An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
Our older son Brandon often brought a friend over for supper. He was a really nice kid. He was polite and well behaved. He always said and did the right thing. I don’t remember his name but I do remember…
Read More Healing Our Divided Life – A Sermon On Matthew 5:21-37
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost: Proper 10, Year B - Mark 6:14-29 Photo by sankavi on Unsplash Do you ever feel like your life is haunted, like something unresolved has come to visit? Do you ever feel like something is wandering…
Read More What Haunts You Today? – A Sermon On Mark 6:14-29
We all face giants, Philistines, in our lives. Sometimes it’s personal and unique to our particular situation. Goliath might be an illness, loneliness, the loss of a loved one. Maybe a rift in a relationship is standing tall. Or maybe it feels as if your life is moving out of control and you’re powerless to do anything. Other times Goliath might be more systemic. It’s mass shootings in our country, violence throughout the world, war in the middle east, racism, immigration. Goliath shows up in lots of ways.
Every time Goliath shows up the battle lines are drawn. The battle is not, however, what we often think it is.
“We didn't do it that way when we were kids.” “This isn't the America I remember. It's not like it used to be.” “The world is a different place these days. It's changed.” “This isn't the church I grew up in. I don't know what happened to that church.” “Back in my day….” “This isn't the life I planned and worked for.” You could add your own version. There's a thousand variations on this theme. They all seem to me to have a common thread or question running through them. Here's the question: What is going on in our world today? What's happening?
Romans 2:29. "Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart— it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God." One of…
Sometime around 1931 Evelyn Underhill wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang (1928-1942), about the inner life of the clergy. Her concern was that the multiplicity of the clergy’s duties had diminished some priests’ grounding in…
Read More Evelyn Underhill – Call to the Inner Life
The ladder to the Kingdom is hidden within you, and within your soul. Dive down into yourself, away from sin, and there you will find the steps by which you can ascend. - St. Isaac of Syria For most of…
Read More The Interior Life – To Ascend We Must First Dive
Interrupting the Silence 