The Rev. Jeanne Leinbach preached at our celebration of the Holy Eucharist on Easter Day.

Download the sermon text here.

The Rev. Brandon Ashcraft preached at our services on Good Friday.

The Rev. Jeanne Leinbach preached at the Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m.

The Rev. Gabriel Lawrence preached at our celebration of the Liturgy of the Palms and the Holy Eucharist on the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.

Download the sermon text here.

The Rev. Patricia Rose preached at our celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the Fifth Sunday in Lent.

Download the sermon text here.

The Rev. Brandon Ashcraft preached at our celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

Download a copy of the sermon here.

The Rev. Jeanne Leinbach preached at our celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the Third Sunday in Lent.

Download the sermon text here.

"For those who want to save their life will lose it, and

those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will

save it."

Names are important. In fact, my name is the entire reason I

have my dog. Years back, I was in search of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I

was scrolling through the webpage of a breeder who had some pups for sale, and

I knew I wanted a black and tan cavalier. As I was scrolling, I reached a

certain puppy and stopped, shocked. I could not believe my eyes. There in front

of me was a black and tan puppy with the name Gabriel. I made a call,

and a week later, I was the proud owner of a black and tan Cavvy with my name.

Though I have been tempted, I have never changed his name. After all the whole

reason we've enjoyed each other's company for ten years is our shared name. I

have him because of how he was named.

Names were even more important in the time of Abram and

Sarai. Names were more than just a label. They were a descriptor. They told a

lot about the person who had the name. Names contained identity, vocation,

purpose. God thought so highly of names that he changed Abram and Sarai's

names. But we will come back to that.

I want us to first look at the text from Mark because I

think this story of Jesus and Peter shows us something important about God. Peter

has always been one of my favorites. Peter is the guy who was always doing too

much. He's the guy who tried to walk on water. He cut off the ear of a Roman

soldier in defense of Jesus. He told Jesus that he would never deny him, only

to do it not once, not twice, but three times. Peter might be called impulsive

or reckless. But here's what I love about Peter: He was never afraid to get

close, to wonder, to question, to doubt, to love. It was Peter who was the

first person to identify Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. In

fact Peter does this only a couple of verses before we pick up with him in the

Gospel text today. And yet just two verses after he makes this confession, he

rebukes Jesus. In a matter of just seconds, he is a confessor who then rebukes

the Son of God. And while Jesus in very clear terms tells Peter to be quiet,

Peter will go on to become the Rock. Don't forget his name wasn't always Peter.

It was Simon. It was only changed to Peter by Jesus, who called Peter the Rock

upon which the Church would be built.

I think what we learn from Peter is that if we have the

courage to get close to God, our lives just might be changed. Our very names

might change. Our purpose might change. Abram and Sarai chose to stay close to

God, and God changed their names too. We see this closeness that Abram had with

God when he laughed in God's face when God told him he would have a child,

would be the father of nations. One does not laugh at the Creator of the

Universe if they are not close to the Creator of the Universe. In this story,

Abram become Abraham and Sarai becomes Sarah. God changes their names as a sign

of reward for their trust in God and God's promise. It is important to note

here, too, that God's name is also changed. God identifies God's self with the

name El Shaddai, or "God the Almighty". Abraham and Sarah have stayed true and

faithful to God, and God has not only changed their names, but also his very

own name. We see these name changes in other stories, too. Jacob wrestled with

God, and his name was changed. Our very own patron's name was changed from Saul

to Paul, as God changed Paul's life and called him to new work.

Lent invites us to get close to God. Lent invites us to

practice courage and dare to wrestle with God, to doubt, to trust, to wonder,

to laugh at how much God loves perhaps even us because it hard sometimes to

even believe. Lent invites us to see ourselves in a new way by being honest

about who we are and how we are in need of God's grace.

So, how do we do this? How do we get close to God? Jesus

tells us. We take up our cross. He says, "Those who want to save their life

will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of

the gospel, will save it." We take up our cross by taking up all of ourselves:

the good, the bad, the parts we are proud of, the parts we are ashamed of. We

risk giving up the comfort of what we know to step into what God is calling us

to- to risk coming in contact with the power of God's love and grace. We offer all

our fears, our shame, our sin, and our pride to God. We take up our cross and

we follow Jesus.

As we begin the second week of Lent, I challenge us to sit

with God, to exercise courage. To get close. To find a spot and bring our whole

selves to God. Take some time this week to sit in the silence. Be bold.

God, what might you want to change my name to this Lent?

God, where are you calling me?

God, I am scared. Where are you?

God, what new thing are you asking me to do?

God, how can I do your work in the world?

And if we do this, we just might hear God speak to us. We

just might feel God's love and grace wrap all of our fears and shame, and

doubt, and speak peace to our hearts. We just might hear God give us a new

name.

The Rev. Patricia Rose preached at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist on the First Sunday in Lent.

In our secular calendar, the First Day of Lent can fall as

early as February 4 and as late as March 10. Its occurrence this year on

February 14 has been the source of some amusement. Indeed, an email I received

this morning from the Plain-Dealer came with this subject line: "Happy

Ashentine's Day." This comedic concurrence of Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day

has also given rise to Internet memes that look like this: [holds up three large

wooden "candy hearts'" with the following inscriptions painted on them, to look

like Valentine's Day Candy Hearts: "Repent," and "U R Dust," "Ash 2 Ash"].

What makes these images so comical is the apparent contradiction. The unspoken

implication is that Valentine's Day is a joyful holiday, while Ash Wednesday

decidedly is not. The suggestion is that Cupid conjures warm and fuzzy

emotions, while Ash Wednesday, with its reminder of our mortality, is cold and

depressing. The subtext is that Ash Wednesday, with its emphasis on sin and

repentance, has nothing to do with love. And my friends, I assure you: nothing

could be further from the truth. Much like Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday finds

all its purpose and meaning in a loving relationship - our relationship with

God, the Source of all Love.

The hallmarks of a loving relationship are truthfulness and

trust. Those who love us are the ones who can speak truth to us, and because we

trust them, we can hear them when they speak the truth. On Ash Wednesday, the

truth is spoken to us in love. In a moment, each of you is going to be invited

to come forward to receive a reminder of this truth: that your time on this

earth is finite. That this earthly life we share is but a sojourn. To speak

plainly, today you will be reminded that you are going to die. Of course, we

all know this to be true, so you would not think a reminder would be necessary.

But this message is an eminently counter-cultural one. The world we live in

conspires to have us ignore this truth, if not outright deny it.

The ways our culture does this are subtle, and we don't

always notice them. But take, for example, the explosive growth of the

anti-aging market. As a consequence of the pandemic, and all the time we've

spent looking at our faces on Zoom, the appetite for botox is growing by leaps

and bounds among Gen Z (who are all still under the age of 30). Indeed, the

TikTok hashtag #antiageing has more than 8 billion views. Which is to say that

from a very young age, the world tells us we should do everything in our power

to mask our mortality. But today your clergy, ministers of the Gospel who care

deeply about your spiritual life, are going to send you a very different

message. We will look into your eyes and speak this truth to you in love:

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The world wants you to forget this, but the Church invites

you today to remember that the God of love molded you from the dust. And when

your earthly pilgrimage is over, your bodies will return to that very dust

until they are remade at the day of resurrection. You will each receive a token

of this reminder in the form of cross-shaped dust clinging to your foreheads,

in the very place you were anointed with a cross on the day of your baptism.

Just like that baptismal cross, this cross reminds you that you are a beloved

Child of God. A Child of God who will return to dust, but whose density is

eternal life with a loving Creator. A truth spoken in love and marked on our

foreheads.

Then, after we have received our ashes, we will all get on

our knees, either in body or spirit, and we will pray a special confession of

sin called the Litany of Penitence. Most Sundays, we pray a general confession.

One that acknowledges in language broad and sweeping that we have fallen short

of loving God and our neighbor. But in this Ash Wednesday Litany of Penitence,

we use language vivid and precise to affirm the particular ways we have fall

short of living the great commandments. We will lift our voices together to

enumerate sins of pride, greed, and indifference. We will admit that we have

failed to offer forgiveness as freely as we're received it. That we've ignored

the depth of human suffering and denied our privilege. That we have failed to

care for our fragile island home, the earth that God entrusted to our care.

Ash Wednesday is a day to speak the truth in love. To come

clean about our shortcomings, and not just our personal shortcomings, but the

systems of oppression that are so much bigger than we are, in which we participate,

nonetheless. And by acknowledging the cosmic power of sin, we are liberated to

hear a message of profound grace and love: that our God, as the prophet Joel

reminds us, is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in

steadfast love." While hardly a traditional Valentine's Day custom, this

confession of our sin has everything to do with love. At the end of our Litany

of Penitence, Jeanne, a priest in the Church of God, will stand

before us and speak another truth in love: that God's mercy, compassion, and

forgiveness is poured out freely and abundantly upon us. As we leave this place

to continue our Lenten journey, we can do so unburdened by the weight of sin to

share the love we have received this day with others.

Beloved friends in Christ: Today, on this First Day of Lent,

we begin a 40-day journey together. This Sunday, that journey will take us into

the wilderness with Jesus, as he goes head-to-head with the powers of sin and

darkness. After walking faithfully together these next several weeks, our

Lenten journey will bring us to the holiest week of the Christian year. We will

follow Jesus to the Upper Room, where he will give us food and drink that leads

to eternal life. We will follow Jesus to the foot of the cross, where he will

freely give his life for us. We will keep vigil at the tomb as we mourn his

death, before joyfully greeting the empty tomb on Easter morning to proclaim

that he has conquered death forever, so we are free to live. It is the greatest

love story ever told, and today it begins with sacred truths spoken in love and

written on our hearts. Happy Valentine's Day. And blessed Lent.