Loosed Canon

Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost August 2, 2020 Yr A St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21 Have you ever appreciated how readily food is available to us?  As I was reflecting on today’s Gospel, I made a point this week of noting how many times I ate or snacked during the course of a day, and, let me tell you, it was eye-opening.  I’ve always had what’s called a “healthy appetite”.  I don’t think I’ve encountered a meal that I didn’t like or love.  And I’m a joyous diner, I love good, fresh ingredients, well-seasoned dishes and a fabulous dessert can make an entire meal in my estimation.  But as I tracked my eating habits, I noticed that it was so easy to reach for snacks, make sandwiches, order in, take out, or wait for Charles to make an amazing dinner.  I was never in want.  I am, for good or bad, well fed.  Perhaps you have the same feeling – when we are well fed, we f...

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after The Pentecost July 26, 2020 Yr A St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 When I first started to practice mindfulness meditation, I had this misconception that it was something that I could do only when I was sitting cross-legged on a pillow. But a long-time practitioner suggested that mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present, and at one with those around you and with what you are doing. We bring our body and mind into harmony while we wash the dishes, drive the car, or take our morning shower. It’s like that with prayer as well. Prayer, connecting with God, can be done in very reverent, liturgical settings like church, as well as in less churchy spaces and times like in our kitchen washing dishes, while we’re drivin...

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost July 19, 2020 Yr A St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 Weeding is a fact of gardening life.  I love hearing about people’s weeding methods.  Some undertake weeding their gardens with a military precision that is sustained throughout the entire growing season.  Some folks have a look of madness about them as they stalk around with bottles of unpronounceable chemicals which instantly kill the weeds, while others love to spend hours methodically moving from area to area hand-pulling each and every bit of nuisance.  Others absolutely loathe it and only do it when the greater part of their garden is made up of weeds rather than the plants they originally intended to grow there. For me, I like weeding in the early months of the season.  The plants in the border are not yet very large and there’s a lot of space for weeds...

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost Yr A July 12, 2020 St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 One of my favorite gardening programs is called Gardener’s World, a BBC production that is hosted by Monty Don. If you’ve ever watched it or seen clips of it, you know that Monty has one of the most serene, reassuring presenter voices around. And his garden, called Longmeadow, is just as serene and lush as Monty sounds. No matter what time of the year, everything is in full bloom, rarely anything is eaten by slugs or snails, and even his dogs seem to be natural features of his garden and they show up in every episode. It’s all enough to make the green-eyed snake of envy rise up in oneself, with feelings of gardening inadequacy washing over one. However, I noticed something that Monty does a few times during the season. About a month and a half ago, he sowed carrot seeds in his vegetable garden. A few ...

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost July 5, 2020 Year A St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 I’ve been reflecting on two very different experiences I’ve had in the past week and a half. A week ago, I baptized little Charlotte Emelie Cirillo.  The gathering was mostly made up of her extended family, including her 18-month sister Penelope and two little cousins.  As the post-baptism photos were being taken, the kids were running around the altar, checking out the pew doors, and a few even climbed up into the pulpit to get a different view of the church.  Their interest in everything around them reminded me how I sometimes forget to appreciate the beauty and sacredness of this space we call church – from the touch of the smooth wood of the pews, to the cold shiny touch of the brass communion rail, I can see why it seems like a world of wonder to kids, and I rejoiced in their unabashed curios...

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost Year A June 28, 2020 St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42 This may sound odd, and please don’t be offended, but my favorite part of the Sunday service is when you all leave.  You see, I think the loveliest words of the service is said at the end, in our post-communion prayer. In Eucharistic Prayer B, the post-communion prayers says, “Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart.”  In other words, we’re asking God for homework until we meet again the following Sunday.   Sending out is a common theme throughout the entire arc of the Bible.  God  sends  his servant Moses to confront Pharaoh; God tells the prophet Jeremiah “everywhere I  send  you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak”; the great proph...

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost June 21, 2020 Year A St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 10: 24-39 About a month ago when spring was really at its height, I was walking down the bike path with Henry, my dog.  Suddenly, Henry was on a scent and tugging on the leash.  This is something Henry does with any scent, so I just pulled him back in line and proceeded on.  But he was really insistent to go back and kept pulling on the leash.  When I turned around, I noticed a little chick  scurrying around the short grass.  The next thing I knew, another chick fell right next to it.  When I looked up, I saw in the tree branches what was presumably their mother, looking down on me and squawking her head off.  Before he was able to consume the chicks for lunch, I pulled Henry back and off we went, leaving the agitated mother and her chick.  A friend later told me that it was likely that...

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost June 14, 2020 Yr A St. Michael's Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23) One summer, I took a job as a landscaper. I harbored dreams of working up flower beds, planting beautiful combinations of plants and shrubs, helping clients think through what they want their garden to look like through the summer and fall. However, when I showed up at my first job site, I was confronted with a large cement slab. Where was my rich soil? Where were the perennials that I was going to spend the afternoon planting? Instead, the foreman handed me a pickaxe and said “Well, that patio isn’t going to remove itself.” I almost quite the job on the spot, but I, along with two others, started breaking down cement. The area was too small to get any piece of machinery in, so pickaxe it had to be. It was hard, back-breaking work and it took us two days to break it down and have the cement hauled away and I a...

Sermon for the First Sunday after Pentecost June 7, 2020 St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Rev. Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: Matthew 28: 16-20 A few years ago, the Church of England took a survey of its clergy on various topics.  Regarding the topic of preaching, I’d like to share with you some words by the survey’s author, the Rev Dr. Stephen Dawes, in his report to the committee. He said this, “It won’t surprise you that today, Trinity Sunday, is, statistically, the day most preferred by preachers for a Sunday off. Perhaps it’s because they are confused by the esoteric mathematics of three in one and one in three? Perhaps it’s because they have used the famous Irish flora illustration - the three in one of the shamrock leaf – and can’t find another one? Perhaps it’s because they know that the Doctrine of the Trinity has created more heretics, more schisms and more martyrs than any other doctrine and don’t want to take the risk? Perhaps it’s because they ...

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday Yr A May 31, 2020 St. Michael’s Episcopal Church The Reverend Canon Michael J. Horvath Gospel: John 20:19-23 Today is Pentecost Sunday. As we heard in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, today celebrates God’s revelation of his life, his breath, his Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit the Apostles and disciples are filled with gifts of the Holy Spirit     - the same gifts we are filled with upon baptism.     Now, on Pentecost Sunday most preachers use the text of the Acts of the Apostles for their sermon. We all know this story and we expect that it will be preached on Pentecost Sunday.     We know the disciples gathered in the upper room. We wait for the sound like the rush of violent wind to fill the house. In our mind’s eye we see the divided tongues, as of fire, appearing and resting on each disciple. We might be amused at the drunken chaos in which people are speaking, hearing, and understanding strange ...