Photo by Rachel Ramsey 2018 All Rights Reserved Used by permission

The Very Rev. Jeff Paul refers to Robert Leonard Reid’s Bristlecone Mass at the beginning of the message of how to stop looking for the enemy and looking for where God Resides in the connection between the spiritual and physical realm with a little help from his friend White Wolf.

Eduardo Galeano tells of “The Haitian Curse” in a passage from his book Children of the Days shared in the sermon by Father Jeff.

January 14. THE HAITIAN CURSE

The earthquake in Haiti was the culminating tragedy of a country without shade, without water, devastated by imperial greed and the war against slavery.

The dethroned slavers explain it another way: Voodoo was and is to blame for all the country’s misfortunes. Voodoo doesn’t deserve the name religion. It is nothing but African superstition, black magic, a black obsession, the Devil’s thing.

The Catholic Church, which has no shortage of faithful believers willing to sell the fingernails of saints or feathers from the wings of the archangel Gabriel, got Haiti to outlaw voodoo in 1845, 1860, 1896, 1915 and 1942.

In recent times, evangelical sects took up the battle against superstition. They come from the country of Pat Robertson, a country that has no thirteenth floor in its skyscrapers, no row thirteen in its airplanes, where civilized Christians who believe God created the world in seven days are in the majority.

You can read the scriptures by clicking on these references 1 Samuel 3:1-20 and John 1:43-51 or listen to the John reading in our recording below. Click on the white triangle in the black bar-shaped player below to listen to the scripture and sermon now or click on the link labeled: Download below the player to save an audio mp3 file for listening later.

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Father Jeff talks about the mystical experiences that connects us and all of creation in love.

You can read the scriptures by clicking on the scripture: Mark 1:4-11 or listen to the Gospel reading in our recording below. Click on the white triangle in the black bar-shaped player below to listen to the scripture and sermon now or click on the link labeled: Download below the player to save an audio mp3 file for listening later.

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If you are looking for the December 31st message, thank you for your interest. We do not have a recording for that Sunday.

Our Christmas Eve Sunday service was not recorded.

We welcomed The Rt Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori, former Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and former Bishop of Nevada as our preacher December 10th. She speaks about seeking that way home into God’s beloved community.

Justice is another word for loving our neighbors out loud…in public ways that transform society, structures and communities. – Katharine Jefferts Schori

You can read the scripture by clicking: Mark 1:1-8 or listen to reading in our recording below.  Click on the white triangle in the black bar-shaped player below to listen to the scripture and sermon now or click on the link labeled: Download below the player to save an audio mp3 file for listening later.

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Father Jeff explores meditation and prayer in scary times and lets us know the judgement time is not scary because of a dirty little secret of the Christian tradition: Jesus judges all: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

You can read the scripture by clicking: Mark 13:24-37 or listen to reading in our recording below.  Click on the white triangle in the black bar-shaped player below to listen to the scripture and sermon now or click on the link labeled: Download below the player to save an audio mp3 file for listening later.

We thank Jacob Ryle, (a.k.a. Sir Bedlam/Sir Bedlam Productions and Freesound) for the sermon sound effect requested by Father Jeff. Used by permission.

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Guest preacher, The Rev. Eric Heidecker joins us for Christ the King Sunday with an end of the year celebration of Matthew with an examination of the Kingdom of God as compared to the Kingdom of Goats.

For the curious, the chorus to this song has the answer to the final quiz given by The Rev Eric Heidecker at the end of today’s message. It is at 1:21 in this video…the rest of the video may not be suitable for all people in all settings. 

You can read the scripture by clicking: Matthew 25:31-46 or listen to reading in our recording below.  Click on the white triangle in the black bar-shaped player below to listen to the scripture and sermon now or click on the link labeled: Download below the player to save an audio mp3 file for listening later.

 

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Pastor Jeff reviews the last parts of Matthew starting with Matthew 21 to explore what a faithful life looks like. Part of the message and the answer to what a faithful lives looks like is the Third Step Prayer from the Recovery community as used at St. Peter’s:

God, we offer ourselves to You – To build and do with us as You will.
Relieve us of the bondage of self, that we may better do God’s will.
See us through our difficulties, as our lives our witness,
we claim our place in the communion of the saints
as a witness to Your Power, Your Love, and Your Way of life.
May we do your will always!

You can read the scripture by clicking: Judges 4:1-7 or Matthew 25:14-30 or listen to portions of the Matthew 25 reading in our recording below.  Click on the white triangle in the black bar-shaped player below to listen to the scripture and sermon now or click on the link labeled: Download below the player to save an audio mp3 file for listening later.

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