Words From Silence: Contemplation in a World of Action

A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark Proper 16, Year C The Very Reverend Tyler B. Doherty, Dean & Rector In Jesus’ time, illness was never just illness. Illness was seen as punishment for sin. Society didn’t look for ways to make people better but blamed them for their illness and ostracized them. There were the healthy, upright, goodies, and the sick, bent-over baddies—a clear line of division between who’s in and who’s out. If one’s illness weren’t enough to bend you over, the weight of this societal judgement upon the sick person certainly would be. It’s not too different from our current time really—just think of the stigma attached mental illness and addiction. Depression is seen as a character flaw, as being prone to vapors, or just being low-energy and feeling sorry for yourself. Addiction is seen as a moral failing rather than having a biological basis as a disease. This is slowly changing thanks to the courageous sharing of stories by people who li...

A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark Proper 15 Year C The Very Reverend Tyler B. Doherty, Dean & Rector At the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, we hear those famous words that Jesus will, “guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:79). And near the end of Luke’s Gospel the resurrected Jesus appears among the rag-tag group of followers, eats broiled fish, and offers a benediction of peace—“Peace be with you.” Indeed, Luke’s Gospel has been called the Gospel of the Poor, but it could equally be called the Gospel of Peace. What in the world then are we to make of Jesus telling people in our passage for today that he doesn’t come to bring peace, but division? Jesus seems to have lost the thread and gone off script. The teleprompter is on in the fritz. Or is it? The key thing to recognize in this passage about Jesus bringing fire to the earth is that these are the fires of baptism. In baptism, something dies and something rises. Something gets burned away so that so...

A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark Feast of the Transfiguration (transferred) The Very Reverend Tyler B. Doherty, Dean & Rector When I was a kid with a bunch of brussels sprouts and liver and onions (no joke) left on my plate, I would hesitantly ask in a half-whisper, “Mother, may I please be excused?” It was futile. I already knew what the reply would be. And sure enough it came as predictably as fog in San Francisco—“Finish up what’s on your plate. You are what you eat!” Being a rather difficult child, I would protest, “But I don’t want to be a brussels sprout or chopped liver!” to which my mother retorted, “It’s vitamins, silly! You want to grow up to be big and strong.” And so, with the aid of a tall glass of milk I choked down the remainder of my meal trying to chew as little as possible.             We intuitively understand the age-old parental advice that we are we eat. It makes good sense....

A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark Proper 13C The Very Reverend Tyler B. Doherty The Idol and the Icon “Idolatry” is one of those words that is likely in need of some unpacking and reimagining for it to be a true lively word for 21 st century Christians. Think of all the ways “fornicators and idolators” has been used and abused in our contemporary discourse—from an explanation of the destruction of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina to the AIDS crisis—it’s no wonder that many folks will tune out as soon as they hear that language and declare themselves done with organized religion and decide instead to be spiritual, but not religious. I want to make the claim, however, that idolatry remains a powerful theological concept that can illuminate a lot of our contemporary culture. Rather than throw the baby out with the bathwater, I’d like to try to rehabilitate the idea of idolatry and show its continued relevance for our lives as 21 st century Christians, p...