A little lower than the angels

7 Easter 2011-6-5 “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Today we at St. Paul’s have a Sunday morning packed with significance. We will Celebrate the passage to manhood of Matthew Robinson, Liam Mora, and Johnny Dye in the Rite 13 ceremony later this morning, recommitting ourselves to support them and their parents in their journey. We recognize graduating seniors from high school and college. We are inviting you to participate with us under the direction of our Discernment Task Force in seeking the will of God for St. Paul’s with respect to our witness for the power and love of Jesus Christ in our community of Bellingham and beyond. All this is happening in today’s liturgy, in which we celebrate a holy and glorious mystery; the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. This mystery is displayed in our Ascension stained glass window in the south transept, a descr...

5 Easter 2011-05-22 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you know me, you know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” I want to talk about stewardship today; the stewardship of the Good News of Jesus that is the responsibility of the Christian Church. I think of our stewardship of the Good News in the light of “Judgment Day”, which was to have taken place yesterday, according to the calculations of a retired civil engineer from Oakland, California with a love of numerology and an apparent lack of whatever psychological characteristic that keeps people from opening themselves to ridicule. I’ve shared in some of the fun at Harold Camping’s expense, but now I’m drawn to think about his victims; those who left all to follow him. While they do have responsibility for their decisions, I feel sympathy for them as of this morning, when they awaken to the reality that things go on as before. My guess is that ...