Sermons

Sermons from the prior three months are provided below in as many as three formats: as a web page, in a PDF file, and in recorded format (MP3 podcast) to listen to online.

Sunday, March 18, 2012 (4th Sunday in Lent)

Preacher: Tyler Jones, Postulant.

Readings: Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"These past few years, I have been delighted to read the stories about the ongoing search for the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is an elusive, infinitely tiny particle. It’s considered the “Holy Grail” of nuclear physics. The New York Times called this particle, 'the key piece of the Standard Model,' which, 'explains how three of four fundamental forces of nature work.' Some have even called the Higgs boson 'the God particle,' because proof of its existence could explain so much of the physical truth of our universe.

To me, the fascinating thing is that this particle has never been observed! Until the last few months, nothing could even be said about its mass. The theories only describe how it should behave. Something not seen, mind you …only imagined, yet still indescribable!

How I admire and appreciate scientific faith!..."
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Sunday, March 11, 2012 (3rd Sunday in Lent)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Peter Antoci, Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Maryland.

Readings: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"What is Precious To You?

In the middle of Tolkien’s story The Hobbit, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there is a fascinating and frightening character who goes by the name of Gollum. Now as some of you know, Gollum was once a person with an independent life of his own, but something happened to him, something horrible. He increasingly became obsessed with an object, a famous ring, with the even more famous name by which he calls it: my precious. Gollum’s whole life and existence was reduced by a desire to possess it, and when he succeeded in that, his world and even his desires shrunk to a parody of themselves. In getting what he thought he most wanted, Gollum became pathetic and repulsive, a mere shadow of a person whose being was once so much more than what he had become.

I bring Gollum up because he always makes me think about the question what is precious in my life?..."
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Sunday, March 4, 2012 (2nd Sunday in Lent)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"It’s only been ten days since Lent began. The good news is that it’s not too late to start observing Lent. It’s not too late to start tending to the areas of our lives that need attention and care. And if you’ve already begun your Lenten observances, but feel unsure about whether you want to—or even can—keep them up, today is a day to reflect on the direction your Lent might yet take.

In the Collect for the Second Sunday of Lent, we ask God to be gracious to all who have strayed, in one way or another, and to bring us back again to embrace the truth of God’s word. Our assigned prayers and readings reflect an awareness that many of us have lost our way at one time or another. Some of us may be lost right now and not even know it..."
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Sunday, February 26, 2012 (1st Sunday in Lent)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"Wilderness is a place where we face into our greatest fears. By facing into these fears, even to the point of risking and losing our faith, our faith becomes deeper and more true.

There are all sorts and kinds of wilderness. Each of us is thrust into a wilderness of air and light and sound on the first day of our lives. From that point on, we encounter a wilderness at every step as we become more and more independent and able to take care of ourselves. That first day of school is a wilderness. That first night away from home, that first trip without your parents, that day you move out of the family home, and start living on your own.

At every step away from what we have known, what has kept us safe and secure, we encounter a wilderness of sorts..."
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 (Last Sunday after Epiphany)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"The summer before my husband and I turned 40, we decided to hike a trail we had always wanted to hike. The trail is called the Death Valley Trail, and it’s one of the most spectacular trails in the Grand Tetons. It was a full day’s hike. We set our sights on a ranger station located in an alpine meadow, just below the great wall that connects several mountain peaks along the Teton range.

The trailhead is on a back road, not far from the visitor’s center. The first mile or so is a gentle 400 foot climb up to an overlook which gives you a wonderful view of the valley just north of Jackson, Wyoming, and one of the glacial lakes that sit above it—which you can’t see unless you are in an airplane or on this trail. Just beyond the lookout, the trail takes a steep downward turn. Then things level out for awhile before you get to the switchbacks that take you up the mountain.

At the time, we lived in Florida, where the altitude is probably close to what it is here in Maryland—only a dozen or so feet above sea level. We started the climb at 7200 feet altitude and went up another 1500 feet, huffing and puffing much of the way. People who were younger and in better shape that we were kept zooming by us, loaded down with two or three days’ gear. Seeing them made us wonder if we were crazy to be doing what we were doing. Every time I wanted to stop and catch my breath for an hour or two, my husband told me we couldn’t stop for more than a few minutes. If we didn’t keep moving, he said, we’d never make it up the mountain..."
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Sunday, February 12, 2012 (6th Sunday after Epiphany and Holy Baptism)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"There is a clarity that comes through our readings today, a clarity that invites us to focus on what we are here for, and God is doing with us, in us, and through us as we go through our lives. It’s a clarity that makes us want to pay attention to what we do and how we do it, so that we don’t get delayed or sidetracked from what we believe and value. It’s a clarity that makes us feel alive and energized, because we sense God’s grace and presence in ourselves and those around us.

St. Paul uses the image of an Olympic athlete to help us imagine this type of clarity. If you’re going to be an Olympic athlete, he says, you’ve got to work hard. You’ve got to be single-minded. You can’t compete just for the fun of it. You have to go out to win..."
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Sunday, February 5, 2012 (5th Sunday after Epiphany)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of first impressions. The first few moments we have with someone affects nearly everything we perceive about them later. Many of us know what it is like to have to make a good first impression. There’s a lot stake during those first moments of a job interview. There’s a lot at stake the first time we meet the person we think could help us achieve our dreams. Anyone who has ever gone on a blind date knows how nerve wracking it can be to meet someone face to face for the first time—even if you’ve been introduced by friends—or have already begun to get to know one another on the internet.

But first impressions aren’t the whole story. How many people do you know—and perhaps you are one of them—who have a story about the first time they met someone, and how they or the other person came to a conclusion that turned out to be very different from what they later discovered about the other person?..."
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Sunday, January 29, 2012 (4th Sunday after Epiphany)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Peter Antoci, Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Maryland.

Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

" 'Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up… anyone who loves God is known by God.'
(I Cor 8:1-2)

Did you ever wonder about the power of a WORD? I’m speaking about the deep and abiding POWER of a well-placed, perfectly timed WORD. THAT kind of word has the power to lift us up or tear us down; bring us rapture or desolation; teach us a life-lesson or confuse us hopelessly. Yes, words have great power in human life. Words can not only express a present reality; they can create a new reality. The lessons of good teaching, the declarations of true love and the wisdom of good counsel create new realities..."
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Sunday, January 22, 2012 (3rd Sunday after Epiphany)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"Our readings today draw our attention to a number of curious contrasts.

In the story of the prophet Jonah there is a curious contrast between Jonah and another Old Testament figure who heard God’s call. And that is Noah. In Hebrew, Jonah’s name is “Noah” turned inside out. The contrast between Noah and Jonah is so striking that some commentators think that the story of Jonah is meant to be an allegory. God told Noah there was going to be a flood, and that he should start building a big boat, even though it was still sunny outside. And then God told Noah to do something that was going to be really hard to do—to collect two of every living species and put them on the ark, along with his family. Noah did what the Lord commanded. When the flood came, Noah and his family and all of those creatures stayed dry. Jonah, on the other hand, didn’t do what the LORD asked him to do right away. And he got very wet. In the part of the story that came just before the verses we heard in today’s reading, Jonah is thrown into the sea and gets swallowed by a whale.

Some people say that the story of Jonah is meant to make us laugh about what can happen when we drag our feet and don’t do what God is asking us to do..."
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Sunday, January 15, 2012 (2nd Sunday after Epiphany)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: 1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"The calling of Samuel is one of the most memorable call stories in the Old Testament. It stands out from the call stories of other prophets because it’s not clear to Samuel that the voice he is hearing in the middle of the night is the voice of God.

Samuel thinks Eli is calling. Eli, the priest of the temple, is there with Samuel. The two of them are sleeping in the temple, where Eli is a priest and Samuel an acolyte.

Eli belonged to an ancient family of priests that could be traced all the way back to the time of the great exodus. God told Moses to tell the people of Israel, the people who had escaped the evil of slavery and crossed through the Red Sea, that they were special to God. God had chosen and called them, and set them apart to be a holy people. God wanted them to become a nation, a kingdom of priests—and be a sign to the Gentiles—a sign of God’s power to save..."
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Sunday, January 8, 2012 (1st Sunday after Epiphany and Baptism of Our Lord)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

" 'In the beginning…'

Today our Old Testament reading starts at the beginning of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. And there we hear words about the beginning of creation. 'In the beginning…'

There will be many beginnings in the scriptures, as there are in life itself.

But in this beginning, this first beginning, God’s voice brings forth the dawn of creation.

God says, 'Let there be light,' and there is light. God separates the light from the darkness, and names the light Day and the darkness Night.

And then we hear, 'there was evening and there was morning,' the first day!

The first day! It’s a little different, perhaps, than the way we think about our days. We start with the morning, don’t we, and then the afternoon, and the evening comes at the end of the day. But in that first day, the evening comes first, and then the morning.

The emphasis on dawn, on light breaking in and scattering the darkness, is not accidental..."
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Sunday, January 1, 2012 (First Sunday of Christmas)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Peter Antoci, Episcopal Chaplain at the University of Maryland.

Readings: Isaiah 61:10—62:3; Psalm 147; Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7; John 1:1-14. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"A Hymn and Sermon as Prologue to a Life of Grace

SPEAK YOUR WORD OF LOVE, O LORD, IN OUR HEARTS AND
LIVES ONCE MORE THIS VERY DAY - AMEN

They gathered in the courtyard of the neighbor’s house, a fellow believer. The sun had set, the heat of the Mediterranean day had been replaced by cool ocean breezes. They could hear the wind rustling through the olive trees, and smell the fragrance of the lemon grove on the hillside just over their town. This night was to be a night of prayer and vigil. Several newcomers were to take the final step in joining the community: just before dawn they would be baptized in the courtyard of this house, and then they would share at the community’s table..."
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Sunday, December 25, 2011 (Christmas Day)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12); John 1:1-14. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

St. Andrew's did not record this service, and an MP3 audio version of the sermon is not available.

"Sing to the Lord a New Song!

Last night, at our late night Christmas Eve service, I spoke about an incredible coincidence that took place some forty-three years ago. That was the Christmas Eve that the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 read from the Book of Genesis as they circled the moon.

Apollo 8 only orbited the moon. The first moon landing didn’t take place for another 7 months. But Apollo 8 played a critical role in making the moon landing possible. It was the first spacecraft to leave earth’s orbit and to establish an orbit around the moon.

There were many firsts on Apollo 8, including a Christmas Eve broadcast that attracted more viewers than had ever watched a television broadcast before. Imagine! It was Christmas Eve. People everywhere stopped what they were doing to watch a live broadcast from the moon.

After the broadcast was over, there was still a critical maneuver Apollo 8 had to execute. They had to light the rockets that would blast them out of lunar orbit and bring them home. It was something that had never been done before, and they were worried about it. Just before they circled the moon for the first time, one of the astronauts asked Mission Control several times to confirm that those rockets were working, just in case anything went wrong on that first orbit. But then, when it came time to fire them up to come home as planned, everything went right. The numbers, the location, the timing were perfect!

And that’s when one of the astronauts exclaimed, in words that hadn’t been part of their Christmas Eve broadcast, but that will no doubt live forever: 'There is a Santa Claus!'..."
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Saturday, December 24, 2011 (Christmas Eve - 9:30 p.m. Service)

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Carol Jablonski.

Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20. To read these passages online, please click here.

To download this sermon in PDF format, please click here. You may also read it on this website starting below.

To listen to this sermon as an MP3 podcast (a media player is required on your computer), please click here. To listen to the entire service including this sermon, click here.

"It was Christmas Eve forty-three years ago and the crew of Apollo 8 was orbiting the moon. I was in high school, and felt a special sense of pride about the space program. My dad had done some testing on rocket missile casings for the Gemini program. We didn't see very much of him those days. But we were very proud of what he had done. It was all part of the preparation for the moon missions that would come during the Apollo program.

Apollo 8 lifted off just a few days before Christmas. Every flight update brought amazing news. We heard how, after circling the earth a few times, the astronauts powered up their rockets and blasted out of earth's orbit. It was the first time anyone had done that. No one had ever left earth's orbit before.

And now they were on their way to the moon! During the next two days, as the spacecraft left the gravitational field of the earth and started feeling the pull of the moon's gravity, everyone worried about what would happen when they got close enough to establish lunar orbit. If a they missed, they would either go off into deep space and be lost forever, or they would crash into the moon..."
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