It is not all about me! Be a servant.

Here is an excerpt from last Sunday's sermon (Sept. 23) by the Rev. Joe Hensley. To read the entire sermon, click here.

Serving one another in the Eucharist. This is
practice for serving one another in the world.
Picture from our recent Eucharist on the lawn.

"If you want to be first, be last?  If you want to be a master, become a servant?  It makes no sense because it’s not what we’re taught.  We live in a competitive society.  We live in a world where you rise to the top, where you strive to be best.  The disciples were arguing about who was the greatest.  They were probably saying, “Who’s the best of us?  Who’s the one who can cast out the most demons or cure the most sick people?  Who does Jesus like best?”  We know a lot about arguing about who is the greatest.  Is it my candidate or your candidate?  Is it my team or your team?  Is it the person with the nicest, most complete resume or the person with the biggest heart?   Who’s the greatest?  We spend time in our minds arguing, “How can I be the greatest?  How can I be like those great ones out there somewhere?”  We know a lot about arguing about the greatest.  I think we live under what I would call a tyranny of the greatest because it’s all about the greatest.  It’s the greatest generation, it’s the greatest society, it’s the greatest country on earth.   Greatest, greatest, greatest and we are held prisoner....

And that is the power of  servanthood; the power to interrupt the tyranny of war; the power to interrupt the tyranny of the greatest.

That power begins when we in our own hearts can accept a simple truth.  If you can remember one thing from the sermon, maybe this will be it.  It is not all about me.  It is not all about me, and when we can begin to believe that in our hearts, when we can begin to believe that the world does not revolve around our ambitions and goals -- even though those goals may be noble and mighty, goals as noble as holding together a country, holding together a family, holding together our very selves -- when we can begin to see that it is not all about me, then we are going to be just that much closer to the something that Jesus offers us; to the ability to connect with one  another and with God.  When it is not all about me, then we are set free, we are emancipated to see and to serve one another, to be free to make someone else’s day before waiting for them to make ours."

EYC ropes course teambuilding fun

On Sept. 22, 14 youth and 4 adults from our EYC youth group completed a half-day of low-ropes course events at Carolina Outdoor Education Center. We had a ton of fun and grew closer as a group as we took on the teambuilding challenges. At the end of the day, we took rides on the double zipline. There were many leaps of faith. It might have been trusting a group not to drop you in the trust circle or stepping off the platform on the zipline!

Our youth group meets at least twice a month. One of those meetings is a lunch and program from 12-2 on the second Sunday of the month. The second event could be anything from a ropes course to a service project to an overnight trip. For more information, get on our email list, follow us on twitter (@stlukesdurhamey), or join our facebook group. Contact Joe Hensley at the church (assistant-rector@stlukesdurham.org

Word for the Weary

Below is an excerpt from this past Sunday's sermon by the Rev. Anne Hodges-Copple. To read the entire sermon, click here.

"...When speech itself has become so twisted, when civil discourse has become an endangered species,
when scoring points with sound bites is more important that getting the facts straight, when fact checking becomes only another pawn of partisanship, it is all enough to render us cynical and, worse, silent. “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire.”

The writer of the letter of James declares, “No one can tame the tongue - a restless evil, full of deadly
poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness
of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to
be so.”  We can use words to pronounce blessings.  We can use words to utter a curse. Too often we
are artless hypocrites.  But our speech can be more than hypocritical.  Our words can be harmful.
They have the power to hurt and even to destroy.  Angry words leave invisible scars that cause
tangible harm in the lives of those we wish to hurt, but sometimes more so upon those we claim to
love....


...The church is where we get speech therapy.  We learn the words that will guide us in daily life.  We
confess that we have sinned against God and our neighbor. We say the words and make the signs that
“the peace of the Lord may always be with you.”  As people of the Book of Common Prayer, we say
many of the same words over and over.  Many of my Methodist, Presbyterian friends are like, “How
can you do that?  Say the same words over and over?”  But watch what happens for those of you
long-time worshippers here.  If I say, “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are” (congregation
responds) “open, and all desires are” (congregation responds) “known, and from whom no”
(congregation responds) “secrets are hid.”  There’s something deep in us and we need that, especially
at the moments where we are imprisoned by sickness or fear or despair."