The Rev. Noah Van Niel

St. John the Evangelist

May 20^th, 2018

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

In the late 19^th century, London was the biggest city in the world. From 1800 to 1900 its population went from 1 million to almost 7 million people. Most of these 7 million people got around the city via some form of horse drawn transportation. It is estimated that there were about 50,000 horses transporting people around London each day. And that doesn’t account for the horses transporting goods and making deliveries across the city. Now having that many horses created some major…problems. A single horse can produce between 15 and 35 pounds of manure a day and with that much manure and that many horses, sanitation workers didn’t stand a chance. And thus London came to face what history would call, The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894.[1][2] Continue reading →

The Rev. Noah Van Niel

May 13^th, 2018

St. John the Evangelist

Easter 7: Acts 1: 15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19

My youngest son, Arthur, started walking this week. He’s been cruising around from couch to chair to table for a while now, and he’s really good at climbing up things but this week was the first time he willingly let go of my hand, as I walked alongside him, and took off on his own. In a couple weeks we’re going to have 13 kids from St. John’s graduate from High School. And in my mind I can’t help but zoom from Arthur’s first few steps away from me to that moment in 18 years when, God willing, he will walk right across that stage, take his diploma and keep walking right on to a life away from home, with some (but not much) need of me walking by his side, to catch him if he falls. Continue reading →

The Rev. Noah Van Niel

May 6^th, 2018

St. John the Evangelist

Easter 6 (B): Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

If you’ve been paying attention to our Sunday readings this spring, you will have noticed that ever since Easter our first reading has been taken from the Acts of the Apostles, not from the Old Testament like it usually is. And if you’ve been paying really close attention you will have noticed that the readings are not progressing in order. We’ve been jumping around, from chapter 4 to 3 to 4 to 8 to 10 (today) and next week we’ll be all the way back in chapter 1 before ending up at chapter 2 on Pentecost. The reason for this is not to make you dizzy, it’s to chart the gradual shift that occurs across Eastertide from focusing on the Resurrection to focusing on the work of the Holy Spirit. Readings like today’s passage from Acts Chapter 10 are like mini-Pentecosts that prepare us in heart and mind for the main event. Continue reading →