The Adventures of Mo. Lauren and Fr. Kenny

Hello friends!

As promised, I have some pictures of our vacation earlier this month.  I took a little time off to visit my folks and some friends up in Massachusetts.  We took the Acela, Fr. Kenny thinks that safety is number one:

Then, it was pool time!  Yup, my folks have a pool, so we lounged around and got some color.

ahhhhhh

Always use sunscreen!

It wasn’t all lounging, we also took a trip to visit a seminary friend, Fr. Andrew.  I miss Andrew terribly, but I was so happy to go for a visit and introduce him to Fr. Kenny.  Fr. Andrew is the Assistant Rector at Church of Our Redeemer in historic Lexington, MA.  Here are some photos of the lovely church, check out their website.

They are having a great debate about incense.

We also visited the parish where I grew up, Trinity Episcopal Church in Topsfield, MA.  Here is their website.  I love Trinity, and have many fond memories there.  It was built in 1969 (ish) and is in a modern style.  There are no stained glass windows, or icons, or gold, and I LOVE it.  I do adore beautifully decorated churches, don’t get me wrong, but nothing beats natural sunlight pouring down onto the altar through the skylight.  Here are some pictures for you:

The Gethsemane Statuary. This is one of 3 in the world, the only one with the disciples sleeping.

Fr. Kenny was tired from swimming.

Mo. Lauren was baptized in this very font!

Mo. Lauren used to sing in the choir as well.

Fr. Kenny is such a micro-manager, he should trust the Altar Guild, they know what they are doing.

Fr. Kenny likes to check out the vestments

BEAUTIFUL!

After seeing these photos, I think you can see why my liturgical style is how it is, hahaha.  It is all good!  It was great to visit home and friends.  Hopefully I’ll get back up there soon.

Until next time!

Mo. Lauren

Hello Friends!

We’re back from vacation!  I do have a lot of fun adventure pictures with Fr. Kenny that will be posted later in the week.  We relaxed, visited some friends, overall it was a good little break.

My first Sunday back was a doozy, Matthew 15:10-28, a reading which includes Jesus comparing a woman to a dog, sort of. It is a complex story, and I try it my best try this week:

Sermon, Matthew 15:10-28, August 17, 2014

Thanks for stopping by!

Mo. Lauren

Hello Friends!

This past Sunday featured one of the most famous miracle stories of Jesus, the feeding of the 5,000 plus people.  This appears in all 4 Gospels (and later in Matthew again), so it is obviously very important.  But why?  Well, I explore that very question in the sermon posted below.  I preached this at Emmanuel, Great River, but also at Christ Church in Brentwood.  They are a Spanish/English speaking church, so as I preached, a gentleman translated, which was a first for me.  It was a great day overall!

Sermon- Matthew 14:13-21 – Proper 13-Year A-August 3, 2014

Next Sunday, I’m on vacation and I’m NOT preaching!  Wow.  So you will have to wait for the next sermon.  But, Fr. Kenny and I will be traveling a bit, so stay tuned for some fun adventures.

-Mo. Lauren

Hello Friends,

This Sunday we read Matthew 13:31-33,44-52, which is a bunch of parables about the kingdom all in a row.  I chose to talk about the parable of the woman making bread, which is only one sentence long, yet is very rich indeed.  Many thanks go out to my friend Mother Stefanie who provided me with her project about this very parable, so I had a lot of great insight from her.

A little context, on this Sunday (July 27, 2014) we had 2 baptisms (I will reference that in the sermon and the sermon is a little shorter than normal).  One of the babies decided that she didn’t like my sermon and starting crying during it, which is totally fine, I’m just letting you know that you might hear some background noise on this one.

Sermon, Matthew 13:31-33,42-52, Proper 12, July 27, 2014

Thanks for stopping by!

Mo. Lauren and Fr. Kenny

Hello Friends!

This week I did not reference any obscure fables, so I consider that a win.  Ha!  This week’s Gospel reading was the parable of the wheat and the weeds.  The farmer chooses to wait until the crop is fully grown to pull the weeds, so that the wheat won’t be damaged.  In the end, the reapers come and divide up the plants.  But how can we tell the difference between weeds and wheat?  Well, the point is, often we can’t, and its not our job anyway.

Text: Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

Sermon – Proper 11 – Year A – July 20, 2014

Thanks for stopping by!

Mo. Lauren

PS- The organist sneezed during the sermon, so I say “bless you” at a random time.

Hello Friends!

The text for July 13th was Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, the parable of the sower.  This is a very famous parable, and it is very smart and deep.  Now, at the beginning I mention a fable about the ant and the grasshopper.  I assumed that everyone knows this fable, but it seems that many people don’t.  My bad!  So, down below I have put a description of the fable and the link to the Wikipedia entry.

Sermon-Matthew 13:1-9,18-23-July 13, 2014

Thanks!

Mo. Lauren

The Fable (from Wikipedia):  The fable concerns a grasshopper that has spent the warm months singing while the ant(or ants in some versions) worked to store up food for winter. When that season arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger and begs the ant for food. To its reply when asked that it had sung all summer, it is rebuked for its idleness and advised to dance during the winter.

Click here for full Wikipedia description.

Hello friends,

You know when you get to a new job and you inherit an office full of stuff, then you have to go through it all?  Well the same thing happens at churches.  Some offices are well organized and have administrative assistants, a working computer, a scanner and more.  When I arrived, the office had none of these things.  Since last September, I have been slowly going through the office (which is just a cordoned off section of the Parish Hall) in order to get things the way I like them, which is organized, neat, and functional.  We got a newer computers, got the printer fixed (it still won’t scan for some reason), we don’t have an admin, but I have been throwing things away.

I had a previous post about finding fun things in the office, and I have found more!  One of the things about churches is that we never throw anything away.  So my office has about 30 years of stuff piled up everywhere (and some older stuff-the church was founded in 1862).  A big drawer filled only with copies of the Palm Sunday Passion Play which is changed every few years?  Check!  Two cookie tins filled with unlabeled keys to things that are probably long gone?  Check!  Here are some of the new fun things that I have discovered.

I found these while cleaning out the Sunday School Area (just another portion of the Parish Hall):

Nirvana, yay! Led Zep, sure, I’ll take it! Phish, no thanks.

Music/lyric books of various bands that are not Christian bands.  Wow, what a cool find.  I’m very excited about Nirvana (my favorite band besides Rammstein).  I’m cool with Led Zeppelin, and then Phish, well they are a band.  Not my favorite, but interesting that its here.

Next I found some beach balls and GLOW STICKS!  PAAAAARTY!

Just wait until its dark, Fr. Kenny is gonna party like its 1997!

I imagine these are from a picnic or something, but still kind of odd.  Fr. Kenny was reminded of his college days dancing at Buttons in Syracuse…oh I think that was me…..

“S’ALRIGHT?” “s’alright”

Fr. Kenny found a new toy, a mini ventriloquist dummy made just for a man of his stature.  Hopefully it won’t get possessed and try to take over his sermons.

Finally, we get some literature.  These are usually the most interesting finds, because these little books (tracts) are usually quite old and the theology outdated.  Some of it is humorous, and some of it makes me angry because of the damage I’m sure it caused to people who read these books seriously in the past.  So today, I choose to laugh at these and shake my head.

Why Drink? This booklet is why…..

That is all for today.  Thanks for reading you guys.  If you have found anything funny or weird in your office, please share!

-Mo. Lauren

Hello Friends,

This week’s text includes a very famous line about bearing yokes.  But what comes before that part is also very rich and deep.  Jesus talks about how God sends different diverse prophets to preach to a diverse population, but sadly, people still don’t hear the message. But you can hear my interpretation of the message right here:

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30-Proper 9-July 6, 2014

Thanks for listening!

Mo. Lauren

Hello Friends,

This week’s text is Matthew 10:40-42, a continuation of the text from last week.  Jesus talks about a life of discipleship, the importance of hospitality, and how acts of love done in faith, no matter how big or small, matters to the world, and God.

Sermon-Matthew 10:40-42-June 19, 2014

I hope everyone is enjoying summer time, remember to wear sunscreen!

Until next time,

Mo. Lauren

Hello Friends,

This week, Jesus gives the disciples a reality check about what discipleship looks like.  He gives them some hard truths, but also tells them not to be afraid.  Words of comfort?  A challenge?  Find out, in this week’s sermon!  (Thanks to Mo. Mitties, and Fr. Mac, for the “South Pacific” inspiration.)

Matthew 10:24-39, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, June 22, 2014

Thanks for stopping buy!

Mo. Lauren