Emmanuel Episcopal Church

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Lent - Dying to One's Self

The Gospel - John 12:20-33

Homily by the Rev. Dr. David Smith

Dying to One's Self

One can learn a lot by listening to a group of teen-age girls talking among themselves. Not only can they all talk at once while understanding everything that everyone is saying, they are oblivious to an adult presence. You are in fact invisible.

Accompanying some 14 Chatham Hall students on the recent service trip to South Africa, I was struck by the difference in their conversations going over versus coming home.

On the bus to the airport from Chatham, the conversations were all about cell phones, music, boys, and dresses for the coming spring formal – typical teen-age conversations.

Coming home at the end of the trip, the conversations were about what they had seen and done in Africa – the needs of the people, the lack of Internet access in the schools, service projects that they could carry out in Chatham, ways in which they could continue to participate in the lives of the people whom they had visited.

These students were living today’s Gospel – they had died to self and were now living for others.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus said, ”Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Lent - For God So Loved the World

The Gospel - John 3:14-21

Homily by the Rev. Dr. David Smith

For God So Loved the World

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever should believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.” 

No doubt this is one of if not the most memorized quote of the entire New Testament; the gospel in miniature.  I “Googled” John 3:16 and received 1.5 million hits to sites that offered interpretation, scrolling screen savers with music, baseball caps and t-shirts with the verse inscribed thereon, and my personal favorite, “JC Racing” a NASCAR team with 316 as the car number and “Jesus Saves” painted on the hood. 

More often than not, we memorize this passage out of context, and forget it was spoken by Jesus to illustrate the necessity of his death and the need for us to die to self in order to fully enjoy the wonder of God’s salvation.  Eternal life we like, death we don’t.  That’s too bad because one does not come without the other.

Eternal life is not something that comes after we die.  It always has been.  Since the moment we were conceived in the imagination of God our eternal life began. (Eternal, by definition has no beginning and no end).  Our eternal life takes on another dimension when our bodies die, that’s for sure.  However, between birth and death, eternal life is buttressed and strengthened by our willingness to die to self, to rise above the constant nagging of self interest and take on the well being of the world ahead of our own.

Homily for the Third Sunday in Lent - Re-setting Our Priorities

The Gospel - John 2:13-22

Homily by the Rev. Dr. David Smith

Re-setting Our Priorities

One driver sticks post-it notes all over the dashboard of her car to make sure she remembers each errand. Kitchen calendars fill up with family appointments. Many cell phones now include calendars so their owners can have instant access to appointments that are too numerous to remember.

Chronic stress accompanies an increasing number of Americans who feel busy beyond measure. It’s a common problem for the current generation, even among the retired. People are so overwhelmed that one of the greatest luxuries of the twenty-first century is free time.

Busy-ness intrudes on all of us because we have so many opportunities. And because we want everything – and more. We have become slaves to what we desire, not what we need. We have become possessed by our activities – our getting and spending and doing. Isn’t that part of the malady that infects us during this difficult economic period? Living beyond our means? Materialism and greed? No boundaries to keep us in check?

Obviously, we need to re-set priorities and follow them.

The Pruden Parish Press for March 2009 Is Now Online

The March 2009 issue of The Pruden Parish Press, a periodic newsletter containing news and information for parishioners and friends of Emmanuel, is being published this week. The current issue includes:

• a report on Bishop Hollerith's consecration,

• the successful Linen Drive for Oak Grove,

• Vestry Notes from the Senior Warden,

• Dinner Club activities,

• a calendar of Parish events for March through May 2009,

• the Chatham Concert Series is a Hit,

• Emmanuel's Treasures |Around the Parish,

• On the Road from G2R, and

• An Example For Us All by Dr. Smith.

Click here to read the March issue online.

Earlier issues may be viewed at The Pruden Parish Press.

To receive future issues by mail, please call or email the Parish Office.