3rd week after Epiphany
Sunday, January 22, 2017
St. Lydia’s Dinner Church / Brooklyn, NY
“Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Credit: Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 24
Sunday, October 16, 2016 / Year C
All Saints’ Episcopal Church / Brooklyn, NY
When I was 12 years old, I was selected to be in an oratory competition. This was kind of a big deal and it was hosted at the local rotary club. The challenge was to write an essay on a specific topic and then deliver it as a speech, and compete against other local sixth graders.
Here’s what I remember: I remember working very hard on my essay and practicing my speech over and over again. I remember going to the event on a school night and I remember that I was wearing shoes with a small heel that were very uncomfortable. I remember feeling uncomfortable in my body in the way that 12 year-old girls are specifically prone to feeling.
I remember the boy who won, and I remember his speech, which was all about, as he called it, “nucular war.” In my memory, he was pacing back and forth telling us that in the future, we would all be engaged in “nucular war,” and we would have to live in special shelters and a new kind of human would evolve.
And I remember thinking, how did that win this competition???? Continue reading
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 18
Sunday, September 4, 2016 / Year C
All Saints’ Episcopal Church / Brooklyn, NY
I have two younger brothers who are both in their 20s. And one of those brothers, my middle brother William, has always been the black sheep of the family. Not at all in a troublesome way but more like: we all like to go to bed late and sleep in, but Will likes to get up early. We all like to eat elaborate meals and fancy foods–Will is a picky eater who likes the basics. And we all like movies and TV and reading novels, but Will likes sports.
Growing up, in the Fall and Winter seasons, Will would want to race home from church to watch football. He would yell at us: “What kind of American family are you??? On a Sunday, YOU WATCH FOOTBALL!!!!!”
February 7, 2016
St. Thomas, Newark, DE
Good morning, St. Thomas! I am so thrilled to be here this morning, and I would like to thank Father Paul for lending me this pulpit. I guess the first thing to know about me is that Father Paul knew me when I was 14 years old — more than half my life ago — and still asked me to come preach to you all this morning, so he is a good and trusting man, and sees potential in teenagers who are … I’ll say precocious.
I actually knew about St. Thomas before Father Paul even got here because my older cousin was a student at the University of Delaware. She is someone who would self-identify as “not into church,” but once she told my “very into church” mother that she would come to dinner here on Wednesday nights when she was feeling low and she would always leave feeling better. She said, “I’m still not a church person, Aunt Nancy, but I’m glad that it’s there.” So I have known for a long time that you are a very welcoming church and thank you for having me today.
Let’s talk about Moses. I am having so much fun picturing Moses this morning, trudging down that steep mountain lugging two tablets. And he doesn’t even know it, but the skin on his face is shining. It’s shining so intensely that it’s scaring his friends. And his face is shining this way because he had been talking with God.
I think we’re all familiar with the idea of having a “certain glow.” Sometimes you can tell if people are drinking enough water and taking care of themselves, because they have a bit of extra shine to them. “Oh, you’re positively glowing,” is something you maybe don’t hear as often as I’d like.
But have you ever, in all your days, been glowing this intensely?
Continue reading
All Saints’ Church / January 31, 2016
Evening Prayer / 5pm
Proper 13 / Year B
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany / Year C
Good and gracious God, you eclipse our best words, and still we know that you are with us. May our thoughts and prayers and rumblings tonight be holy in your sight. Amen.
Tonight I am thinking about following Jesus–what it means to follow Jesus.
The beauty of this evening prayer service is that everyone is welcome here, to talk along if you wish, or simply to listen, to let words fall over your ears and bodies. To come together, a group who wouldn’t be together in any other context. To look at each other. To look into each other’s eyes and not have to come up with anything to say. We give it all to you in a little bulletin to follow along.
A chance to sit in silence. When do we do that at other times in our lives?
Anyone can do this with us, no matter what you think about who God is, or even if there is a God, and no matter what you think about Jesus.
But I want to talk about Jesus today, and what it means to follow him. Whether we are far along that journey with him, or at the very beginning, or perhaps walking on a parallel path, or maybe a path that is about to cross, or even a path that has already crossed.
What does it mean to follow Jesus? Continue reading
In 2013, I saw an image as part of an exhibit at the Morgan Library:
1) Christ’s wound. 2) Christ as Man of Sorrows. Pierpont Morgan Library. MS M.90, fol. 130r. From France, perhaps Verdun and Paris, ca. 1375. Image Courtesy of the Pierpont Morgan Library.
At Union Theological Seminary, I wrote a thesis about it.
And then St. Lydia’s invited me to preach about it, as part of This Is My Body: A Sermon Series on Faith, Sexuality, and Identity.
Here’s a video of the sermon I preached on Sunday night, October 11:
The text is John 19:31-40. Transcript (sort of) below!
All Saints’ Church / August 2, 2015
Proper 13 / Year B
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 / Psalm 78:23-29 / Ephesians 4:1-16 / John 6:24-35
A couple months ago, I was in Colorado for a friend’s wedding, and I was staying in a shared cabin. I had gotten there pretty late at night, and as the single friend, I was sleeping on the pull out couch in the living room. Around 2am, when I couldn’t sleep, I tiptoed into the kitchen and went into the fridge. Continue reading
All Saints’ Church / July 26, 2015
Proper 12 / Year B
2 Kings 4:42-44 / Psalm 145: 10-19 / Ephesians 3:14-21 / John 6:1-21
I stood here two weeks ago and preached a sermon about John the Baptist being beheaded. And now, on this day when we get to talk about the loaves and the fishes, there is just one thread that I want to pick up from my sermon a couple weeks ago.
But first let me just say, it is totally okay if you were not here two weeks ago. I’ll fill you in on what you missed. And if you were here, please excuse my brief recap:
All Saints’ Church
July 12, 2015
Proper 10 / Year B
Amos 7:7-15 / Psalm 85:8-13 / Ephesians 1:3-14 / Mark 6:14-29
I was leading a retreat for St. Lydia’s this weekend–the church where I work the other half of my time. And the centerpiece of the whole retreat was the Road to Emmaus story, from the Gospel of Luke.
It’s just after Jesus has died, and the disciples are walking along the road. Jesus is there, too, but they don’t recognize him until he breaks bread and gives it to them. It’s a beautiful story about knowing and remembering and resurrection and eating bread and how Jesus loves us. The kind of story that makes you feel really good about the bible and church.
So I had to leave the retreat a little bit early to come here and I told everyone, sorry: I have to go preach about a beheading.
All Saints’ Church
June 14, 2015
Proper 6 / Year B
Ezekiel 17:22-24 / Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14 / 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17 / Mark 4:26-34
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion. Amen.
When I was in seminary, I supported myself by babysitting for two adorable, and also opinionated, little girls who were about 10 and 6. Once, the 6 year old asked me how old I was, and I did that thing that you should probably never do with children, which was to respond, “how old do you think I am?”
“Um, 50?” she said. This is why you should never open these kinds of questions up to children.
“No!,” I said. “I’m 29.”
To which the 10 year old piped in, “You’re 29?!?! When are you gonna get a career?”
The Rev. Julia Macy Offinger 