An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
The saying “Know yourself” means therefore that we should recognize and acknowledge in ourselves the God who made us in his own image, for if we do this, we in turn will be recognized and acknowledged by our Maker. So…
Read More Claiming Our Share in His Divinity
What is the most shocking part of today’s gospel (Matthew 1:18-25, Advent 4A)? What’s the thing that makes you wonder whether it really happened the way Matthew describes? What’s the hardest part to believe? For most people, I suspect, the…
Read More The Scandal We Long For – A Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25
At Christmas we often think, and rightfully so, of God’s gift of Jesus to the world. We celebrate and rejoice that God has been born into this world as one of us. God is with us in a new way.…
Read More What are you Giving for Christmas?
“Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way….” (Matthew 1:18-25) Matthew's description of how Jesus' birth happens does not mention anything that is on my to-do list. There is no busyness in his description. There are very few words…
Read More Advent Preparation – Let the Baby be Born
“Where are you?” I looked at my wife and said, “I’m right here.” “No, you’re not,” she said. “You’re a million miles away.” She was right. I was there but I was not present. Most of us, I suspect, have…
Read More Practicing Presence, Disconnect to Connect
“There has never been a renewal of church life in western Christianity without a renewal of prayer and Religious Communities, in some form or another, often different.” - Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, 7/5/13 In some ways the monastic has always stood…
Read More Episcopal Monastics, the Order of St. Helena
“When a truly great and unique spirit speaks, the lesser ones must be silent,” Franz Xaver Kappus wrote about Rainer Marie Rilke. Over a period of about six years Kappus and Rilke exchanged letters. Kappus began the correspondence seeking Rilke’s…
Read More 7 Teachings from Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet
What if we really believed God is uniquely present and active in the circumstances of each of our lives, speaking a word? What if we truly believed there would be a fulfillment of the word spoken? What if instead of…
Read More Believing Like Mary and Elizabeth
“Let me check my calendar and I’ll get back with you.” Coordinating calendars has become a regular routine for many, perhaps most, of us. We are scheduled people, busy people. Computers and phones buzz, beep, or ring reminding us of our…
Read More Sacred Monotony, the Season after Pentecost
Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). Recall a moment when you held another person so close that you could hear his or her breathing, the sound of life. Maybe it was your…
Read More God’s Conspiracy Gives Life
Interrupting the Silence 