Saint Paul’s Pod

Saint Paul's Pod: Distracted by Good Intentions

This week we look at the book of Luke and the story of Jesus visiting Martha and her sister Mary. Martha is busy with hosting responsibilities while Mary sits with Jesus. Jesus acknowledges this and encourages Martha to focus on her spirit rather than the worldly tasks that consume her.
 It is easy to compare the sisters and say one is right, and one is wrong. It is easy to say those who are active should pause and be more contemplative.
But lets look at how our good intentions can sometimes distract us from what really matters. Sometimes we go the wrong way, not by evil intent but by our best intentions.
Take a holy pause. Set down your tasks. And remember the only thing that is necessary: provide a way to love God, each other and your neighbors.
 

Saint Paul's Pod: God's Compassion

God has given us compassion. He has also given us empathy. The gospel of the Good Samaritan teaches us to love all, regardless of their background or social standing. May we walk in God's love and see all as our neighbor.
There is no qualification to receive God's love. We are made in the image of God; therefore we should share His love openly.

Saint Paul's Pod: I Don't Know How to Preach an Independence Day Sermon

Having loyalty to God and our loyalty to the nation are not identical. How do we navigate this? How do we see God’s perfection as inspiration? We follow Him by loving our neighbor. God cares how we live together and care for one another, but from what we can tell, God’s love for us is equally fierce no matter our nationality. Our primary citizenship is the Kingdom of God.
PLUS NEW BONUS CONTENT
A conversation between Father Eric and Mother Kimberly reflecting on this message. They discuss a hymn we sung, “O God of Every Nation”.
“Keep bright in us the vision of days when war shall cease, when hatred and division give way to love and peace, till dawns the morning glorious when truth and justice reign and Christ shall rule victorious o'er all the world's domain.”
 

Saint Paul’s Pod: Living a Liberated Life

For freedom, Christ has set us free. The way to maintain our liberated lives is to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Our hearts crave God’s message: the way of redemption and freedom can only be found in Christ.

Saint Paul's Pod: Receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost Sunday)

The first followers of Jesus received His gift of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. How do we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit today? You may feel an urge to stay restful in safety inside the church. But the Holy Spirit drives us out into the world. The messy, needy world.
As the body of Christ, we must burst out into the streets to bring the good news to those in need. The good news that your value is not based on power. It is based only on God’s love for you, and it is infinite.  There is hope deeper than the grave. God help us, through us to share that hope.
Bonus Content: Reading of Caedmon by Denise Levertov

Saint Paul’s Pod: No Match for the Matchless King

Throughout the Bible we ready stories of God’s unmatched love and power. No struggle, sin or hurt is a match for God. What challenge are you facing today? It is no match for the Matchless King.

Saint Paul's Pod: The Peace of Jesus

Late in the Easter season, we look forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit. Our mission in the new age when Jesus is not physically here, we/the church becomes the hands and feet of Jesus.
Jesus told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you. My own peace I give to you...”
What does it mean to have and share the peace of Jesus? It is not calm or indifferent peace. It is peace that sustains us in the face of trauma and fear.
Peace is what results from the promise that God makes a home with us. God will abide with us always through love.

Saint Paul’s Pod: God's Grandeur

The book of Revelations depicts a new heaven and earth full of the grandeur of God. How can we keep hope as we exist in the meantime? We sustain our hope through Jesus’ commandment to love one another. We live toward the new world by loving one another and keeping an eye out for the good that breaks down barriers of evil and shines through into the present world.
Fun fact: This week’s sermon was inspired by the Gerard Hopkins poem, “God’s Grandeur”.
God's Grandeur
Gerard Manley Hopkins
1844 – 1889
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
   It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
   It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
   And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
   And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
 
And for all this, nature is never spent;
   There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
   Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
   World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
 

Saint Paul’s Pod: Guest Campbell Harison

We celebrated Senior Sunday with our graduating seniors. One of our high school seniors, Campbell Harison, preached the sermon. She shared reflections on the book of Romans acknowledging we need the power of grace, the gift we receive through faith in Jesus. Campell is an amazing testament to the community at Saint Paul’s where all are empowered to know and share the love of God as we walk through the world. 
Faith into action, grace into gratitude and belief becomes a way of life.

Saint Paul's Pod with Guest Rt Revd Anthony Poggo

This week we welcomed the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Rt Revd Anthony Poggo. Based in London, we were honored to have him visit us from across the pond to share in prayer and encourage our ministries. He talked about strengthening relationships and the power of serving one another, feeding each other’s minds, bodies and souls with God’s bounty, grace and love.