Rev Chris Roth

Ezekiel37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45 We speak about different kinds of death.  Obviously, there is bodily death. Our heart stops beating. Our brain stops working. We breathe our last breath. We grow cold. … But we also speak about death in other ways. Sometimes when a loved one dies we say things like, "A part of me died with them". The pain of grief can hurt to the point that we feel forever changed. The person we were before our grief is no more. Part of us has died. We can feel like our hopes and dreams dissolve when the person we wanted to share them with can no longer be a part of them. We sometimes speak about the death of a relationship. When two people stop caring about each other, trying to revive the relationship can feel like trying to re-animate a corpse. We sometimes say we feel “dead inside”. We can feel like we are zombies walking around, going through the same motions, doing the same things over and over, b...

Let us pray: O most mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee unto thee for succor. Deliver us, we beseech thee, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (1928 American BCP, 45). O Almighty and merciful God, with whom are the issues of life and death: Grant us, we beseech thee, help and deliverance in this time of grievous sickness and mortality, and sanctify to us this affliction, that in our sore distress we may turn our hearts unto thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (1929 Scottish BCP, 42). Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness keep us, we pray, from all things that may hurt us, that we, being ready both in mind and body, may accomplish with free hearts those things which belong...

1 Samuel 16:1-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 All of our readings today talk about seeing. They talk about obscuring sight (such as darkness) and illumination (when light reveals what had been hidden in the darkness). In our Old Testament reading the prophet Samuel is told to go to Jesse of Bethlehem and anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel. The prophet Samuel thinks he sees the obvious choice, but God says,  “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).  Unexpectedly, the youngest son, who they did not even consider bringing along, is the one chosen by God. Our Epistle reading is all about darkness and light. “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light” (Eph 5:8). And in our Gospel reading, just before healing a blind man, Jesus states...

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans5:12-19; Matthew4:1-11 Our Genesis reading and our Gospel reading tell us a lot about temptation. I want to share something that I found particularly helpful. When we think about temptation, we often think about being tempted to do something bad. Maybe we are tempted to cheat on our spouse. Or maybe we are tempted in anger to yell at someone we disagree with. … However, what our readings show us is that when someone is tempted to cheat on their spouse, they aren’t usually tempted by “adultery”. They think they are ‘following their heart’. They think they are chasing love. They aren’t tempted to do something bad; they are actually tempted to do something good. That is why we justify our sins. We will say things like, “well, the heart wants what the heart wants. You can’t help who you fall in love with”. We are tempted by something good. Likewise, if we are tempted to yell at someone, we aren’t tempted to be angry and mean. Usually, we think we are...