A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Thomas Mousin on the First Sunday in Lent, March 10, 2019
Luke 4:1-13
Author Archives: Saint John's Episcopal Church
Ash Wednesday – Dust to Dust
A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Thomas Mousin on Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
Isaiah 58:1-12 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sunday, March 3, 2019 – Pay Attention to the Parentheses
A Sermon Preached on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, March 3, 2019, by the Rev. Thomas Mousin
Luke 9: 28-43a
Annual Meeting and Rowing Ahead
Dear Friends,
This Sunday I will be with you to preach and preside, and I give thanks to God that we will be together in that way. After the 10 am service and a brief coffee hour, we will gather in the nave for our annual meeting. We will elect new officers for 2019, and receive the 2019 budget that has been approved by your vestry.
We will also take a few moments to look back over the past year, giving thanks for all the ministries that have been a part of our life together. We look back, but do so to look ahead.
I have used before the metaphor of rowing a boat for moving ahead in faith. When rowing a boat, one has one’s back to what is ahead. You can not see what is in front of you. What you can see are all the landmarks on shore – all that is behind you – to guide you.
As a parish, you do not know that the year ahead will bring. You know it will be one of change for the parish, as I leave and you engage in the search for new leadership. But you do know where we have been. You can use all that we have learned, all that we have done, and all we have accomplished as landmarks to guide your route, taking you into the future where God is calling you as part of the Body of Christ.
I look forward to some strong rowing this Sunday.
Faithfully,
Tom
Returning and Departing
Dear Friends,
I am eager to see you this coming Sunday, February 24th. Our interim supply preacher, the Rev. John Clarke, will be presiding and preaching, but I will be present with you in the pews at 8 am and 10 am and at the coffee hours after both services. I will then start in the office on Thursday, February 28th, and will preside and preach at the March 3rd services.
How good it will be to see you face to face and greet you! Of course, we know that our greetings will have a poignant dimension because of the recent news in my family. As you know, my spouse Thomas Brown was elected to be the tenth Bishop of the Diocese of Maine, which means we will be moving there soon.
I will be with you during the month of March, and my last Sunday at St. John’s will be March 31. I know that may seem all too soon for many. While Thomas’s consecration as a bishop is on June 22, he will begin his work on May 1, and perhaps even before then. April will be a month for us to find housing in the Portland area and to move our household there.
That means we will have the next six Sundays together in church, as well as the month of March for finding ways to say “goodbye.” After March 3, I look forward to finding specific times to meet with those of you who wish to have conversations with me about what our life together has meant.
Doug Heim and I met today with Canon Carol Gallagher, the diocesan staff person responsible for parish transitions in our area. There will be more information forthcoming about what next steps the parish will take after I leave. What is most important to me now is that we take the time to hear what the Spirit is saying to each of our hearts, to see all of God’s beauty in the communal life we have been given, and to act in Christ’s love continually even as we prepare to say “farewell.”
Faithfully,
Tom