Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

Rev. Doug Floyd

Trinity Sunday 2025
Rev. Doug Floyd
John 16:12-15

St. Sergius of Radonezh’s (ra-donesh’s) whole life was devoted to the Holy Trinity.[1] He lived in the 14^th century and believed that the divisions of the church and the world could only be healed through contemplation of the Trinity. Seventeen years after his death, Andrei Rublev was commissioned to paint an icon of The Trinity for the St. Sergius’ monastery, Trinity Lavra. Rublev used the story of Abraham’s visitors as his inspiration for this icon.

It is said the when the metropolitan and his bishops beheld this icon, they exclaimed, “In truth, the heavens have opened up, and we see God’s splendor.” This icon is considered true theology in the Russian Orthodox church and is recognized as one of the greatest pieces of Russian art.

When we look at the icon, we see three angels seated around a table as in the story of Abraham’s visitors. The longer we look, the more details we notice. All three angels hold a staff, and each staff is of equal size, indicating their equality of authority. Their bodies form a perfect circle, and there is a sense of both endless contemplation and dynamic exchange of love inherent on their bodies. Various writers try to identify which angel represents the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And yet, the writers disagree. It may be easier to simply behold this communion of love.

Above the angel on the right is a rock or mountain, which points to those places in Scripture where Israel met God on a mountain. At the same time, all creation is caught up in this mountain, so the Lord can be encountered high on a mountain and down low in a broken heart.

Above the angel on the left is a building, which is generally considered to be the church. The church of God, that is the people of God, becomes the Temple where God dwells with man. At the same time, this can also point to the New Jerusalem and the consummation of all creation in God. There is a tree behind the angel in the middle. This is generally considered to be the tree of life from the Garden. In the Gospels, some churchmen have suggested that the cross is the Tree of Life, which restores our access to communion with God. If our eyes follow the trunk of the tree, we can see that the meal on the table intersects with the tree.

This meal recalls Abraham’s meal offered to the three angels, and at the same time, it points forward to the meal that Christ offers His people: his body and his body. The communion meal is food from the tree of life. There is a rectangle in between the front two angels, this represents the world with the four corners of the world (North, South, East, and West). In the cross, all humanity is invited to the feast.

There are eight sides that make up the outermost edge of the image. These eight sides represent the eighth day, the new creation.

There is more, but I’ll stop here. This helps us begin to see how the Russian Orthodox see the Triune God. In this feast offered by God to His people, we see the fulfillment of St. Sergius vision of the Trinity. Unity that heals the world. The Orthodox use the world “sobornost” to indicate this unity. This is similar to our word Catholic, and yet the heart of sobornost is a communion of love the encircles all humanity and all creation.

On this Trinity Sunday, we are called to pause and reflect on the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The mystery of God revealed in the Threeness and the Oneness. Rublev’s icon is one place to start.

There is a point of contact between the icon and the early disciples. The disciples are inescapably drawn to the person and words of Jesus. They behold Him before they understand Him. They encounter Him before they have any sense of who He fully is.

The icon of Rublev’s Trinity reminds us that people usually encounter the goodness of God, the beauty of the Lord before they begin the reflect on what this encounter means. When we hear of a song that touches our hearts and brings tears, we do not immediately begin to rationally process what is happening. We are moved in ways we often do not understand. As we reflect, that is look back and think about it, we may try to process what happened or ask questions.

The disciples encounter Jesus first. They follow Him and hang on his words. But often they misunderstand. They are puzzled. Peter recognizes that Jesus is the true king of Israel, but he cannot make sense of a story that involves crucifixion and death.

The stories of the disciples are filled with misunderstanding, betrayal, denial, and unspeakable love of God in Christ. When Christ dies on the cross, the disciples are shaken to the core. Everything they thought was true now seems gone. They are fearful and alone. Suddenly, Jesus appears in their midst. Over the next 40 days,...

Rev. Dr. Les Martin

Palm Sunday 2025
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Luke 23:1-49

Types and shadows have their ending, for the newer rite is here
– Tantum Ergo Sacramentum, St Thomas Aquinas

In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It was the week before Passover, and so the Jewish people were making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. During the time of the Temple, the focus of the Passover festival was the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb, eaten during the Passover Seder. Every family large enough to completely consume a young lamb or wild goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Temple and eat it that night in the ritual meal which looks back to the Exodus. It is, in a real sense, the story that makes the people Israel. It is both the occasion of their creation and their deliverance. The Passover remembers this. It is the reason behind the procession of the people to Jerusalem.

Another procession is coming to the city as well. Too many of the restive Jewish people in one place often led to riots, and to political instability, and so Pontius Pilate is coming up from Caesarea Maritania. The soldiers of Imperial Rome are coming up with all of their Roman standards and weapons and might to just let everybody in Israel know that whatever their God did in the past, that was then and this is now. Rome is in charge- don’t mess with us.

And then there is Jesus. He, too, is going up to Jerusalem. He is perhaps unconcerned with the festival- and with Rome- for his time has come. On the Mount of Transfiguration, he had spoken with Moses and Elijah about “ton exodon” – his exodus. The point of their discussion is now made clear: though Moses led a great exodus of the children of Israel out of sin and bondage, out of the house of slavery in Egypt, Jesus will lead a greater exodus in Jerusalem by means of the new covenant sealed by his blood. This exodus will liberate from sin and misery and death. This will be the climax of his vocation. Jesus knows well enough what lays ahead, and he has set his face towards Jersualem, to go and meet it head on. His announcement of the coming kingdom must now be embodied in his very flesh. The living God is at work to heal and save, and the forces of evil and death are also gathering in Jerusalem to oppose him, like Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt trying to prevent the Israelites from leaving. But this was to be the moment of God’s new Exodus, God’s great Passover, and nothing could stop Jesus from going ahead to celebrate it.

When he gets near Bethany, which is a little village about two miles from Jerusalem, Jesus climbs upon the mount his disciples have brought him. Unlike Pilate, he rides no high horse, just a lowly colt. There are branches of leaves instead of swords. Strewn garments instead of shields. He chooses to enter a deadly situation without force or protection. He gives himself freely and without reservation. Though he is God, he empties himself, taking the form of a servant. This is a prophetic act, a sign of God’s vulnerable love, which risks everything and promises to gain all. In Jesus, God will create peace. The true might in the story lies not in the armies of Caesar, but with the simple Son of Man. Political and military might will ultimately fail. True holiness lies no longer in the Law, true sacrifice will no longer take place in the Temple, rather this itinerant rabbi is the center-point of both: the last remnant of Israel becoming the means by which the whole world shall be saved. In Holy Week, we move beyond the promises, types, and shadows of the Old Testament, and are now instead in the fulfillment and substance of the New Testament. In Christ, God is reconciling the world to himself. Jesus is making all things new. Now, mix Empire with religion, populism, and fallen human will, and you have a volatile situation. A showdown is, by this point, inevitable. The powers that be will not give in without a fight. Making all things new will prove costly to God.

The week is busy. Pilate and his legions are trying to keep a lid on things. The Jews are busy with their preparations for remembrance: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday would have been consumed with finding accommodation, familial reunions and above all with selecting, procuring and preparing the sacrificial lambs.

Jesus is busy, too. However, he is consumed, not so much with preparations for remembrance as with what is to come. He cleanses the Temple first off- and this is not simply mounting an angry protest about the commercialization of Temple business. Jeremiah and others have proclaimed that if the Temple becomes a hide-out for brigands, either literally or metaphorically, it will come under God’s judgment. Jesus the prophet now renders that judgment. His teaching and arguments with both the Temple hierarchy a...

Rev. Dr. Les Martin

Lent 2 2025
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Genesis 15:1-18, Psalm 27, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Luke 13:31-35

In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem. It has been his destination in some sense for his whole life, but particularly since his encounter with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. Some Pharisees have come to him today, warning him that King Herod wants to kill him, and therefore he should alter his course. It’s odd to see the Pharisees in this role – perhaps they are moderate Pharisees, like Gamliel and Nicodemus. Perhaps they are merely trying to frighten and discouraged him, to shake his trust. Jesus is not swayed, however. His commitment to his mission, and his trust in his Father is absolute. He will finish his course, his “exodus.” Nothing will stop Jesus from walking the necessary path towards Jerusalem and the cross; nothing will divert the Son of God from what he has bound himself to on our behalf.

Abram has also trusted God. At this point in his story, it’s been decades since he left Ur of the Chaldees at the direction of God’s voice. Abram left his country and his father’s house in response to God’s command, “Go,” and God’s promise of blessing and prosperity. He went without asking any questions. Pushed out of the Negev by famine, Abram went down to Egypt. He prospered there and left Egypt rich in cattle, silver, and gold. He then journeyed back to Bethel and gave Lot first choice of land to settle. Again, God commanded and promised, telling him, “Walk through the land and I will give it to you.” He responded obediently. Later, Abram rescued Lot, who had become a prisoner of war, and returning from victory, Abram gave Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, a tithe of all the men and goods he had captured. Melchizedek declared, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19). Abram seems bold, courageous, obedient, humble, and faithful in all he does.

But, there is a problem. Through all of this, he has trusted, and yet he has remained without the promised child who will grow into a nation. Up to this point, the biblical picture of God and Abram’s relationship has been fairly straightforward. God speaks; Abram listens. God promises; Abram believes. God commands: Abram obeys. We have now come to a point, however, when Abram finally says, “Wait a minute. I have a question...” At Abram’s age, time is precious. He must live with doubt and anxiety as constant companions. One of his slaves is set to inherit his wealth and belongings. This is not what was promised.

Trust. Faith. The Epistle to the Hebrews talks about such things as “evidence of things not seen.” When it comes to trust, to faith, it is human nature to want some proof. Seeing is believing. “Trust but verify” is the old Russian proverb that Ronald Reagan used so effectively in the nuclear disarmament talks of the 1980s. Even our father Abram has come to the point in his story where, despite his blessings and how it’s gone so far, he needs verification that God is still on his side. What saves him in this moment is where he looks- to God, and not to other things.

We are often in the same place as Abram, but we can make the wrong move in response. Coming to a place of uncertainty is our lives, we can actually “double-down” on our lives, our plans- looking to them rather than to God. We rely on stuff- pension plans and jobs to make us secure. On food and entertainment to make us happy. Our ethnic identity- St Patrick’s day is tomorrow, remember- our families, or beliefs and thought leaders to make us feel secure. We are all given to what Paul repeatedly calls earthly mindedness. We do not find our security in Christ and his body called the church, but rather in earthly sources. As priest and theologian Jane Williams writes:

Paul urges his readers [that] we too have to trust in the bigger promise. Paul is utterly scornful about those who put their trust in ‘earthly things,’ but if we are to be as honest as Abram, we will have to admit how much of our security lies here on earth.

Even in Lent, where we try and reorient our lives to make room for God, we can make our disciplines the focus of our days. The keeping of a Lenten practice can obscure the “why” of having a Lenten practice in the first place. As priest and author Tish Harrison Warren reminds us:

Christian discipleship is a lifetime training in learning to pay attention to the right things.

Learning to pay attention to the right things. Abram turns to God with his doubts, not to himself or his possessions. He asks God in increase his faith and trust in the promise, he doesn’t seek it amidst the things of this world. In response, God s...

Rev. Dr.. Les Martin

Pentecost 2025 – They were all together in one place
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Acts 2:16

In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Having migrated from the East after the flood, the peoples gathered on the plain of Shinar, all together in one place. This is not a good thing. Back in Genesis 9, the command had been to “go forth into the world, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the whole earth.” They don’t. Instead, they settle together to build a city, precisely so that they won’t be dispersed. What could look like an exciting new beginning is actually the last phase of a long story of alienation that is played out in the early chapters of Genesis.

By the end of Genesis 3, humanity has been alienated from God and the Garden, husbands and wives have been alienated from each other. In chapter 4, Cain and Abel illustrate the alienation of brother from brother. By chapter 9, in the story of Noah and his sons, we see the alienation of children from their parents. Each step of the way, a God-given relationship has been misused, and God’s people have suffered the consequences. Here, in chapter 11, we see the final act of biblical prehistory- and on the plain of Shinar, the end result will build the alienation of the peoples of the Earth from each other.

The people are afraid of of losing themselves, of irrelevance it seems. They say: “let us make a name for ourselves” “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” “Let us make”- a pale imitation of the words of the creating God in Genesis 1:28. Mere mortals, formed from the dust- they decide that the way to make a reputation is to fashion that same dust into bricks, a city, a tower. The assumption seems to be that such a city will provide a center for the peoples, when in fact God would be their center, were they willing. Making “a name for ourselves”- fame and feats- is what brings people together, they assume, when in fact such self-seeking will actually have the opposite effect. This striving for a self-made “name” stands in contrast to the promise of God. Later, in Genesis12:2 God will do what the peoples can not. He will say to Abram, “I will bless you, and make your name great.” The tower of Babel story raises the question: just who is responsible for the reputation, the name of the people of God: the people, or God?

The people believe they are. They have come to see the command to be fruitful and multiply as a threat to what they already possess. They are driven by fear: “otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” What is possible only for God- a name, a purpose, and unity- becomes instead a project for humankind, independent and counter to the will and gifting of God. And God will not let it stand- neither their decision nor their tower.

We can be tempted to see God’s judgment on the Babel project as somehow harsh or jealous, but in fact it is a mercy to them. God halts their progress to limit the damage that it will cause and to limit the extent human beings can harden themselves against him. The problem is not with society or with the tower- as we saw in our recent Revelation sermons, God himself will one day build a city for his people. Rather, it is the hearts of the people who are building this particular society and this particular tower at this particular time. The people of Babel are neither wise enough nor good enough to be their own gods. “Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them,” God says. Understand this well: this does not represent a threat to God, but a threat to humanity. The scattering they sought to avoid becomes the judgment the Lord must render so that our desire for a name and our dreams of security will remain on a proper versus a rebellious track, based on promise, rather than power. The people of God are to be named, not make themselves a name. They are to rely on the promise of God, coming to Abram in just a few short chapters, rather than on their own self-will and power.

They were all together in one place. John tells us that:

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. (John 20:19, NLT)

They had reason to be afraid that first Easter Sunday. One of their own had turned out to be a traitor, betraying Jesus to the temple authorities. Peter, perhaps, would have been afraid of himself- afraid of what he was capable of- wallowing in guilt for his own denial of Jesus just to save his own skin. The kangaroo courts- both sacred and secular- had rushed through their version of “justice.” Jesus was tortured, killed, buried in a borrowed tomb. Despite the excited assertions of Mary Magdalene, they were all together in one place- locked in and afraid. Unlike the peoples on the plane of Shinar, their fear does not motivate...

Rev. Dr, Les Martin

Easter 4 – Good Shepherd Sunday
Rev. Dr. Les Martin
Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17, Luke 10:22-29

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27

In the Name of the Living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

The book of Revelation is a kaleidoscope of images that keep changing and changing. The appearance of Jesus has also been changing: in chapters 1 through 4, we have Jesus the priest, teaching John and his 7 churches. In chapter 5, Jesus appears both as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb that was slain, the one who conquers by his own defeat. Today, in chapter 7, on this Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear that the Lamb is also the Shepherd of his people.

The idea of God as a shepherd was deeply embedded in the living faith of Israel, as seen in numerous Old Testament passages. It may be an unusual portrayal in our day and age, but it was electrifying for those who, after the resurrection, remembered how Jesus had spoken of himself: as a shepherd. For us, it is enough to remember that a shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. He leads them, and the sheep come out after him.

Another image looms large in our Revelation reading today: a gathering of people so vast that no one could possibly count it. Who are these people? Chapter 7, verse 4 has told us that 144,000 have come out from the tribes of Israel- eschatological Israel is much bigger. In John 10:16, Jesus had said that he had other sheep that he would bring into the fold, so that there would be one flock, one shepherd. Here, we see them: gathered from every nation and tribe and people and language, they retain their beautiful diversity but acknowledge only one allegiance. They have come out, leaving behind the identities and situations that once demanded their loyalty. No tribe, no country, no politics, or custom holds sway with them any longer, they answer only to the the voice of the Shepherd.

Where have these people come from? The elder answers John the Divine that ‘These are the ones who have come out of the great suffering.” We do well to take an expansive view of what this means. The 5th-century Archbishop Caesarius of Arles teaches us that:

These are not, as some think, only martyrs, but rather the whole people in the church. For it does not say that they washed their robes in their own blood but in the blood of the Lamb, that is, in the grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. As it is written, “And the blood of his Son has cleansed us.

All who have gone through the valley of the shadow of death with only the Shepherd as their comfort are here. All who have found themselves at his table- but have also found it set in the midst of their enemies are here. Martyrs, yes, but also the the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek, and those tired of corruption, those who are merciful in an ugly world, pure in a perverse world, peacemakers in a world of war, the persecuted, the insulted, those gossiped and lied about- all are here.

Why are they here? Because of the Lamb, who is their Shepherd. It is he who has called them out of the great suffering. The garments of their lives have been stained in the world of sin and death. The sin and death done unto them, done by them. Washed in the blood of the Lamb- washed in Baptism- they suffer no more and are now before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his temple as a kingdom of priests.

What are these people like now? The short answer is this: they are just fine. Having endured the valley of the shadow of death, now all that they have suffered is past. Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah:

You will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons, ‘Emerge.’
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them,
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water. (Isaiah 49:9-10)

There is perhaps one final question we need to consider as we reflect on our Revelation reading today: What difference does it make for you and me? Or, more plainly, so what?

Let’s start with some Greek: the Greek word “ekklesia,” meaning church, is derived from two other Greek words “ek” (meaning “out”) and “kaleo” (meaning “to call”). The church, then, is “the called out ones.” The church is the sheep who are called out and led by the Shepherd.

One of the problems in looking at Revelation- as a result of how our culture reads it, I think- is that we see it solely in terms of the future. We can read this lesson and say “Oh, look what happens for those people. Good for them.” We forget, beloved, that those people we see in Revelation chapter 7 are the church – those people are us....