All Recordings from The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
Sep 15, 2024 |
Sunday, September 15, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Sunday, September 15, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
Join us for worship this Sunday, September 15, for Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade, Celebrant and The Rev. Philip DeVaul Preacher.
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
Sep 14, 2024 |
Backtalk
| The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade
Backtalk
Are you beset with gloom?
Gloomy because someone like me refuses to accept your dehumanizing
dream, crushing his nose for an answer?
Oh well, still I rise. Maya audacious,
defiant backtalk is a sassy refusal to accept the life restricting consequences
of the denials, discrimination, and oppression by a dominant center and
patriarchal system.
Today we hear of a similar sassy refusal to accept a denial of life in our Gospel reading. Here too, we hear backtalk to someone in a position of power, supernatural power, that is, whose denial of life and wholeness is also one of discrimination and exclusivity. The episode is tense, upsetting and complicated.
I cannot speak for you, but such is certainly true for myself and in fact, the same appears to be true for the author of the Gospel of Mark who locates a tired and possibly quite aggravated Jesus in the region of Thyre, a Gentile dominated territory. It is hard to imagine Jesus being at ease. He is alone, attempting to go unnoticed in a house in a region in which there is some history of animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles.
Today we hear of a similar sassy refusal to accept a denial of life in our Gospel reading. Here too, we hear backtalk to someone in a position of power, supernatural power, that is, whose denial of life and wholeness is also one of discrimination and exclusivity. The episode is tense, upsetting and complicated.
I cannot speak for you, but such is certainly true for myself and in fact, the same appears to be true for the author of the Gospel of Mark who locates a tired and possibly quite aggravated Jesus in the region of Thyre, a Gentile dominated territory. It is hard to imagine Jesus being at ease. He is alone, attempting to go unnoticed in a house in a region in which there is some history of animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles.
Sep 13, 2024 |
WLSU, Our Children
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
WLSU, Our Children
What does it look like to value our children?
How do we care for them? What is our responsibility to our children?
I have been thinking about this a lot. And I want to say this very clearly: I don’t just mean my responsibility for the children I call mine. I also do not mean our responsibility to children because of what they will mean in the future when they are grown up. I mean our shared responsibility for the children among us right now. What is their value? What is their place in our community? And what is our responsibility to them? All of them, by the way. All of them.
I am a parent. I have three children, and I confess that much of my wondering about this has been based on my experience of raising them. More specifically, I am raising them in public schools in Cincinnati. And of course, that pushes me to think regularly about our city’s commitment to children. In the aftermath of yet another school shooting, I wonder if we value their safety, their very lives.
And I confess, I wonder if my children were not in public schools, would I care so much? And if I didn’t have children at all, would I care the way I care now?
Jesus didn’t have children. Jesus didn’t have a wife.
Sep 08, 2024 |
Sunday, August 8, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
| The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade
Sunday, August 8, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
Join us for worship this Sunday, August 8, for Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Melanie Slane Celebrant and The Rev. Dr. Herschel Wade, Preacher.
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
Sep 06, 2024 |
WLSU, Waiting (Tables) for the Lord
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
WLSU, Waiting (Tables) for the Lord
Aside from spilling beer down someone’s back or getting an order wrong, when waiters screw up is when we forget our role: We can think it’s our job to please everyone. We can think we are supposed to be the diner’s best friend, or that people came to the restaurant to see us. Contrarily, we can treat the whole thing as transactional. We can get snippy and short with the kitchen. I would take myself too seriously and get self-righteous. One time the manager pulled me aside and sat me down because I yelled at him and the line cooks, “Well SOMEONE oughta care about the tables, and apparently it won’t be any of YOU.” That’s right: I got put into time out for being too self-righteous.
Waiting tables for the Lord – has similar pitfalls. What I noticed when I went on sabbatical was just how much I was carrying. And some of that is just part of the job – there’s a lot of emotional labor in the facilitating of relationships. But some of what I was carrying was because I was forgetting my role. Thinking I was supposed to please everyone, or that I was supposed to be everyone’s best friend, or that I was the star of the show. I can treat my role as transactional too – not in the sense of trying to get you to tip me – but in the sense that I can think that I have to earn your approval by doing enough things just right. And in both the restaurant and the church I can get too serious and self-righteous.
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Sep 04, 2024 |
The Hate We Carry
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
The Hate We Carry
I need to say this, by the way, in this conversation, if
I don't say this, I will be very remiss.
Anger and hatred are not the same thing.
And many of you were raised, especially women, were raised to believe
that anger was bad and you should not have it or keep it to yourself. We were taught that you
shouldn't be angry about anything.
And you might be worried that what I'm saying right now is that you should never be angry because that's bad friends. Anger is not inherently bad. In fact, anger is a very natural part of our lives. Anger is a base emotion that we all must have sometimes. In fact , there is a problem if you see injustice, hatred, violence, murder, oppression, cruelty, and hatred, and anger does not arise in you.
We're supposed to feel angry in the face of that which is deeply wrong. I'm not saying don't be angry, but as the epistle writer James says, your anger is not the thing that makes God righteous. We do not want to allow our anger to become self-righteous.
And you might be worried that what I'm saying right now is that you should never be angry because that's bad friends. Anger is not inherently bad. In fact, anger is a very natural part of our lives. Anger is a base emotion that we all must have sometimes. In fact , there is a problem if you see injustice, hatred, violence, murder, oppression, cruelty, and hatred, and anger does not arise in you.
We're supposed to feel angry in the face of that which is deeply wrong. I'm not saying don't be angry, but as the epistle writer James says, your anger is not the thing that makes God righteous. We do not want to allow our anger to become self-righteous.
Sep 01, 2024 |
Sunday, September 1, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Sunday, September 1, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
Join us for worship this Sunday, September 1, for Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Philip DeVaul, Celebrant and Preacher.
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
Aug 30, 2024 |
WLSU, Indoctrination
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
WLSU, Indoctrination
Sometimes I hear people say that they don’t take their children to church because they don’t want to indoctrinate them. They want their children to make up their own minds about religion when they get older. So I think this is the place for me to say that I want to indoctrinate my children. I believe indoctrination is normal and good, and I am done pretending otherwise.
I believe in indoctrinating my children. And I’m going to take it a step further and say that whether or not you even have children, you believe in indoctrinating children too.
If you insist that children go to school, you are indoctrinating them into the idea that education is important. If you insist they try hard, you are indoctrinating them into the idea that effort matters. If you ever stop a child from hitting someone and say something like, “We don’t hit,” that’s indoctrination. Can you imagine a parent saying that a child should decide for themselves whether or not they want to learn?
So when we make our kids go to church, that is indoctrination. And when we stay home, that is also indoctrination.
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Aug 26, 2024 |
Living Transformed
| Guest Speaker
Living Transformed
We pray that God will take ordinary things. Things like bread and wine and water and oil and use those ordinary elements to convey God's extraordinary grace and love. It matters. It matters that we recognize these gifts from God and it matters too that we acknowledge the reality of evil. I don't envision a return to three years preparation for baptism, or it's once a year occasion, or even necessarily that whole facing west and facing east business that our forebears practiced. But I do give thanks for the fact that we hold those ancient promises That we reaffirm those renunciations and those affirmations every time we renew the promises of our baptism
The Apostle Paul probably wrote the letter to the church at Ephesus, which has been the focus of your preaching series over these last weeks, while he was in prison in Rome after his third missionary journey. Paul would have visited that region three times over the course of his ministry. First, just for a few months to establish the church, establishing also leaders in that place who would continue the ministry that he had begun. And later in his second voyage, for three years, he stayed with the Ephesians. And finally, he went back as part of his last journey to Jerusalem. Over that time, Paul saw the church grow into a body of multiple cultures.
In his letter, Paul teaches that through Christ all creation has been reconciled to God. In doing that, God has reconciled all of us to each other, and so because we are reconciled to God, because we're reconciled to one another, God calls us to live differently.
To live as a people who have been transformed.
The Apostle Paul probably wrote the letter to the church at Ephesus, which has been the focus of your preaching series over these last weeks, while he was in prison in Rome after his third missionary journey. Paul would have visited that region three times over the course of his ministry. First, just for a few months to establish the church, establishing also leaders in that place who would continue the ministry that he had begun. And later in his second voyage, for three years, he stayed with the Ephesians. And finally, he went back as part of his last journey to Jerusalem. Over that time, Paul saw the church grow into a body of multiple cultures.
In his letter, Paul teaches that through Christ all creation has been reconciled to God. In doing that, God has reconciled all of us to each other, and so because we are reconciled to God, because we're reconciled to one another, God calls us to live differently.
To live as a people who have been transformed.
Aug 25, 2024 |
Sunday, August 25, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist with Baptism, Confirmation and Reception
| Guest Speaker
Sunday, August 25, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist with Baptism, Confirmation and Reception
Join us for worship this Sunday, August 25, for Holy Eucharist, Rite II with Baptism, Confirmation and Reception with Bishop Kristin Uffelman White Celebrant and Preacher.
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
Aug 23, 2024 |
WLSU, In My Bones
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
WLSU, In My Bones
Did you know that our bones are constantly breaking themselves down and building themselves back up again? You probably did know that. Most of you are better at knowing scientific things than me – it’s not my strong suit. But I learned this about bones as an adult and it really blew me away. In the simplest terms, you have these things called osteoclasts that are constantly dissolving your old bone tissue. Meanwhile you also have osteoblasts that spend their time building new bone tissue. This is happening inside you constantly. It’s a very natural and normal thing – the breaking down and building up.
We all understand bones in terms of the stability and structure they bring to our bodies. So, at first for me it was counterintuitive to hear that part of their healthy process was that they were breaking down all the time. For most of my life, I have associated stability and structure with something like immobility. You want your house built on a strong foundation. And we often find great comfort in the idea of changelessness, of things remaining the same. When life deviates from our expectations, we seek to get back to normal, to something that resembles stasis because that feels safe. As the old hymn proclaims, “Like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved.”
But it turns out I’m moving all the time. These little invisible things within my very body are moving, tearing my foundation down and building it back up again all day every day. These strong bones are anything but static and immovable, and my desire to understand that has helped me learn to accept that change is inevitable.
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Aug 19, 2024 |
Be Careful
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Be Careful
For me, the third grade was probably one of the best times of my life. I could pick out my own Umbro shorts, scrunchie my own ponytail, And ride my bike freely around the neighborhood from sun up to dinner time, getting into some good and maybe not-so-good trouble with the other kids who lived nearby.
I learned to cook, spent unnumbered hours creating trampoline routines, and made prank phone calls to my friends from school. Is your refrigerator running? Better go and catch it.
I vividly remember a Saturday morning in July of 1994, climbing the gutter at the elementary school down the street and slipping in through an unlocked window, and scaling down the bleachers into the gymnasium. So that we could swing on the big rope in the open gym. Being eight was great. Life was good, not a care in the world.
Nostalgia set in earlier this summer when I realized with sentimental longing and wistful affection that the mothering of my own eight-year-old children has been marred by the same two words that begin our reading from Ephesians today; be careful.
Aug 18, 2024 |
Sunday, August 18, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
| The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
Sunday, August 18, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
Join us for worship this Sunday, August 18, for Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Philip DeVaul Celebrant and The Rev. Melanie Slane, Preacher.
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
Aug 16, 2024 |
WLSU: What About Now
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
WLSU: What About Now
I’ve just returned from my sabbatical – a nearly four-month break from work that was facilitated by the amazing people, clergy, and staff of Church of the Redeemer, and graciously funded by the Lilly Foundation – who awarded Church of the Redeemer with a Clergy Renewal Grant which enabled me to travel both by myself and with my family. The primary purpose of this sabbatical was simply to rest, which I’m glad to say happened. When I wasn’t just resting, I was going places that connected me to conversion experiences and food – and the places where conversion and food meet.
So, what better place for me to take my family than Italy? It’s famous for its food, it’s rife with religious sites, and it was the location of my accidental conversion all those years ago. We spent a little less than a month in Italy, traveling all throughout the northern half of the country, and finishing our time there in Cinque Terre – the little patch of land on the hillside I keep talking about. I wanted to walk the trails of Cinque Terre again like I did all those years ago, and I wanted to take my family with me. I knew doing this would inevitably draw comparisons to the first time. How could it not?
And while I was quick to tell anyone listening that I had no expectations of another conversion experience, I could not help but wonder if just maybe I’d be knocked down and picked back up as thoroughly as I once had been.
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So, what better place for me to take my family than Italy? It’s famous for its food, it’s rife with religious sites, and it was the location of my accidental conversion all those years ago. We spent a little less than a month in Italy, traveling all throughout the northern half of the country, and finishing our time there in Cinque Terre – the little patch of land on the hillside I keep talking about. I wanted to walk the trails of Cinque Terre again like I did all those years ago, and I wanted to take my family with me. I knew doing this would inevitably draw comparisons to the first time. How could it not?
And while I was quick to tell anyone listening that I had no expectations of another conversion experience, I could not help but wonder if just maybe I’d be knocked down and picked back up as thoroughly as I once had been.
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Aug 15, 2024 |
Thursday, August 15 2024 Morning Prayer Rite II
| Anny Stevens-Gleason
Thursday, August 15 2024 Morning Prayer Rite II
Join us this morning, Tuesday, August 15, for online Morning Prayer led by Anny Stevens-Gleason.
To assist you in following along you may use your Book of Common Prayer (BCP) beginning on page 80. If you do not have a BCP at home, use the buttons below to use the online version or download a pdf version.
Our worship services are all available here and in our Online Worship podcasts. Subscribe n,ow on Apple podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify or ask Alexa, Google, or Siri to play the podcast “The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Online Worship
To assist you in following along you may use your Book of Common Prayer (BCP) beginning on page 80. If you do not have a BCP at home, use the buttons below to use the online version or download a pdf version.
Our worship services are all available here and in our Online Worship podcasts. Subscribe n,ow on Apple podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify or ask Alexa, Google, or Siri to play the podcast “The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Online Worship
Aug 14, 2024 |
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 A Devotion for Early Evening
| The Rev. Gary Lubin
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 A Devotion for Early Evening
Join us today, Wednesday, August 14, for a Devotion for Early Evening, led by the Rev. Gary Lubin with special music.
This worship service is available here and through our Online Worship podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify or simply ask your smart speaker to play the podcast “The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Online Worship."
Aug 13, 2024 |
Tuesday, August 13, 2024 Morning Prayer, Rite II
| Anny Stevens-Gleason
Tuesday, August 13, 2024 Morning Prayer, Rite II
Join us this morning, Tuesday, August 13, for online Morning Prayer led by Anny Stevens-Gleason.
To assist you in following along you may use your Book of Common Prayer (BCP) beginning on page 80. If you do not have a BCP at home, use the buttons below to use the online version or download a pdf version.
Our worship services are all available here and in our Online Worship podcasts. Subscribe n,ow on Apple podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify or ask Alexa, Google, or Siri to play the podcast “The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Online Worship
To assist you in following along you may use your Book of Common Prayer (BCP) beginning on page 80. If you do not have a BCP at home, use the buttons below to use the online version or download a pdf version.
Our worship services are all available here and in our Online Worship podcasts. Subscribe n,ow on Apple podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify or ask Alexa, Google, or Siri to play the podcast “The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Online Worship
Aug 12, 2024 |
Nothing to Prove
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Nothing to Prove
And then what happened is as many of you know, I had a sort
of a conversion experience when I was 20 and I realized, oh gosh,
dang, I do believe in God. This is real that I believe in God. And in fact, I
think I'm Christian. I do believe in Jesus. And from the moment that that
happened, I felt this sort of need to prove some things.
From the moment that I was called back into my faith, I felt the need to prove myself. In my case, I didn't feel the need to prove to other Christians that I was Christian. In my case, I needed, I felt the need to prove to my friends and those who knew me for the last few years that just because I was Christian didn't mean I was all of a sudden going to become a jerk. It was really important to me.
I wanted people to know that even though I believed in this Jesus guy and I was in on this, I was very concerned and wanted to prove to my friends that this wouldn't change the way that I loved them and hopefully it wouldn't change the way that they loved me.
From the moment that I was called back into my faith, I felt the need to prove myself. In my case, I didn't feel the need to prove to other Christians that I was Christian. In my case, I needed, I felt the need to prove to my friends and those who knew me for the last few years that just because I was Christian didn't mean I was all of a sudden going to become a jerk. It was really important to me.
I wanted people to know that even though I believed in this Jesus guy and I was in on this, I was very concerned and wanted to prove to my friends that this wouldn't change the way that I loved them and hopefully it wouldn't change the way that they loved me.
Aug 11, 2024 |
Sunday, August 11, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Sunday, August 11, 2024 Rite II Holy Eucharist
Join us for worship this Sunday, August 11, for Holy Eucharist, Rite II with music. with The Rev. Philip DeVaul, Celebrant and Preacher.
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
This worship service is also available live at 9:00 am on Sunday, and as a video following that at https://www.redeemer-cincy.org/online-worship/
Aug 09, 2024 |
WLSU: I Don't Practice Santeria
| Guest Speaker
WLSU: I Don't Practice Santeria
To explain this pouch, I should probably first say that some of my father’s family were practicing Santeros. You may not be familiar with Santeria, or if you are you may see it as some kind of voodoo, but Santeria quite plainly is an African diasporic religion that arose in Cuba in the 19th century as a mix of traditional West African polytheistic Yoruba religion mixed with our very monotheistic Catholic form of Christianity. It is a form of spiritism, very animistic and to many Christians it’s probably heretical, but here we are.
Growing up, my mom and dad enrolled me in catechism in our local Roman Catholic church. I became a very devout practitioner and took pride in my religious conviction. I was not modeling anyone at home since neither my parents nor grandparents attended church regularly.
All the while this “other” religion loomed in the background. My paternal grandfather hosted Santeria gatherings and my father would go, but we were not allowed to attend. To my mother, who could be paradoxically judgmental, all of this was nonsense. It didn’t help that it was stigmatically seen by many as a religion of the poor and uneducated. Mom, who had her own rocky relationship with her faith and even more with my father, had no interest in introducing us to any of this. But, like many others, she was respectful of it, just in case...
When they divorced in my 8th year, shell-shock mixed with intrinsic curiosity would set me on a life-long search that would eventually include an education in theology and, of course, what was in that little pouch.
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Growing up, my mom and dad enrolled me in catechism in our local Roman Catholic church. I became a very devout practitioner and took pride in my religious conviction. I was not modeling anyone at home since neither my parents nor grandparents attended church regularly.
All the while this “other” religion loomed in the background. My paternal grandfather hosted Santeria gatherings and my father would go, but we were not allowed to attend. To my mother, who could be paradoxically judgmental, all of this was nonsense. It didn’t help that it was stigmatically seen by many as a religion of the poor and uneducated. Mom, who had her own rocky relationship with her faith and even more with my father, had no interest in introducing us to any of this. But, like many others, she was respectful of it, just in case...
When they divorced in my 8th year, shell-shock mixed with intrinsic curiosity would set me on a life-long search that would eventually include an education in theology and, of course, what was in that little pouch.
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Give Here https://redeemercincy.tpsdb.com/Give/podcast
