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Several years ago, I was worshipping with my wife, Caren, at Temple Bet Yam, the Reformed Jewish synagogue on Wildwood Road.  While looking through their Prayer Book I came across this poem.  It is called “Epitaph”… it is by Merrit Malloy.

​When I die
Give what’s left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.

Look for me
In the people I’ve known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live on in your eyes
And not your mind.

You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.

Love doesn’t die,
People do.
So, when all that’s left of me
Is love,
Give me away.​

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Today we hear the story of John the Baptist in the wilderness.  I once served as rector of an Episcopal Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina, just outside of Raleigh.  The church’s patron and namesake was John the Baptist.  Now the town of Wake Forest was the home of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary … part of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Wake Forest was also home to 18 Baptist churches.  It was hard not to see “Baptist” everywhere in the small town.  Well, every year there was a street fair on Wake Forest’s one-block-long downtown, and the women from St. John’s would sell baked goods to raise money for our church school program.  One year I went down to the street fair to support them and the sign in front of their table read:

​I think the women selling our baked goods just wanted to feel included.

Sermon by The Rev’d Skip Brady, deacon
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Hey, look around...The Hanging of the Greens has started; lights outside, candles in the window, an Advent Wreath, and lights around our Sanctuary are all ways of getting our church in order, in preparation for Advent. 
 
Today is the first Sunday of Advent...

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This is our last Sunday of Pentecost Season, the Sunday before our national holiday of Thanksgiving, and a week before Advent begins in our countdown to Christmas.  Turkeys are selling fast, shopping centers are already decorating for Christmas, the Lights of St. Augustine were lit last night, families are already buying trees, and the big box stores are all set for Black Friday.  

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A few years ago Caren and I toured southern England and visited lots of churches … many of them cathedrals.  One night we stayed in lodging within the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral … literally in the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral … the home church of the Anglican Communion.  Another night our hotel room was next to the River Avon … with swans swimming in its calm waters … and we looked out over the river at the tallest church spire in all of England … that of Salisbury Cathedral.  As a matter of fact, we saw so many cathedrals the tour took on the nickname of ABC … Another Beautiful Cathedral.