Sermon preached on Epiphany III at St. John's Hills Road in Cambridge.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In life, people divide over the most futile reasons. Families split over things they later struggle to explain. Friends fall out over misunderstandings that a simple, honest conversation could have prevented. Communities fracture into camps, “my people” and “your people,” over preferences, pride, old wounds. Then, when something bad really does happen, people who won’t share a table will share a task. History is full of this: fierce rivals teaming up when a bigger threat appears. Under pressure, enemies become partners. Athens and Sparta distrusted each other, yet when the Persian Empire pressed in, they became allies. Rome did it too: Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in the First Triumvirate; later Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus in the Second. Temporary unity driven by survival and ambition. The Middle Ages saw rival states cooperate through marriage alliances; Castile and Aragon aligned when greater threats loomed. Th...
