The Talebearer

The Killer at the Altar: Sermon thoughts for Sunday, June 21, 2026

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:21:34 GMT

Musings on the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 7, Year A

The Killer at the Altar: Sermon thoughts for Sunday June 21, 2026

Author’s note : I begin my sermon preparation on Sunday evening — working through each of the texts and experimenting with ideas, images and meaning as time permits across the week. I’ve been encouraged to write up my notes to share with the congregation, so they can see how we get to Sunday morning’s sermon from the Lectionary reading.

If you walk into the church of San Luigi del Francesi in Rome and turn left toward the Contarelli Chapel, you find three Caravaggios on three walls. To see then, you have to drop a euro coin into a meter, which turns on a light on a timer. As light brightens the room you see the Calling of St. Matthew on the left; the Inspiration of St. Matthew over the altar; and the Martyrdom of St. Matthew on the right. Caravaggio painted them between 1599 and 1600, in his late twenties, for executors who wanted a complete life of the saint on the chapel walls. The three pictures hang in the order of a life. A call. A book. A killing.

The Roman who came in for Mass walked past the killing to get to the rail.

That is the picture I want to explore for this Sunday’s Gospel. Our reading from Matthew 10 is a hard passage. Jesus is sending the Twelve out on their first mission, and he does not soften the assignment. He tells them they will be hated for his name’s sake. He tells them they will be brought before governors and kings. He tells them — and this is the verse the modern parish least wants to hear read aloud — that he came not to send peace, but a sword.

That verse is verse 34. It troubles us because we have been catechized to expect from Jesus a calm voice and a soothing hand. He is, after all, the Prince of Peace. He has just blessed the peacemakers in the Sermon on the Mount. We come to Sunday services partly because we expect to find peace there. And now, halfway through Matthew, we are told that the Lord we are following has come with a sword.

Calvin will not let us read this away. Neither will Luther. The careful expositors will tell you that Jesus is not commending violence. He is describing an effect. The Word he brings is not a soft word. It cuts. It cuts between truth and falsehood, between the kingdom and the world, and sometimes — Jesus says this plainly — it cuts between father and son, mother and daughter, and through the middle of a household. The sword is the natural consequence of telling the truth in a fallen world.

Caravaggio paints exactly that consequence.

The painting is enormous. Three hundred and twenty-three centimeters tall by three hundred and forty-three centimeters wide. Matthew has been struck down at the altar he himself was serving. He is on his back, brought low. A naked, muscular figure stands over him with a sword in his right hand, raised for the death blow. The killer’s left hand is reaching down for the apostle’s wrist. He means to finish the job.

The killer in Caravaggio’s painting has a name. Tradition, preserved in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend, tells us that Matthew had carried the gospel to Ethiopia, where he converted King Egippus and his daughter Iphigenia. Iphigenia took a vow of virginity and entered the company of consecrated women. When Egippus died, his successor, King Hirtacus, desired her for his wife and asked Matthew to release her from her vow. Matthew refused. He would not soften the word he had given. Hirtacus sent a soldier to the altar, and the apostle was struck down as he celebrated the Eucharist. The man with the sword is no anonymous brigand. He is a king’s instrument, sent because a priest would not bend the gospel to a ruler’s appetite.

Around them, the worshippers of the church recoil. A boy in the corner is screaming. Newly baptized men and women in white are pulling away from the altar steps. A single shaft of light — Caravaggio’s invention, the light that made his name — falls from the upper left and picks out the killer’s shoulder, the apostle’s outstretched hand, and one more thing.

An angel is leaning down out of the cloud. The angel is offering Matthew a palm. The palm is the ancient Christian sign of martyrdom. It is the wage of the apostle who has died for the Lord he served.

The blade is falling in the same shaft of light in which the palm is being offered.

That is what I want the people of Shepherd of the Hills to see on Sunday. Two things happening at the same instant. A man being killed for his Lord. A reward being placed in his hand by his Lord. The sword and the palm are not opposites in this picture. They are simultaneous. They are part of the same Gospel.

Here is the pastoral point. The peace Jesus offers in this passage is not peace with the world. He says so plainly. He says he came to bring a sword that will cut between members of the same family. The peace he offers is something different. It is peace with God.

Most Episcopalians have been told their whole lives that they can have both peaces at once. That following Jesus is socially comfortable. That the Gospel will not cost them their friendships, their family relationships, their standing at work. The text in front of us this week tells the truth they have not been told. There is a peace on offer that holds, but it is not peace with the world. It is peace with the Father who counts every hair on the disciple’s head and sees every sparrow that falls.

George Herbert understood this. The poem “Aaron,” in The Temple, is the priest’s confession that he is “profaneness in his head” and “defects and darkness in his breast,” and yet, because Christ is in him and dressing him, he is “well drest.” The herald of the costly Gospel is also the disciple under the same sword he is preaching about. The rector who steps into the pulpit on Sunday with Matthew 10 in front of him would do well to read Herbert the night before.

So what does the sermon ask of the congregation?

First, that they not soften the text. The Lord Jesus said what he said. He did not come to send peace on earth. He came to send a sword.

Second, that they look at the painting — or imagine it — and see the two things happening at once. The blade. The palm. The killing. The reward. The disciple does not have to choose between them. They are part of the same moment.

Third, that they ask themselves which peace they have been seeking. The world’s peace will not hold. It is already failing them. The Father’s peace will. It is the only thing on offer this Sunday that will.

Caravaggio painted his own face into the picture, just behind the killer’s shoulder, bearded, watching. He insisted on being a witness. He insisted that the viewer be one too. We will be a witness to the same scene on Sunday morning, at the same altar where Matthew was killed, in spirit if not in fact. The question is what we will see, and what, when we have seen it, we will go home and do.

Lectionary: Genesis 21:8–21 · Psalm 86:1–10, 16–17 · Romans 6:1b–11 · Matthew 10:24–39 (RCL Track 1, Episcopal use), via The Lectionary Page . On the Contarelli Chapel cycle, the standard reference is Howard Hibbard, Caravaggio (Westview, 1983). George Herbert, “Aaron,” in The Temple (1633); see John Drury, Music at Midnight: The Life and Poetry of Georg

The Quiet, Fruitful Season of Lent

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 20:30:18 GMT

The Quiet, Fruitful Season of Lent 

About three times a year I take a road trip through Western and Central Pennsylvania where my family calls home. As I have grown older, I have learned to love the natural beauty of my home state. I ran from this for years, focusing on run-down steel towns and increasing feelings of poverty throughout the Rust Belt that permeates many of the small towns in the Western part of the state. Today I choose to see the potential of the in-between places that used to seem lost and dying to a young person.

As I traverse the rolling countryside, often choosing tiny county roads versus highways, I drive through and by communities that offer a slice of life that seems otherworldly to me. Towns that do not often have a red light, or odd names like Nanty Glo, Alum Bank, and Scalp Level. I find myself wanting to stop in a corner store to feel the life of the people who live there. I often do pull over to small churches and wonder about the families this long-standing community may have supported over the years. Do their problems and wants and desires mirror mine? Do they struggle to pay their bills? Do they hope to be a larger congregation one day or is this it? While I am at it maybe aliens inhabit this lost part of the world!

On these excursions from place to place, I have developed my own micro ministry of praying for people that I encounter along the roadside. Not only do I pass by accidents but also the people attached to abandoned vehicles, truck drivers sleeping, illness along the way, the protection of those assisting others, and the animals who have gotten in our way by saying, “Lord, have mercy.”

February in Pennsylvania is not what it used to be. The snow totals have decreased significantly from my childhood, and while you may have a day hovering in the low twenties or teens, the following may be quite tolerable at 50 or 60 degrees. However, the temperature and landscape do not account for the feeling of stillness the late winter gives here, snow and grey skies or not. If rest had a feeling, rural Pennsylvania is it. This quiet season seems to fit internally, though. Especially when comparing it to our liturgical season of Lent.

While Lent traditions like Fish This Friday advertisements are not as common today, a sense of contemplation and abstinence remains from living a weather-influenced, country life. The cold pulls you into the easy chair as early darkness descends. Outside activities are restricted to necessary chores and travel unless you enjoy the cold. Abstinence comes naturally while you wait for the weather to turn. The growing season is months away when the air is crisp. Patience is not hard to come by.

When I take my usual hike, I may pass a few other humans and their furry companions enjoying the briskness of the air, but often my tracks are lonely. I find praying easy in Shawnee Park on Route 30 in Shellsburg, save for the want of beauty assaulting my eyes. At times I can find myself doing this for the better part of an hour. I am focused. The highway sound is far off, but close enough to be comforting when there are no leaves on the trees, and a buffering snow layer covers the trail. I revisit the closed-off and dormant places in my mind, only the places I want to share with God because I am embarrassed to share these failings with humans. I find sorrow, and healing in confessing and talking with my maker in the beautiful world He created. Where will this sanctification walk take me? I cannot see it. I have not been able to for years. But I can feel a sense of peace and anticipation as I traverse through and to it. Despite the lack of clarity, there is humbleness and hope as Easter approaches.

I challenge you to visit the places along the way on your journey to wherever. Experience a moment of life that seems foreign to you. I would bet that while the geography we live in affects our life’s movement, we are all the same flawed and amazing beings no matter where we find ourselves. Use this season to go into those places in your Christian Walk we do not dare go lest we tear off the scar we have so diligently sought to heal over. You may find the initial pain brings true healing, or a start of it, and clarity of the road ahead. If not, at least the ability to hold steady as you go.

Jesus died for us so we could be born anew, forever. There is great hope in His message and death. Won’t you spend time with Him this Lent?

The Talebearer

Healthy Praying

Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:28:51 GMT

Healthy Praying

Thinking about a New Year’s Resolution this week? My resolutions usually focus on improving my health. Have you resolved to exercise more, to lose a little weight, to adopt a healthy diet? There is another practice you can adopt this year to improve your health that also connects you to God. That is prayer.

It is no secret that the practice of daily prayer and devotion brings spiritual blessings, but science now recognizes that it is also a source of physical health. Adopting a daily regimen of prayer – not just praying when the shells are about to land on your foxhole – helps you breathe in a way that strengthens your cardiovascular and nervous systems.

In a 2001 study published in the British Medical Journal, scientists at the University of Pavia in Italy undertook a study on the health benefits of praying the rosary. Twenty-three test subjects, all in good physical condition, had sensors placed on their body to measure blood flow, cardiac rhythm, and nervous system activity while they recited the rosary.

The Roman Catholic rosary is a Scripture-based prayer that begins with the Apostles' Creed, followed by the Lord’s Prayer, then the passage from the Gospel of Luke that begins the Hail Mary prayer and concludes with Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary from the same Gospel passage. For Roman Catholics, the rosary prayers center on the events of Christ's life and focus on four sets of Mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous. Catholic rosary beads have 49 beads: six large and 43 small, and a Cross. The beads are divided into four groups of ten called ‘decades’, separated by large beads, with three small and two large beads on a small strand that ends with the Cross.

The Anglican Rosary prayers, which were offered at SOTH on Wednesdays before COVID, and which we hope to restart this year, are shorter and have a similar structure. Anglican prayer beads have 33 beads, five large and 28 small, forming a circle with one large bead and a cross outside the circle at the top. Inside the circle are four large beads, separated by seven small beads. These groups of seven are called ‘weeks’, and can be used for different prayers. Anglican rosary prayers do not have a formal structure like the Catholic Rosary but are self-designed, using the Lord’s Prayer, the creeds, seasonal prayers, the Jesus Prayer, and any other prayer that is important to your spiritual life. Praying an Anglican rosary begins with the Cross and large bead outside the circle, and then proceeds to the weeks.

In my private devotions, I begin by taking the cross in my left hand and saying a prayer from the Compline service: “O Lord make speed to save us, O Lord make haste to help us”. I then take in my fingers the external large bead and say: “Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.” Then I begin the weeks.

In the tests, the sensors registered a slowdown in the participants’ breathing, which caused the flow of blood to the brain and the variability of the cardiac frequency to begin to increase. This helped the heart and the nervous system to function with their greatest efficiency. When the participants ended their prayers and spoke and breathed as they normally did, blood and nerve flow reverted to their normal status.

In 2013 New York doctors, Patricia Gerbarg and Richard Brown carried out two studies published in the book: “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art.” They concluded that the most efficient breathing was when patients inhaled for 5.5 seconds and exhaled for 5.5 seconds, breathing between 5 and 6 times per minute.

These studies helped survivors of 9/11, who suffered a chronic cough from exposure to the rubble. Practicing the 5.5-second breathing cycle for ten minutes a day, had long-term positive results on the cardiac, pulmonary, and nervous systems of those who faithfully practiced this discipline.

It is not the prayer beads that provide the spiritual and health benefits – it is the practice of prayer that accomplishes this. The beads are merely a tool, akin to a Prayer Book, to assist you in your devotions.

So if you want to get healthy this year: lose weight, exercise, change your diet – and adopt a prayer protocol that strengthens your soul as well as your body.

Happy New Year!

Hearing God

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 22:28:34 GMT

Scripture Reveals 11 Distinct Ways

1. God Speaks Through His Word The Lord speaks through His Word. This can be a verse, or He speaks to us in our daily reading or He reveals truth through a study. And there are many times He will highlight a verse or portion of scripture and then confirm it in our experience or thoughts. You might find yourself running into that same verse somewhere else, or someone else saying It’s like the Holy Spirit is breathing afresh on those Holy Words!

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.– 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2. Hearing God’s Still Small Voice There are times when the Lord will speak to us in a still small voice. This can be contrary to what we think God should talk like. We expect a powerful wind, a big shaking like an earthquake, or a roaring fire. We want God to be LOUD! But the Holy Spirit decides to whisper to us. These whispers can look like a passing thought, an impression, a strong sense of knowing. These things can be very real and powerful ways God speaks.

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came to a gentle whisper.13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”–

1 Kings 19:11-13

3. Hearing the Voice of God Through Impressions & Sensing Impression or sensing something can be God telling us something. This is not to be confused with suspicion. It is a deep “knowing”. In Acts 27 the apostle Paul perceived that the ship wasn’t going to make it.

Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.”– Acts 27:9-10

When Paul said “I perceive” the original Greek is θεωρέωtheōréō, theh-o-reh’-o; which is defined in the dictionary as “to be a spectator of, to discern, (literally, figuratively (experience) or intensively (acknowledge)):—behold, consider, look on, perceive, see. If Paul had a vision that would have been a different word. Paul had an intense “knowing” that the ship was going to sink.

4. Angels: God’s Messengers God will sometimes send an angel to speak to us. We see countless stories in the Old and New Testaments. The very word angel, Malachi in Hebrew, means messenger. The archangel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she was going to conceive and bear a child.

And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?

And the angel answering said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God.

And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. — Luke 1:26–36

5. Recognizing God’s Voice Through Creation The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.–Psalm 19:1-2 It’s such a beautiful picture when God uses creation to speak to us. This can look like the Lord reminding you that His strength is like a mountain, or how flowers speak of His beauty. But God can also use creation in unique ways to speak to us prophetically. Almost like nature is doing a prophetic act before us. This is also seen throughout scripture.

6. God Speaks Through Visions God speaks through visions and dreams. Visions come in two types: 1. Open Visions– These visions are like a TV screen is all of a sudden in front of us with our eyes wide open. They are extremely vivid and detailed. I have experienced these before and it’s something you don’t forget. 2. Visions of the Mind- These are more subtle, like the still small voice. These pictures happen within your mind’s eye. You can see this when Paul the apostle was blind and had a vision of Ananias praying for his healing…He didn’t see the vision with his natural eyes. Acts 9

7. God Speaks Through Dreams In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.–Acts 2:17

Dreams have always been a way God speaks to His people.

Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with the child of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. — Matthew 1:18–23

8. God Speaks Through Trances Trances are not something you hear a lot about, but they are mentioned in scripture. “Trance” is ekstasis in the Greek. It means a displacement of the mind, i.e. bewilderment, “ecstasy”:—+ be amazed, amazement, astonishment, trance.

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. Acts 10:9-16

9. Hearing the Voice of God through Godly Counsel & Fellowship with other Christians Sometimes God uses other people to speak through. We see this throughout the Bible. Here are some examples below:

● The Baptist with Jesus

● Jesus with Peter

● The story of Paul and Ananias

● When the Prophets prophesied over people (example: Samuel & David)

● The story of Ananias and Sapphira

10. God Uses Circumstances to Speak to Us There are times when God speaks to us through circumstances. An example of this is the story of the prophet Balaam and the donkey (Number 22). God used an angel to prevent the donkey from being able to move forward. This hindered Balaam from cursing the Israelites, which God later told Him not to do. God will close doors, open others, and get us where He needs us. Sometimes God speaking isn’t through words, but through circumstances in our lives.

11. Audible Voice of God We see this in the scriptures with Jesus, Paul, and others. It tends not to be a very common way God chooses to speak, but He has done it.