Father Snort

Brad Sullivan Proper 21, Year C September 25, 2016 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX 1 Timothy 6:6-19 Luke 16:19-31 Put Your Trust In God, and Rely Not On Your Stuff. Have you ever noticed that in some organizations, the folks who have a lot of money are the ones who it seems really matter in that organization, and everybody else isn’t as important. If we look at elections, most of us only get one tiny vote, whereas people or businesses with lots of money get their vote as well as enormous amounts of influence over the candidates and over policy. Money gets people what they want in this world. Influence, power, prestige, security, lots of really nice things. Wealth is also often seen as an indicator of success and even moral elevation. Those with money worked hard to earn it. They did well. Those without money didn’t work as hard, didn’t earn as much. They aren’t as good people as the ones with lots of mon

Brad Sullivan Proper 20, Year C September 18, 2016 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Luke 16:1-13 Scorsese Is Directing? I’m Ok With That. Jesus? Not So Much. At first glance, in our Gospel story today, it seems as though Jesus is telling us we should be dishonest, and we’re pretty much confused through his entire parable. By the end, the wraps things up pretty clearly, saying, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” Ok, we pretty much get that. We may not like it, but, we get it. In the middle, though, the master of the house praises a dishonest manager for being dishonest? Does that make any sense to us? I think it really kinda does. Years ago, I saw a reality show called, “Big brother.” It was the typical thing, a last man standing contest where people voted each other off the show, and they all lived in a house together. They formed alliances and tried being friends and living togeth

Brad Sullivan Proper 19, Year C September 11, 2016 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Luke 15:1-10 Bullying, Terrorism, & 9/11: The Way of Self-Righteousness Is the Way of Death Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and people saw life and truth in him, and people flocked to him, following him and following in his way. Jesus’ way of life was a way of love, and forgiveness, and reconciliation, a way in which he did not shun or exclude those who were considered to be sinners. Rather, he welcomed them and ate dinner with them, and this did not sit well with the religious leaders of the time, the Pharisees and the Scribes. They complained about Jesus, “He eats with sinners!” They complained about Jesus, safe in their own self-righteousness, keeping the sinners at a distance, keeping them shunned, keeping them away, so that the Pharisees and the Scribes could be righteous in their own eyes.

Brad Sullivan Proper 18, Year C September 4, 2016 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Philemon 1-21 Luke 14:25-33 Let Go of Everything We’re Afraid to Lose Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are two of the most polarizing figures in American politics right now, understatement of the year. They’re probably two of the most polarizing people in recent memory. Folks are even stopping being friends with other people (at least on Facebook) because of whom they support. There’s nothing new about people not being overly comfortable talking about politics, but not even being able to say who you support for fear of total ridicule and scorn seems kinda new to me. Whether it is because of who our candidates are or a sign of the times, these two political candidates have ended up being extremely divisive and polarizing figures. Now, it would be an overstatement to say that if you support one of the candidates, you have to hate member

Brad Sullivan Proper 17, Year C August 28, 2016 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Luke 14:1, 7-14 It’s Dinner, Not a Marriage Proposal At the very heart of the Gospel, we have God loving humans as his beloved children. With all of the beauty and grace with which we were made, with our remarkable capacity for love and empathy, with our creativity and astonishing drive to invent, to imagine, to overcome obstacles, and with our courage to band together in the face of hardships, God loves us, and his love for us is at the very heart of the Gospel. God loves us for who we are, and with the list of human attributes I just gave, we can see why. We are creative, loving, generous. We band together to support each other. We weep when others weep; we rejoice when others rejoice. We are also terribly flawed. We can be mean spirited, cruel. We commit horrible atrocities and acts of violence, hatred, degradation. We fight, argue

Brad Sullivan Proper 16, Year C August 18, 2016 Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX Jeremiah 1:4-10 Luke 13:10-17 God Interrupts Us With Moments of Grace Last Sunday, we heard about Jesus saying that he came to bring division, and today, we heard about that division actually happening. Jesus was teaching in a Synagogue, and then he stopped teaching to heal a woman who came to hear him. We’re told she had been stooped over for 18 years, so it was known that this woman was almost crippled, and then with a word and a touch, Jesus turns chiropractor and heals her body so she can stand up straight and walk and move well. We hear the leader of the Synagogue then, basically telling this woman she was wrong for coming to the Synagogue and making sure no one else makes such a mistake. Rather than berate Jesus for healing her, the leader says to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and no

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City August 14, 2016 - Proper 15 Luke 12:49-56 All In with the Jesus Movement Have you ever heard Jesus referred to as the prince of peace? I’m often surprised to find that in the Gospels, Jesus is nowhere called, “Prince of Peace.” We get that term from a passage in Isaiah 9:6 which says, “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Passages in both Matthew and Luke allude to this verse from Isaiah, and we believe Jesus was the one referred to in Isaiah 9:6, so we call Jesus the prince of peace. Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers.” He told his disciples to have their peace be upon any house in which they stayed. He told people to be at peace with one another, and he constantly told people to go in peace. Even at his crucifixion, he asked f

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City August 7, 2016 - Proper 14 Luke 12:32-40 The Risky Road of Love I had a great week as a session director last week at Camp Allen. Having grown up going to summer camp there, it was a joy to be on the other side of things as one of our directors for 8 & 9 year olds. There were fun and games, time spent in prayer, and a program each day talking with the kids about parts of the Gospel. On one of the days, we talked about Resurrection, and we talked not only about resurrection after physical death, but also resurrection of many deaths throughout our lives. One example we discussed was the death of a friendship. The kids totally got that when we talked about kids being mean to each other, and the friendship dies. Then, we talked about kids reconciling, and that being resurrection of the friendship, a new life. At one point the next day, a couple of boys got in a little scuffle. One of the boys kicked another in the shi

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City July 24, 2016 - Proper 12 Luke 11:1-13 You Can Do Better? No. You Are Enough “You can do better.” That was on the message we saw as we left the weight room gym of San Marcos Academy, where we stayed for our mission trip last week. The women slept in the guy, and men slept in dorm rooms with beds (thank you, Kathy), and the only place we could get ice for our work days was in the back of the men’s weight room in the gym. We left there each day with buckets of ice reading the same message that guys from the school saw each day as they left the weight room, exhausted from their workout, “you can do better.” I think the coaches or whoever put that message on the wall, probably intended it to be a motivational saying, but all I could think was that it was about the worst motivational saying I’d ever seen. When you’re completely worn out from lifting weights and your leg

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City July 17, 2016 - Proper 11 Amos 8:1-12 Luke 10:38-42 Don’t Do Your Chores, Kids I looked through several children’s Bibles on a hunch over the last week looking for the Martha and Mary story we just heard, and my hunch was confirmed. Not a single one contained this story of Martha doing all the chores, Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus telling Martha that Mary had it right. No parent wants their children to hear this story. “Don’t do your chores kids. Just sit around and listen to Jesus.” To be fair to both Mary and Martha, both work and rest are required. We gotta get our chores done. We gotta get our work done, and we want to strive for excellence in what we do. Mary is not the patron saint of laziness. She could be called the saint of setting aside all distractions and serenely receiving the Word of God. Martha, on the other hand, wanted to receive

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City July 10, 2016 - Proper 10 Luke 10:25-37 Prejudice & Segregation Have No Place In God’ Kingdom Jesus blew some minds and likely ruffled some feathers with his response to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” As understood in Leviticus 19, an Israelite’s neighbor was one of his own kin, a fellow Israelite. Neighbor was therefore narrowly interpreted so that loving others outside of Israel was not required. Certainly loving a Samaritan was not required. In fact, Samaritans were so hated and vilified by Israel, that being loving toward one of them may have even been seen as the wrong thing to do, or at least something that brought scandal and gossip. “I heard Joe was being friendly with a Samaritan the other day.” “Ewe! Do you think he ate with one of them? They’re not friends, are they?” “I don’t know, but I don

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City July 3, 2016 Proper 9, Year C Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 “???” “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." These seem curious words to me, curious words for Jesus to leave with his disciples. He had sent them out to prepare the way for his coming into cities and towns. Seventy of his disciples, sent two by two, to stay with people, cure the sick, and to let them know that the kingdom of God had come near to them. Then, the disciples returned, overjoyed that they were able to cast out demons in Jesus’ name, and who wouldn’t be. That was pretty awesome work they were doing. To cast out a demon meant you had some pretty strong Spirit of God working through you, which might boost one’s feelings of importance, not to mention that you’d just been a major help to someone desperately in need. So,

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City June 19, 2016 Proper 7, Year C Luke 8:26-39 “Somewhere to Cast Our Demons” Earlier this week, while beginning my preparation for today’s sermon, I posted the following on Facebook. “We need to stop hunting wild hogs. Without them, we’ll have nowhere to cast our demons. Amen.” There were several comments, some people taking the post very seriously, some rather disgruntled by the theological or huntingological implications. My favorite comments, however, came from my cousin Nicki, who reposted what I had written. In response to one rather disgruntled response, she wrote, “I thought it was funny. Father Bradley Sullivan is my cousin. I know his sense of humor...I used to change his diapers.” Saying we need to stop hunting wild hogs so we’d have a place to put our demons was all I had at the time for a sermon starter, and it gave me a chuckle so I

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City June 12, 2016 Proper 6, Year C Luke 7:36 - 8:3 “A Woman After God’s Own Heart” Imagine sitting down for dinner with Jesus at Simon the Pharisee’s house. It’s a fairly nicely appointed house, not a rich man’s house, but you can see that this Pharisee is well off, nonetheless. They had low tables and didn’t use chairs, so you’re sitting or kneeling at the table with several others, servants have brought bowls for you to wash your hands, and the meal is about to be brought out. Then this woman begins weeping behind Jesus, poring her tears onto Jesus’ feet and wiping them off with her hair. You’re getting quite uncomfortable at this point, waiting for Simon to do something, and thinking to yourself, “Well, this is awkward.” Jesus, for his part, doesn’t seem to mind in the least. Apparently he likes a foot massage, and was

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City May 29, 2016 Proper 4, Year C Luke 7:1-10 “That’s Now How the Force Works!” The faith in Jesus of the centurion in today’s Gospel reading was absolute and his faith reminds me of the faith of another soldier, a man named Finn, former Storm Trooper turned good guy in the latest Star Wars movie. Finn’s faith was not in Jesus but in the Force; for those who aren’t familiar with the films, the Force is a mystical, well “force” which some people in particular can partner with to do extraordinary things. They call it using the Force, but there are only a very few people who can use the Force, and they must be trained in order to do so. Finn was not one these people, in fact, he knew almost nothing about the Force, but he had heard about it, and he believed in it. He had been a soldier, a Storm Trooper for the evil First Order which was trying to subject the ent

We are who we are because God is who God is. God is a relationship of persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is also one. We are made in God's image, individuals made for relationship.

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City May 15, 2016 Pentecost, Year C Acts 2:1-21 Romans 8:14-17 John 14:8-17 (25-27) Heaven Dwelling Within Us Pentecost of known as the birth of the church. It is the day in which the Holy Spirit took Jesus’ 12 chief disciples, 12 followers of Jesus, and gave them power and authority to be 12 leaders of Jesus’ church. Now Jesus had more than 12 disciples, and his church already numbered in the hundreds at this point. A few days before the day of Pentecost, there were 120 followers of Jesus gathered together to fill the leadership void left when Judas betrayed Jesus. Matthias was chosen and became one of the 12 apostles, one who had been with Jesus from early on and had witnessed Jesus resurrected during the 40 days after his resurrection before he ascended into heaven. So Matthias filled Judas spot, the 12 apostles were gathered together devoting themselves for prayer and were waiting, as per Jes

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City May 8, 2016 7 Easter, Year C Acts 16:16-34 Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 John 17:20-26 Everyday Glory I often pray, generally every day, at least once every day, and generally if I’m praying for something that I want, I’ll say a sentence or two about it, but sometimes I find that it’s something that I’m desperate for God to say yes to, and so I’ll not just give the one or two sentences, but then I’ll think, “Is there any other way that I can ask this and make sure to cut off any loop hole that God might be able to wiggle out of saying yes. I feel that’s a little bit like Jesus’ prayer for his disciples at the end of John’s Gospel. He’s praying that the disciples would be one, that they would be united in his love, and in all of the different kind of ways that he asks this, we find an awful lot of passion in this prayer. We

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City May 1, 2016 6 Easter, Year C Acts 16:9-15 John 5:1-9 Alms for An Ex-Leper? In the movie, The Life of Brian, Monty Python showed a rather silly example of this idea that being healed can actually be rather difficult. The movie was a comedy, which took place in Israel during the lifetime of Jesus. Brian, a historically insignificant and unknown Jew, found himself caught up in a series of crazy situations, his life often mirroring the life of Jesus. In the scene showing the difficulty of being healed, Brian is walking through town when a man comes prancing up to him asking, “Alms for an ex-leper?” Brian is not initially interested, and there is some haggling going on as the Ex-Leper continues to reduce the amount he is asking for when he finally comes to his rock bottom offer: Ex-Leper: Okay, sir, my final offer: half a shekel for an old ex-leper? Brian: Did you say "ex-leper"? Ex-

Brad Sullivan St. Mark’s, Bay City April 24, 2016 5 Easter, Year C Acts 11:1-18 John 13:31-35 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Hearing those words makes me love Jesus even more and want to follow him and trust in him. His commandment that his disciples love one another is part of his farewell speech and prayer for his disciples before he is crucified. Jesus knew he was going to die, and he knew he had a pretty good following. He knew that if he chose to, he could have asked them to fight for him, and they would have done it. They might have even kept him alive in their efforts. Of course, some of them would have died in the process, and he loved them far too much for that, not to mention that he knew it was not God’s will. Rather than disobey God, rath