Thank you for tuning into Ascensioncast. We hope you enjoy listening to this and our other podcasts. You can find more information at www.knoxvilleascension.org or by emailing [email protected].

Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The Reverend Christopher Hogin

This month marks the 21st anniversary of one of the most successful films in cinematic history. Out of 14 Academy Award nominations, this film won 11, including best picture. Commercially, it was the first film to reach the billion dollar mark worldwide. It resonated not only with a western audience, but also captured the imagination of the entire world crossing cultural and socio-economic boundaries. Even in the remote country of Afghanistan, citizens smuggled in copies of the movie despite bans imposed by the brutal regime of the Taliban. This movie was, of course, James Cameron’s masterpiece, Titanic.

Titanic struck a nerve within the human psyche. It spoke to our deepest desires and fears. There’s romance, intrigue, betrayal, tragedy, redemption–it’s all there—and that’s even before the cataclysmic sinking of the ship! For a while, the audience forgets about the impending doom, and instead, becomes enveloped in the romance of the characters Jack and Rose. But the viewer also connects with the world of the ship: its elegant promenade deck with sculpted brass handrails, the first class dining room, the cutlery clinking against delicate china, the orchestra fluttering in the background as passengers sip champagne. This contrasts with the bawdy third-class hall where fiddlers strum and beer sloshes out of bar taps in to glasses.

Different socio-economic levels are represented on the ship: the super-wealthy, the middle class, and the impoverished. It’s all there; A microcosm of life and society. All are encased in a floating planet known as the RMS Titanic. But soon, that world comes to a crashing and devastating end in an unexpected and disastrous way.

What makes the movie so compelling, aside

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Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Christ the King, 2018

Thanksgiving is past and Advent is not yet here, and our gospel this Sunday seems like a Holy Week reading with Jesus standing trial moving toward crucifixion.   Next Sunday will be the first day of Advent and we will turn around and begin anticipating the birth of the Christ child.  It’s like getting whiplash driving down a very windy road at high speed.  First we look one way and then we quickly turn around  and look the opposite direction. This is a strange time for us as we try to follow our liturgical season.

We call today Christ the King Sunday; and we proclaim this day that Christ has established God’s Kingdom on earth, or others might say God’s rule or God’s realm.  But what does this mean exactly?   How do we understand this while at the same time we look around and see poverty, violence, and terror, not to mention a lot of other things that distort and defile all that God has made good.  How do we understand that God rules over all, that God’s realm is established on Earth when so many other forces are at work among us.  Our gospel for today contains these contradictions about the way things are. So let’s delve in and see if it can help us understand what it means to say Christ rules

Jesus stands before Pilate, the Roman governor, who has the power to crucify him or let him live.  Jesus has been forced at sword point to go where he does not want to go and soon to be subjected to torture and death, the likes of which constitute the worst kind of terrorism.  So who has the power in this scene?  Who is the established ruler here? It appears that political power will squash spiritual power.  One could even say that it even appears God has disappeared entirely and Jesus is left alone to face those who will destroy him.  God’s realm?  Jesus rules?  Really?

The scene is set: the one with political authority faces off against the one with spiritual authority.  Pilate poses the question: “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Pilate is wondering if Jesus intends to overtake the nation by force and cast down the Roman government.  This kind of treason, by Roman law, would indeed be a reason to put Jesus to death.

Jesus answers with spiritual insight: “My kingdom is not from this world.  If my kingdom were from this world my followers would be fighting.”   So the political kingdoms of this world are established and maintained by violence.  While the realm of God’s reign is established and maintained by peace.   If Jesus had intended to establish political power he would hav

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The Gospel: Mark 13:1-8

As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

Sermon Text: There is no sermon text available at this time. 

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The Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Sermon for Proper 27B – Stewardship Ingathering- 11-11-18 Church of the Ascension PJW

Widows, like the ones in our Old Testament and Gospel readings for today, appear all through the Bible.

There are somewhere around 80 direct references to widows in the Old and New Testaments, and virtually every one of them is concerned with the plight of widows in a society where, because they had been dependent on a husband or son to care for them, they were in constant danger of abuse, neglect, and death if they were alone in the world.

In today’s Gospel lesson is a story about a widow that has been commonly referred to as “The Widow’s Mite.”

That phrase has been used as the title of novels and short stories, and it is often held up as an example when someone of limited means acts in an extraordinarily generous way.

How much is a “mite”?

If we are to really understand the offering of the widow in the Gospel it might be useful to know that.

The actual word that is used in the Greek says that the widow put a “lepton” into the treasury at the Temple.

A lepton is equal to 1/128 of a denarius.

A denarius was the equivalent of a day’s pay for a laborer, so the amount the woman put in was 1/128 of a day’s wage.

To put that into perspective, if a laborer earns minimum wage in Tennessee and works an eight-hour day, that person would be paid 58 dollars a day before taxes.

If you divide that amount by 128, in today’s dollars the woman put in about $.45.

And Jesus says that this mite, this lepton, was all she had to live on.

She was faced with the choice of offering all she had, which wouldn’t even buy a black coffee at the local Jerusalem Starbucks, in order to be faithful.

She certainly knew that her survival in that society was always a risk, and yet she chose to trust God.

I can picture this woman, because I believe I came very close to her not that long ago.

Last fall I went to Antigua, Guatemala, for two weeks of intensive Spanish language immersion.

On the Sunday that I was there, I went to church at the Roman Catholic cathedral next to the parque central (and that’s all the Spanish I can manage today).

I got there a little early, about 15 minutes or so before the 10 am service.

It is an old cathedral, several hundred years old, that has been shaken by earthquakes and partially destroyed and rebuilt in one way or another many times.

But it retains the unusual beauty of the Roman Catholic Churc

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The Gospel: John 11:32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Sermon Text

All Saints’ 2018

Today we are surrounded by the saints, and we are surrounded by their stories. Their photographs are in the window sills. Their images shine  in the stained glass windows.  As a collect from the burial office so eloquently states, saints are people who “have been the choice vessels of God’s grace, and the lights of the world in their … generation” (BCP p.847). And also as our hymn today proclaims, “They lived not only in ages past, there are hundreds of thousands still. The world is bright with… joyous saints” (Hymn 293, Hymnal 1982).  Everyone of these saints has a story, and we have stories to tell of them; so today I will be telling you some of my stories with the hope that they help you touch into yours.

You might think this first story begins a little strangely, for it begins a few days ago with me ironing sheets.  Now the funny thing is that I don’t iron sheets.  I don’t believe in it.  I mean who is looking at how wrinkled a sheet is?  But for reasons that are not very interesting I found myself doing this household chore that goes against my belief system  All of the sudden, wonderful memories of my Aunt Grayson came to mind.  This because, she did believe in ironing sheets, and she loved it! She had sheets of the softest cotton, made even more sumptuous by years of use and by years of ironing.  Whenever I spent the night at her house, the bed was always luxurious, and in the exquisite delight of falling asleep in one of those beds, I just couldn’t help but feel encased by love, by the love that went into making those sheets just right for me, the night guest.  Have you ever felt surrounded by love like that?  Then you have met a saint.

As I was ironically ironing those sheets the other day, my thoughts eventually went back to another time, a time when my aunt was young, and I even younger.  She was my m

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The Gospel: Mark 10:46-52

Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

The Sermon

The Reverend Christopher Hogin

About nine years ago I was in Rome, Italy. Rather than visiting the popular tourist destinations, an out of the way place called, The Crypt of the Capuchins piqued interest. Frommer’s guidebook described it, and I quote, “one of the most horrifying images in all of Christendom.” I was intrigued.

The crypt contains no stone carvings or icons. Instead, a visitor encounters seven chapels adorned with the skeletal remains of over 3,700 bodies of former Capuchin friars. The remains date from the 1500’s to the 1920’s. In some rooms, bones are twisted into sculptures. One space contains a mosaic of skulls woven into an intricate design shaped into a cross. In the final room, the resurrection chapel, full-bodied skeletons from the 1500’s, face the viewer as if speaking. Below a sign proclaims the following message:

“What you are now we used to be;

What we are now you will be.”

It sounds disturbing, but it’s not. In a strange way it’s peaceful. It’s not a place of horror, it’s a place of holiness. In fact, it’s profound to think that friars from 500 years ago are still witnessing a powerful theological message today. They ask us to see truth. They ask us to open our blind eyes so that we may all see ourselves more clearly. This truth is literally stripped to the bone, and exposed to the world. Their decaying bodies become lenses aimed at focusing our vision on the reality that our mortal bodies decay.

I was struck by a tremendous contrast when I walked out of the crypt and into the late afternoon sunlight of a bustling city. A sleek sports car zoomed down the street. In a nearby café a tall thin man with chiseled good looks, dressed in a tailored suit, sat sipping an espresso laughing with his equally attractive companion, a woman in a red dress and flowing black hair. It was such a contrast from the skeletal remains in the chapel. Yet someday, these two bold and beautiful souls, will also follow the same trajectory as the Capuchin friars. At that moment they were probably blind to that truth.

In all four gospels, blindness is mentioned no less than 27 times. Blindness receives a tremendous amount of attention. Both physical and spiritual blindness is emphasized.

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The Gospel: Mark 10:17-31

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

The Reverend Christopher Hogin

The Silent Voice of God

Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Mark 10:17-31

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension

October 14, 2018

In 1982, a film was released called Tender Mercies starring Robert Duvall. Duvall plays Mac Sledge, a divorced, alcoholic, washed up country music singer. The movie opens in the remote dusty plains of Texas: the wind blows, there’s a rustle of sagebrush, and you hear the sound of a rusty creaking weather vane. Mac Sledge awakens from a drunken stupor on the hard floor of a cheap motel room.  He’s broke. Unable to pay for the room, he approaches the owner, a young widow named Rosa Lee, whose husband died in Vietnam. She has an 11-year old son. Mac reveals that he has no money, and says, “Lady, I’m broke, but I’ll be glad to work out what I owe you.” She replies, “All right, but I got one rule—No drinking.” He responds, “Yes ma’am.”

The movie is about redemption and transformation. Mac bonds with Rosa Lee and her son (aptly named Sonny). They marry and become a stable, happy family. Mac is even drawn to Rosa Lee’s Christian faith. One day he and his stepson attend the Baptist church and ceremoniously get baptized together. Mac resumes his singing, and writes a few songs. He asks forgiveness from his ex-wife, and reconnects with his eighteen-year old daughter. All is well until tragedy strikes. Mac’s daughter is killed in a car crash. Overw

Thank you for tuning into Ascensioncast, your source of news and inspiration from The Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Knoxville, Tennessee, for this week’s episode of The TEA with GiGi and Andrew. You can find this and sermon podcasts on the Ascensioncast channel. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleascension.org, or email [email protected].

Thank you for tuning into Ascensioncast, your source of news and inspiration from The Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Knoxville, Tennessee, for this week’s episode of The TEA with GiGi and Andrew. You can find this and sermon podcasts on the Ascensioncast channel. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleascension.org, or email [email protected].

Due to networking issues, we are having to distribute this episode late (very late) and hope you enjoy. We are resuming normal distribution at this time.

Thank you for tuning into Ascensioncast, your source of news and inspiration from The Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Knoxville, Tennessee, for this week’s episode of The TEA with GiGi and Andrew. You can find this and sermon podcasts on the Ascensioncast channel. For more information, visit www.knoxvilleascension.org, or email [email protected].

Due to networking issues, we are having to distribute this episode late (very late) and hope you enjoy. We are resuming normal distribution at this time.