For over a thousand years, the Church has gathered on this day to perform a ritual that
the modern world often finds jarring. We take the remains of last year’s victory—the
palms of Palm Sunday—and we burn them into a gray, lifeless powder. In the ancient
world, to “sit in sackcloth and ashes” was the ultimate sign of a soul stripped bare; it
was the mark of the exile and the public penitent. As we begin this holy season,
we must realize that the Prophet Joel’s ancient call to “blow the trumpet in
Zion” is not a call to celebration, but a declaration of a spiritual emergency. These ashes
are the “uniform” of those who recognize that the world is broken, and more importantly,
that we are part of that brokenness.
The theological heart of this day lies in the uncompromising command: Memento
Mori—”Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is the “Law of
the Garden” from the Book of Genesis. It serves as a stark reminder that despite our
ranks, our titles, or our years of service, we are contingent beings who do not own our
next breath. Ash Wednesday is the Great Equalizer of the liturgical year. Whether you
are a student, a retiree, a first responder, or a priest, we all receive the same smudge of
dust. It is a necessary confrontation with our mortality, intended to strip away the illusion
that we are the masters of our own destiny. We are creatures in desperate need of a
Creator, and we have forty days to re-align our lives with that reality.
The Prophet Joel challenges us to “rend your hearts, not your garments.” In the Hebrew
tradition, tearing one’s clothes was a sign of extreme grief, but God sees through the
theater of outward signs. He is looking for a strategic rupture in the soul—a deep,
internal surrender. A “strong” Lent is not defined by the quantity of our sacrifices, but by
the quality of our conversion. We fast to prove to our bodies that our souls are in
charge; we pray to prove to our egos that God is in charge; and we give alms to prove
to our hearts that we do not own the world. This is why we commit to forty days—the
biblical timeframe required for the “old man” to die so that the “new man” can be born.
As we embark on this campaign of Christian service, let us not wear these ashes as a
badge of holiness, but as a confession of our need. History teaches us that those who
forget they are dust eventually attempt to act like gods, a path that always leads to ruin.
I invite the community of the Unified Old Catholic Church to enter this season with
discipline and clear eyes. The orders for the journey ahead are simple yet profound:
Repent, believe in the Gospel, and remember who you truly are in the eyes of God. The
campaign has begun.

In the Gospel of Matthew, our Lord Jesus Christ issues a decree that challenges the
very foundation of our spiritual comfort. He declares that He has not come to abolish the
Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. For the believer, this fulfillment is not a
relaxation of requirements, but an intensification of the heart. As we seek Veritas—the
Truth—we must confront the reality that external compliance with a set of rules is not
the same as salvation. St. Thomas Aquinas famously noted that the New Law is
primarily the very grace of the Holy Spirit given to those who believe. Therefore, the
“minimum” is no longer an option for the Christian. It is not enough to refrain from the
act of murder if we harbor the fire of anger or the poison of insults toward our neighbor.
It is not enough to avoid the act of adultery if our minds remain a sanctuary for lust and
objectification. Jesus Christ is not calling us to be “good citizens” who stay within the
legal lines of society; He is calling us to be disciples whose every thought and “Yes” is a
definitive alignment with the Cross.

This “Law of the Heart” demands a radical integrity that bridges the gap between our
Sunday worship and our daily conduct. If we approach the altar to offer our gift while
holding onto a grudge or refusing to reconcile with those we have hurt, our sacrifice is
hollow. The Truth dictates that our faith must be more than a spectator sport. Every one
of us has been equipped by God with specific gifts—be they financial, physical, or
spiritual—intended for the building up of His Kingdom. To possess these gifts and refuse
to use them is to choose the “fire” of self-interest over the “water” of sacrificial life. The
economy of the Kingdom of Heaven operates on a principle of divine generosity: when
we offer back to God the labor of our hands and the integrity of our souls, He returns it
to us in “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”

As we move through the cycles of the liturgical year, let us remember that the “Higher
Standard” of Christ is not a burden meant to crush us, but a guardrail meant to guide us
toward true freedom. True freedom is found when our internal character matches our
external profession. We are invited to strip away the “internal noise” of resentment and
half-heartedness, replacing it with a discipline of reverence and service. Let us stop
looking at the Law as a list of constraints and start seeing it as the path to the Ruler of
our hearts. May we choose this day to move beyond the letter of the Law and embrace
the Spirit that gives life, building a Church that is defined not by its rules, but by the
transformative power of its Truth.

Y’all…….  The United States is frequently characterized as a “light to the world” or a “shining beacon,” symbolizing a global model for liberty, democracy, and economic opportunity. Founded on ideals of equality and individual rights, the U.S. has served as a beacon for freedom, offering an, at times, unique, and evolving society.   The concept of being a “light to the nations” stems from biblical traditions regarding an example of righteousness, which some interpret as applying to the nation’s historical mission of promoting freedom and, to a lesser extent, religious, liberty.

Religious Liberty.  I’m sure that you have noticed that here in recent months, there has been a great cry among a certain segment of our population to restore Christianity into the United States, and that is has been said that there is a war on Christianity.  The president of the United States said, at a Rose Garden event on the National Day of Prayer in May, “We’re bringing back religion in our country. His faith adviser, pastor Paula White-Cain, proclaimed that in his administration, faith “has been brought back to where it always belongs, and that is center.”  He has even gone so far as to establish a Task Force Against Anti-Christian Bias. 

Well…..yay?  I think not.  While all of this sounds good and wholesome and right, when, in reality, it is far, far, far from anything good;  as far as east is from west.  It would seem that many today actively espouse things that are far and away from anything Jesus taught.  He kinda summed it up when he said, in Matthew 23:27-28: 

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

If the powers that be were truly interested in furthering Christ’s message, well, the Scripture’s appointed for today would be a great place to start.  From Isaiah:

Thus says the LORD:

Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed;  your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!  If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;  if you bestow our bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

I really haven’t seen much of that on the national news lately, have you?  But then again, that’s the “Old Testament” and we are supposed to be New Testament people, no?  So, let’s check out the Gospel Reading for today:

Jesus said to his disciples:  “You are the salt of the earth.  But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?  It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.  You are the light of the world.  A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;  it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.  Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”    Matthew 5:13-16

Well now.  It seems to me that we, this country, each of us, needs to work on letting our lights shine.  Really and truly shine.  We need to light up the darkness in this world.  And reckon wonder how do we do that?  Wonder of wonders, Jesus tells us!  Again from Matthew:

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  Mt 34-40

The “least of these.”  Who are the “least of these”? 

So…are the people and policies in place now actively shining this kind of light?  What’s more important though, is the question, are YOU shining on the folks around you?  Jesus wasn’t playing when he said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’   All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Mt 22:36-40

When we were wee, we were taught the song, “This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine,” and we sang it with gusto!  Now, as adults, we have come to the point in our lives that we have to decide if we are, indeed, gonna let our lights shine, or are we gonna support, vote for, and continue to hide in the darkness?   Amen.

Y’all…… Like many of you, I’m struggling right now.  I am trying very, VERY hard to not be angry.  To not be afraid.  To not be accusatory.  But it’s not easy.  I know that most of the folks I know are good people.  I have to believe some of them are just way, way misguided.  But still…….  My father was a man of few words, and great wisdom.  When Daddy spoke, we listened.  And learned, which was his entire point.  And here in the past few days, one particular convo with my father has been on repeat in my mind.  Now, I have not the first clue as to what the particular situation was that caused this conversation, or even who Daddy was talking to, but someone had been killed/murdered, and whoever Daddy was talking to wasn’t particularly bothered/concerned about it and had actually made some off-hand comment about it being a good-not-necessarily-bad thing.  And here’s the kicker:  Daddy said, and I will never forget this, he said, “If you support this and agree with it, you are no better than the man who pulled the trigger and did the killin’.  And what do you think Jesus would say about that?”  Boom!  My Daddy knew how to make a point.

And so I can’t help but think about the folks whose votes and politics are supportive of what’s going on in our world today, and the things they’ve said.  From “I like what he says about immigration” to “Christian America belongs to white people.”  And yes, these are things that I have actually had said to me by people who are supposed to know and believe better.  Or at least I thought they knew and believed better than that.  I continue to hope and pray that hearts will be changed and these folks will actually realize how misguided they are.  I pray for their “light bulb moment.”

One of the greatest joys of any teacher is when their kids have a “light bulb moment,” and suddenly the kids understand whatever concept they’ve been struggling with.  You can actually see the change in the kids’ faces when they “get it.”.  It’s an awesome thing!  I had one of those lightbulb moments of my own recently.  For the biggest part of my life, one of the most mysteriously difficult things for me to understand in Jesus’s life was when He wept over Jerusalem.  I mean, intellectually, yeah, ok, but it never really hit me in the feels.  Ya see, Jesus had just ridden into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to the acclaim of the masses.  They had yelled their hosannas and waved their palm branches, and they still didn’t get just who Jesus was and what he represented.  And this bothered him.  So he popped up into the hills, as Jesus was wont to do when he needed a break, and as he looked over Jerusalem, he  foresaw the city’s impending destruction by Rome and mourned the spiritual blindness of the people who rejected him.  He cried.  His tears reflected deep compassion for their refusal to accept the peace and salvation he offered, and he knew that refusal  would lead to severe judgment.  He grieved over their consistent rejection of God’s prophets and, finally, the rejection of the Son of God.  It kinda broke his heart, ya know?

And I just didn’t quite understand.  Couldn’t identify…..until now.  Watching the news, listening to folks talk and say some really, really dreadfully misguided things…..   Well, I get it now. 

Long before Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem, he had kicked off his ministry with, perhaps, the wokest of the woke sermons Jesus ever preached;  The Sermon on the Mount, which brings us to the Gospel Reading appointed for today.  The Beatitudes:

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,

and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Jesus called those folks, and is calling us, to be peacemakers, merciful,  honest, meek, and to love one another.  He called those folks, and is calling us, to be righteous, to stand up for what is right and true and good and loving.  Yes, here we are now, more than 2000 years later, still being called and still trying to get his message to the folks who need to hear it, still trying to convince folks that he meant what he said.  Still calling truth to power and believing that the world can be changed if folks just try.  Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time, William Ewart Gladstone, a 19^th century British Prime Minister, and Sri Chinmoy, the spiritual teacher, are all given credit in one place or another for the quote, “When the Power of Love overcomes the love of power, only then will there be peace on earth.”  Just because it’s kinda cliché doesn’t make it any less true.

Almost 40 years ago, that great musician, Billy Joel, was having a conversation with a friend and they were discussing the dumpster fire that was the world at the time.  He then later wrote the song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”  In it, he lists some of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things that have happened in the past hundred years or so, and the chorus goes like this:  “We didn’t start the fire, but the world’s been burnin’ since the world’s been turnin’.  We didn’t start the fire, No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it.”

And we’re fighting it still.  Jesus has told us how to fight it.  Mercy.  Justice.  Peace.  Righteousness.  Acceptance.  Compassion.  Empathy.  Love.  If we are  truly the Jesus People we claim to be, can we be any less?  If we are to be the example for the rest of the world, can we be any less?  Can we DO any less?  Maybe, just maybe, if we listen to Jesus, and do as he has asked, no, commanded, us to do, we can make a difference.  YOU can make a difference. 

So the question remains, are you gonna be one of those who pulls the trigger, or are you gonna help  put  out that dumpster fire, and replace it with The Light of the World?  Amen.

Y’all………It’s not often that I focus on the Epistle reading appointed for the day, rather than the Gospel reading….nor am I a fan of Paul.  Paul was a pretty decent guy, but folks have taken him WAY out of context and twisted his words and meanings into something that he probably wouldn’t even recognize, but I digress.  ANYWAY,  today is one of those unusual times when I focus on what Paul said, so here we go.  In his first letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul says, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you,but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.  For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters,  by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you.  I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”  ( Corinthians 1:10-13, 17)

Pretty apt for today’s times, huh?  There are SO many folks who claim to be “Christian”, who can spout scripture on command to justify whatever it is that they’re preaching, and who purposefully twist the words found in the Bible to meet their own unfortunate beliefs.  You know who knows the Bible better than anyone?  Who can use those holy words to back up whatever he is selling?  Da devil.  (But that’s a whole ‘nother sermon, so hold that thought.) 

What Paul is telling us is that we need to focus on Jesus and when HE said.  A couple of weeks ago, I changed my Facebook banner to one that said, “Read the Red Words.”  It sparked some questions and discussions.  Way back in the dark ages, when I was but a wee lad, my parents bought me my first Bible.  It was a “Red Letter Edition.”  For those of you who are not familiar, a Red Letter Edition of the Bible is one where every word Jesus is supposed to have said is in red.  And I think, today more than ever in our lifetimes, today we need to be hyper-focused on The Red Words.  The rest of the words written in the Bible aren’t worth a hill of beans if they are not read, understood, and applied through the lens of what Jesus said.  When Paul wrote about those saying, ““I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” he was, in today’s jargon, saying, “I am a Republican!”  “I belong to the Democrats!”  “I’m conservative!”  “I’m a proud liberal!”  And nowhere, NOWHERE in that is an “I belong to Jesus.”

Now, Jesus knew this was gonna happen and he spoke about causing division, most notably in Luke 12:51-53:  Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.  From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.  They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 

But does it have to be that way?  That would be a big ol’ NOPE.  Not.  Notty not not.  In this, like everything else in this world that we do, say and believe, we have a choice.  We can, like Joshua of the Hebrew Bible said, “Choose this day whom ye will serve.”  Now, this will cause great consternation among the troops, coz it requires all of us to examine what we do, what we believe, and who we are.  If any part of us, if anything in our behavior contradicts the Red Words, we need to make some serious adjustments.  And in a nutshell, what do those Red Words say?  Imma tell ya.  Jesus’s main message centered on the Kingdom of God—God’s rule and reign—calling people to repent and believe the good news of his coming kingdom, emphasizing love for God and neighbor as the guiding principles, and demonstrating this kingdom through healing, compassion, and serving the oppressed. His teachings called for radical love, mercy, and seeking God’s kingdom above all else, both in present life and anticipating what is yet to come.

His greatest commandments were, after all, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37–40   So it bears repeating:  We are to demonstrate healing, compassion, and serving the oppressed. His teachings called for radical love and mercy.  If what you see on the news and what you read in da papers isn’t doing that, then you are witnessing the exact opposite of what Jesus was talking about.  If what you are cheering on whilst watching the news and reading in da papers isn’t doing that, then YOU are doing the exact opposite of what Jesus was talking about.

So, choose this day whom ye will serve.  And if there’s any questions about it, read the Red Words.

Amen.

My brothers and sisters, if you look around the sanctuary today, you will notice a distinct shift. The poinsettias are gone, the crèche has been packed away for another year, and the gold and white vestments of Christmas have been folded up. Today, I stand before you in green as we enter what the Church calls “Ordinary Time.” However, I want to warn you against a common mistake: “Ordinary” in the life of the Church does not mean boring, nor does it mean routine. The word comes from ordinal, meaning “counted time.” It is the season where we count the days we walk alongside Jesus in the midst of our daily lives. And frankly, there is nothing “ordinary” about the Gospel we just heard.

We find John the Baptist standing by the River Jordan, surrounded by crowds buzzing with anticipation. They are looking for a Messiah, a conqueror, perhaps a King who will kick out the Romans—the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” Yet, when John sees Jesus coming toward him, he doesn’t announce a Lion; he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Imagine the confusion of those listening. A lamb isn’t a conqueror; a lamb doesn’t have claws or fangs. A lamb is vulnerable, gentle, and most importantly to the Jewish listeners standing there, a lamb is sacrifice. In one sentence, John the Baptist flips the world’s expectations upside down, telling them that God isn’t coming to conquer by force, but by sacrificing Himself—taking away the sin of the world not by destroying sinners, but by bearing the weight of the sin Himself.

As a Dominican, a member of the Order of Preachers, I have a deep love for John the Baptist because he is the model for all of us. If you look at classic religious paintings of John, artists almost always depict him the same way: with an elongated finger pointing away from himself and directly at Jesus. He doesn’t say, “Look at me, I’m the prophet,” or “Look how well I baptize.” He simply says, “Behold Him.” In the text today, John even admits, “I did not know him.” Think about that—they were cousins, yet John admits that he didn’t truly know who Jesus was until the Spirit opened his eyes. That is a lesson for us at St. Michael’s; we may have grown up with Jesus, but we always need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes a little wider, to see Him not just as a historical figure, but as the Lamb present right now.

In a few moments, I will stand at this Altar to do exactly what John did. I will take the consecrated Host, elevate it for you all to see, and echo those words across two thousand years: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.” When we reach that moment in the Mass, remember that it is not a ritual repetition; it is a reality. We are pointing to the fact that Christ is here, not as a memory, but as a real presence.

So, here is your mission for this first week of Ordinary Time. We live in a world that is obsessed with “selfies”—look at me, look at my life, look at my opinions. The Christian is called to be the anti-selfie. We are called to be like John. When people look at your life—how you treat your employees, how you love your family, how you handle a crisis—do they see you, or do they see the One you are pointing to? Let us walk into this green season with the humility of the Baptist, unafraid to point a finger at the presence of God in our midst and say to a broken world: “Look. There He is. There is the Lamb who can make you whole.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My brothers and sisters, as Dominicans, we are seekers of Veritas—Truth. And today, the liturgy presents us with a paradox that demands we look past the surface and gaze into the deep Truth of God. We must ask the hard theological question: Why was Jesus baptized?

We know that John’s baptism was a ritual of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But Jesus is the Word made Flesh, the sinless Lamb of God. He has no past to clean up, no darkness to wash away. So, why did the All-Holy God wade into that muddy water?

The Truth is this: He did not go down into the water to be sanctified by it; He went down to sanctify the water for us. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches us that in this moment, Christ touched the waters of the earth and made them holy, preparing them to be the vehicle of our salvation. He enters the river not to stand above us on a pedestal of moral superiority, but to stand next to us in our humanity.

This is the heart of the Gospel we preach here in the Unified Old Catholic Church. Jesus stands shoulder-to-shoulder with sinners, tax collectors, and soldiers. He enters the “mud” of human existence. And this sets the standard for our community. We are not called to be judges sitting on high; we are called to be brothers and sisters in the river. We do not judge the “mud” on our neighbor’s feet; we stand with them in solidarity, pointing them toward the hope of grace.

When Jesus emerged from the water, the heavens were torn open, and the Father spoke: “You are my beloved Son.” In that moment, the Trinity was fully revealed—Father, Son, and Spirit. For us, this reveals our ontological reality—our true being. In a world that is obsessed with temporary labels—what you do for work, how much is in your bank account, your rank, or your political party—Baptism brands you with an eternal mark.

Dominic, our father, preached that we must know who we are to know what we must do. Before you are a parent, a worker, or a retiree, you are a Beloved Child of God. That is a status that cannot be earned by human effort, and it is a Truth that cannot be lost by human failure. It is the bedrock of your soul.

However, we must remember that Baptism is not a graduation ceremony; it is a commissioning. The Holy Spirit descended as a dove not merely to comfort Jesus, but to empower Him for the mission. The Spirit is the breath of the Preacher. We are not baptized to keep this Truth to ourselves. We receive the grace of God so that we may hand it on to others.

Today, the Christmas decorations will come down. We will return to “Ordinary Time,” and the vestments will turn green. But for the Christian, for the follower of Truth, there is no such thing as an “ordinary” day. We are called to be extraordinary preachers of the Gospel in ordinary places—in our homes, in our workplaces, and in our city.

Go from here, contemplating the love of the Father, and hand that love on to everyone you meet.