially focusing on these two questions from our Baptismal Covenant:

*Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

*Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

I invite you this week, as we begin the season of Lent, if you haven’t already…to consider taking on a Lenten practice that will help you wrestle with some of the questions that are troubling you, challenging you, tempting you to turn away from God and others…take time for silence to just be in the presence of the Holy One…find a prayer partner to connect with, engage in some 1:1 visits with someone, join together with others in the book group, or other online offerings…Be intentional and engaged in something that will help you let go of all the worldly concerns, the worship of empty power, that leaves you chronically famished and hungry, knowing that there has to be something more to this life..…

Set aside time throughout these coming weeks to discern “Who or what is your God? Who are you?”

Take time to discover who God is calling you to be, as a beloved child of God, and in your relationships with those you will encounter in the coming weeks, and throughout your lifetime… Set aside time, every day - to be fed and nourished with the life-giving love and spirit of God,  by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

HYMN: I am the bread of life

1        I am the bread of life;

          they who come to me shall not hunger;

          they who believe in me shall not thirst.

          No one can come to me

          unless the Father draw them.

                             And I will raise them up, And I will raise them up

                             and I will raise them up on the last day.

2        The Bread that I will give

          is my Flesh for the life of the world,

          and they who eat of this bread,

          they shall live for ever.

          And I will raise them up, And I will raise them up

        and I will raise them up on the last day.

Rev. Julie Platson, Rector

St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, Alaska

Giving thanks for the light, love and glory of God...

Last Sunday after the Epiphany/ Year A

February 19, 2023

Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

Opening prayer: God our light, make us attentive to your Word as to a lamp shining in a dark place, that seeing your truth we may live faithful lives until that great day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. Amen. (Feasting on the Word: Worship Companion)

Today we celebrate the last Sunday of the Epiphany Season…a season of the church year, in which we have spent time with the scriptures that have helped us to reflect on the identity of Jesus Christ, whose birth and coming into the world, as the long-awaited Savior…we celebrated on Christmas Day…

We celebrated the true light that came into being, which we believe is Jesus, whose presence among us came to scatter the darkness of the world...by bringing signs of love, joy, peace, and hope to God’s people, once again…. And throughout the season of Epiphany, our scriptures have focused on helping us to see that indeed Jesus is the light of all his people…a true light….who came into the world to enlighten all people… “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”  John 1:4...

This life, this light, this glorious light…was a gift from God, which revealed God’s incredible love for all of us….                                                         

It was only a seemingly few short weeks ago that we began the Epiphany Season…beginning with the visitation of the wise men, bringing gifts for this newborn king…And looking above us here in the church…the stars hanging above us, have been a weekly reminder and inspiration of the gift given for us…and a lasting gift to light the way for us…as we get ready to embark on a new season in the church year….

Reflecting back to the 1st Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordon River…in which the Spirit of God descending like a dove, alighted on Jesus, and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

And here we are, several weeks later, and on the last Sunday after the Epiphany, ending with basically, the same words, that we began with on the 1st Sunday after the Epiphany, at the time of Jesus’ Baptism: “from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased”…

Only this time, these words are heard from the mountain top…with a few additional words: “listen to him!”

In our reading from 2nd Peter today…we heard an eyewitness account from Peter regarding the experience on the mountain, when he says, For he (Jesus) received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain…. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. 

“listen to him!” You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

Listen to him….in the voice of the Majestic Glory that is spoken from the mountain tops…Listen to him…as you look up to the mountains, or climb them….Stay there for awhile… listen for the Spirit of God’s word for you….Watch for the glory of Christ’s presence among you…be transformed by his glorious light and life….

But don’t stop there…stuck in the amazement of the glorious light that shines before you…perhaps in a life changing moment…when you realize that yes, I do believe….that Jesus is the Son of God…that he is the beloved one…that Jesus is the light of the world…that he is the one who we are called to follow and help transform the world from the nightmare it seems to be at times…(as presiding Bishop Michael Curry often says) to the dream of God’s beloved community…where all people know that they matter to God, and to one another…

And consider this… after you allow yourself to abide in that moment of awe and awakening to something more than you could adequately explain with words…the time comes when you must descend that mountain…you must return to your walk in the world…where you will seek to do God’s will…where you will strive to listen to him….and strive to keep your eyes open to be led by the light of Christ’s presence among us, always….

There are so many moments around us daily, where God is seeking to get our attention, calling out to us: “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” and calling us to return to Him…and to the center of our being….where Christ’s love is burning in our hearts…overflowing with the love that we are being called to share with the world…overflowing with the Good News of God, in Christ…that we are being called to proclaim by word and example to the world around us….

There are so many opportunities for each one of us to reveal the power of Christ’s transforming light and love to others…as we seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves; and strive for justice and peace among all people,  and respect the dignity of every human being….

But we have to take time, daily… to listen deeply…to hear what the Spirit of God is speaking to his people…so that we will respond from the center of our being, where Christ’s light and love will shine forth, through all of our words and in all of our actions…

Next Sunday, will be the first Sunday in Lent…we will return once again to Jesus’ baptism….to what begins immediately after his baptism…when he is led up by the Spirit into the wilderness…for 40 days…

We will be embarking on this journey with Jesus, as we enter this season of the church year in which we are invited to observe this season of Lent, as a time of introspection and self-reflection, and a time to be intentional about listening more deeply to God, ourselves, and others. (Living Well through Lent 2017: Listening With All Your heart, Souls, Strength, and Mind).

This year’s new Living Well Through Lent Devotional focuses on Practicing Compassion with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind…and begins with setting aside time to be intentional about listening more deeply to God, ourselves and others…

I would like to encourage you to take one of the devotionals for yourself…maybe another one to give to someone else…or take one of the daily Way of Love Lent calendars…and during the next several weeks, through the start of Holy Week…take time to visit with others…in person, or by phone, as needed…spend some time just checking in with each other, and spend some of that time talking about what’s coming to light for you in your readings from the devotional, the way of love calendar…or some other Lenten practice you take on in the next several weeks…

Epiphany has been a season of light and glory and majesty and booming voices from heaven speaking to us…about life…about the meaning of life…what matters...and who matters…

But next week, beginning on Ash Wednesday, in which we are reminded of our mortality and death, we will enter a new season of the church year that will teach us another way that God speaks to his people about the meaning of life… through silence…

No matter the season of the church year we find ourselves in… it is always the time to “listen to him!” …the Spirit of God….we will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.

As we come to end of this church season…

My heart is overflowing with gratitude for the beautiful stars that have been adorning the church these past several weeks…and my heart is full as we come to the end of this season after the Epiphany…full of the light, and the love, and the glory of God…that is with us now, and will be…forever….Amen

HYMN: How Great thou art

Rev. Julie Platson, Rector

St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, Alaska

Choices to make evey day

6 Epiphany/Year A

Feb 12, 2023

Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119:1-8; Matthew 5:21-37

Our opening scriptures from Sirach today…invite us to consider the choices we face every day…

If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.

He has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.

Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.

Now, we all know…that making a choice about some things aren’t always as easy as the writer simply states… If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.

Sure, we probably think it’s easy enough to say that we would stretch out our hand for water, and not fire…Sure, we would most likely say we would choose life over death…But, I wonder…as we go through life…do we really ever choose one over the other?

In baptism, we are baptized by water and sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever…The Holy Spirit, is the fire that ignites in us the ability to discern what’s right, and it’s the flame of hope, that can move us to act faithfully when we find ourselves in a moment of decision…

He has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.

In baptism, we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.

Our baptisms unite us to Christ and one another, in life and in death:

For if we have life, we are alive in the Lord,

and if we die, we die in the Lord.

So, then, whether we live or die,

we are the Lord's possession.

Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.

I wonder too about the words in our gospel reading today…Jesus is continuing with his sermon on the mount…and today his teachings are becoming a little more difficult to hear, digest and understand…in last week’s gospel, he assured those gathered that he didn’t come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.

So, today’s difficult teaching seems to be about moving hearts and minds and bodies even deeper beyond what’s on the surface of the law and commandments, and our spiritual practices and rituals, to consider what it means to make an intentional choice to love God and our neighbor, through following Jesus…and to see how the choices we make every day as a follower in the way of love that Jesus is advocating for…a love that is forgiving, merciful, just, kind, faithful in stretching out one’s hand to feed the hungry, release the prisoners, free the oppressed, welcome the immigrants, and care for one another…a way of love that can lead us to act faithfully, and help us strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being…

Jesus came among us to show us another way of what it truly means to love God, and one another…and how our every day choices have the power to transform this world into the beloved community that God created for all of us…

Let me close with an excerpt of the Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s opening remarks at the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church meeting this past week…

‘Jesus Shows Us Another Way’

“I remember a few years ago while I was bishop of North Carolina, I remember reading a book. I was getting ready for Holy Week and was just doing some background reading and trying to listen to scholars and hear what they had to say, and I remember coming across the writing of a couple of New Testament scholars who said something I had never thought about before.

I knew that Palm Sunday and Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and all of that was planned. I mean, he didn’t just happen to be hanging out in Jerusalem. It was targeted during the Passover season, depending on which versions, but basically probably during the Passover. That was intentional. It wasn’t an accident. Passover was the time when the conflict in faith was both you had the religion or the adoration or the fear of the empire and the hope for another kingdom, another way both met.

And so Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. Passover was and is a festival of freedom.

God made everyone to be free, everyone. And they knew that. And the Passover was that festival of that. And so Jesus was entering Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, at a particular time, a pregnant moment to send a message.

He didn’t have the option of satellite communication. Couldn’t send a text to send out the message. No email. Blessed days, no email. But he did have a pregnant moment to send a message that would last through time.

And so he entered Jerusalem at the beginning or near on the occasion of the Passover. All of that, I remembered from seminary, basically.

What I didn’t remember, I didn’t know, was that not only was the occasion of entering Jerusalem at the time of the freedom festival deliberate, but this happened probably at about the same time that Jesus would’ve known that Pontius Pilate, the governor of Rome, would be entering Jerusalem from the other side of the city, riding on a warhorse in front of cavalry and infantry, bearing the insignias of the empire, even the blasphemous title “Caesar is Lord.”

Jesus knew that was happening and entered Jerusalem from the other side. Not riding the warhorse, not in front of an infantry or cavalry, but entered Jerusalem on a donkey.

He knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew that he was outlining another way of being human, another way of following him, a way that is not complicit with domination of anybody by anybody else. A way of true humility, not humiliation, but humility that finds its strength deep within.

And he entered Jerusalem and faced the future. The rest of the week, you know the story.

I say all of that to say that one of the things I’m struggling to learn in my own life is that I am constantly making choices. How will I enter? On the warhorse of privilege, my privilege, power, on the warhorse of domination? Or will I enter on the donkey? Will I enter in humility? Will I enter in the humility?

 And the etymology of it is related to the word “human.” Will I enter by being human with you, and you with me, and us with each other?

Jesus has shown us the other way. And at our time here at this meeting, but, more importantly, not only here, but when we leave here, may we ride the donkey and follow Jesus. “

Let us pray

Hymn: God of freedom, God of justice – (VF) 90

1        God of freedom, God of justice,

          you whose love is strong as death,

          you who saw the dark of prison,

          you who knew the price of faith—

          touch our world of sad oppression

          with your Spirit’s healing breath.

3       Make in us a captive conscience

          quick to hear, to act, to plead;

          make us truly sisters, brothers,

          of whatever race or creed—

          teach us to be fully human,

          open to each other’s need.

Rev. Julie Platson, St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK