Sermons from Grace Cathedral Grace Cathedral

The Rev. Miguel Bustos
Manager for Racial Reconciliation and Justice, The Episcopal Church

“O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth."
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17                                   
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Mark 2:23-3:6
1. Near the end of The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis’ children’s book about the apocalypse, the great Lion stands before a massive closed door which seems to have nothing behind its doorframe. He has just presented a bountiful banquet to a crowd of bickering dwarfs. But they are not able to see or experience it – as they eat the delicious pies, wines and ice creams, they think they are eating old hay, wilted cabbage leaves and putrid water. They complain and fight each other. One says, “the Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.”
The Lion explains to the children with him that the dwarfs, “will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” Then the Lion goes to the door and roars so loudly it could shake the stars. He calls, “Now it is time!” Time! Time! And the door to another world flies open.[1]
Today I am talking about the sabbath. We will think about what that word means, how ancient Hebrews practiced the sabbath, what questions it raised for them and for us today. But the simple thing I want to express is the idea that of the sabbath as a kind of doorway into another world. We walk through the sabbath into a world which constantly changes our experience of this one, a world which helps us to see what is real and what is a distraction and what is an illusion.

Trinity Sunday
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17
Today, question of the Nicene Creed, its use and revision is only slightly less charged than it was 1600 years ago. That we continue to profess our faith in the Trinity with the Nicene Creed is for some is an unassailable article of truth which binds us to Christians across time and tradition, and for others, it is partial, patriarchal, and uninspiring. Following the scholarship of Geoffrey Wainwright, let’s lightly survey the rich liturgical and sacramental tradition which precedes the doctrine expressed in the Nicene Creed and consider its import for the issues of our own day. 

Pentecost Day 
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15


We gather in homage to the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, revealed in various forms and as the Spirit of Truth. Today's festival is also a festival of justice, one that may confound our expectations and upend our sense of comfort. Building common understanding means designing our lives, personal and collective in such a way that we who have much come to reflect that the truth that everything we are and have is a gift from God,

And so intentionally conserve a portion of what is "ours," for the last and the least. This commitment aligns with Anglican theology, urging compassion and care for all. And it is grounded in our baptism covenant, which renew today in faith and and where we invoke the Spirit's guidance for a just and peaceful community.

Jesus prayed, “I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves” (Jn. 17).
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19
Friendship According to Aristotle and Jesus
1. “We seek one mystery, God, with another mystery, ourselves. We are mysterious to ourselves because God’s mystery is in us.” [i] Gary Wills wrote these words about the impossibility of fully comprehending God. Still, we can draw closer to the Holy One. I am grateful for friends who help me see our Father in new ways.
This week my friend Norwood Pratt sent me an article which begins with a poem by Li Bai (701-762). According to legend he died in the year 762 drunkenly trying to embrace the moon’s reflection in the Yangtze River. Li Bai writes, “The birds have vanished from the sky. / Now the last cloud drains away // We sit together, the mountain and me, / until only the mountain remains.” [ii] For me this expresses the feeling of unity with God that comes to me in prayer.
This poet was one of many inspirations for a modern Chinese American poet named Li-Young Lee (1957-). Lee’s father immigrated to the United States and served as a Presbyterian pastor at an all-white church in western Pennsylvania. Lee feels fascinated by infinity and eternity. He writes this poem about the “Ultimate Being, Tao or God” as the beloved one, the darling. Each of us in the uniqueness of our nature and experience has a different experience of holiness.
He writes, “My friend and I are in love with the same woman… I’d write a song about her.  I wish I could sing. I’d sing about her. / I wish I could write a poem. / Every line would be about her. / Instead, I listen to my friend speak / about this woman we both love, / and I think of all the ways she is unlike / anything he says about her and unlike / everything else in the world.” [iii]
These two poets write about something that cannot easily be expressed, our deepest desire to be united with God. Jesus also speaks about this in the Gospel of John, in his last instructions to the disciples and then in his passionate prayer for them, and for us. In his last words Jesus describes the mystery of God and our existence using a surprising metaphor. At the center of all things lies our experience of friendship.
On Mother’s Day when we celebrate the sacrifices associated with love I want to think more with you about friendship and God. To understand the uniqueness of Jesus’ teaching, it helps to see how another great historical thinker understood this subject.
2. Long before Jesus’ birth the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) studied at Plato’s school in Athens (from the age of 17 to 37). After this Aristotle became the tutor of Alexander the Great and founded a prominent library that he used as the basis for his thought. Scholars estimate that about a third of what Aristotle wrote has survived. He had a huge effect on the western understanding of nature. He also especially influenced the thirteenth century theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and therefore modern Roman Catholic approaches to Christian thought.
For Aristotle God is eternal, non-material, unchanging and perfect. He famously describes God as the unmoved mover existing outside of the world and setting it into motion. Because everything seeks divine perfection this God is responsible for all change that continues to happen in the universe. We experience a world of particular things but God knows the universal ideas behind them (or before them). For Aristotle God is pure thought, eternally contemplating himself. God is the telos, the goal or end of all things. [iv]
Aristotle begins his book Nicomachean Ethics by observing that “Happiness… is the End at which all actions aim.” [v] Everything we do ultimately can be traced back to our desire for happiness and the purpose of Aristotle’s book is to help the reader to attain this goal. Happiness comes from having pa

Acts 10:44-48
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:9-17