The Rev. George Adamik considers Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 and Mark 8:31-38: “God says to Abraham and Sarah in our reading today, ‘Walk in my presence.’ That’s what God is demanding of Abraham and Sarah. Don’t hide like Adam and Eve or walk away, but let us walk towards each another, let us be in relationship with one another, let’s engage with one another.”
The Rev. George Adamik discusses Mark 9:2-9 and asks “Why does Mark place the story of the Transfiguration at this point in the Gospel?”. Later in the homily, Fr. George offers a preview of upcoming Lenten activities at St. Paul’s.
The Rev. George Adamik reflects on 1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20), the role of prophets, and the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Often, people use ‘prophet’ for someone who tells the future…, but I don’t see it in that way. A prophet is not someone who tells the future but someone who tells the present… and tells the present in a way that we often don’t want to hear or see. A prophet is calling a community to a new vision, inviting us into a new future.”
On Christmas Eve, the Rev. George Adamik offers a different way of understanding the Incarnation: “God’s Incarnation wasn’t to somehow fix things; it was always the Creator’s intention to send the Christ into our midst.”
The Rev. George Adamik reflects on Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8: “Advent is our life. It’s not just a season. It’s a call to us to remember that we’re a watchful people, ever vigilant.”
The Rev. George Adamik considers a few ways to “inwardly digest” the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30): “Do we take the gifts we’ve been given and bury, hide, or protect them, keeping them safe, or are we called to go beyond ourselves and make a difference?”
The Rev. George Adamik discusses five major roles for the contemporary church based on Avery Dulles’s classic work.
The Rev. George Adamik reflects on Matthew 22:15-22: “We read the scriptures as if we have no money, and we then use our money as if we’ve never heard the scriptures.”
I doubt that there’s anybody here in this room who, after hearing that parable (Matthew 20:1-16), doesn’t say, “what?” That does not make sense. It doesn’t seem fair. This idea that a landowner hires people at daybreak, another group at 9:00, another group at 3:00, another group at 5:00, and interestingly, he pays the five o’clock people first….
Context is everything. When we try to understand something, it’s so important to know the context. I want to share some thoughts this morning on this reading, that letter that Paul wrote to the Romans and allow that to engage us in our lives at St. Paul’s. (Romans 13:8-14)