A Sermon for St. John’s Episcopal Church, Charlestown, Massachusetts

Listen to the Sermon…

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

It has been quite the week around here. If you happened to come in through the Parish House doors, then you know that we are doing some much needed repair on the structural work in that corner of the building. It is amazing what you can find — or what you can find missing — when you remove the clapboards on and old building and look inside. Continue reading →

Mark 1:4-11

If you grew up near a pond or a lake, then you may recall the experience of throwing a pebble or stone into the water, just to watch the concentric waves created by the splash grow larger and larger, perhaps even reaching the edges of the pond. Maybe I enjoyed watching that phenomenon because I was never particularly good at skipping stones across the water. But I could toss a stone up in the air as far as I could and watch it plunge into the water. Watching those circles expand — I could do that again and again. And sometimes, as those circles reached the shore, I imagined them continuing onto the land under my feet, and never stopping.

When our children come into church from Godly Play and join us for a baptism, I’ve noticed that some of them like to get close, and on their tiptoes look into the baptismal font. I wonder if they, with their own sense of wonder, are looking for those circular waves that start moving out into the world.

For this baptismal pool is at the center of our worship this morning. It is at the center of our worship because we hear the story of the baptism of Jesus. It is at the center of our worship Continue reading →