A sermon offered on the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 16, 2020.
The readings for this Sunday are powerful, provocative, and involve a lot of shouting. I read these alongside the annual celebration of Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian who was murdered in 1965. Daniels is remembered as a martyr in The Episcopal Church. Each August, in the oppressive heat, pilgrims gather in Hayneville, Alabama, to visit the jail where he was held, the site where he was murdered, and to celebrate Holy Eucharist in the courtroom where his murderer was acquitted. This year due to COVID-19 the pilgrimage was a virtual event. I think our readings and Jonathan’s life have some lessons for us in this present moment of division.
Readings: Genesis 45:1-15 * Psalm 133 * Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 * Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28
"It's all over but the shouting."