An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
To love or to not love. That is the question in today’s gospel. It is always the question. Every minute of every day we answer that question. The answer to that question orients our way of being, guides how we…
Read More To Love or to Not Love, A Sermon on John 12:1-8
When I was in the first grade I gathered my stuff and took off for the distant country. I ran away from home. Fortunately, it was a quick trip and I was back in time for supper. In the years…
Read More For Those in the Distant Country (Luke 15:11-32)
Read the headline news, listen to the stories behind the names and circumstances on our prayer list, observe life and you will quickly be reminded of what you already knew. Siloam’s was not the last tower to fall and Pilate…
Read More Tyrants Act and Towers Fall, Choose Life (Luke 13:1-9)
So here’s what I wonder. What if Jesus had said, “Ok. Yes, I’ll do it?” What if he had turned just one small stone into a small loaf of bread? He’s hungry, famished. Why not fill the emptiness? Not a…
Read More Temptation is the Way to Salvation, Luke 4:1-13
The older I get the more aware I become of how my life, my way of being, is filled with contradictions. It is neither all darkness nor all light. It is both at the same time. I have said things I…
Read More The Contradiction of Life Veiled and Unveiled
The collect and readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent may be found here. The following sermon is based on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21. When I drive to Corpus Christi I usually stop at a little rest area alongside…
Read More Watch for Snakes – A Sermon for Lent 4B; Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21
One of the traditional Lenten practices is self-denial. Often this leaves us asking the question, “What should I give up for Lent?” The answers vary – candy, bread, wine, shopping, blogging…. We endure, for God’s sake, forty days of self-denial.…
Read More Self-denial is More than Just Saying, “No”
The collect and readings for the First Sunday in Lent may be found here. The following sermon is based on Mark 1:9-15. At some point we all leave home. It is something we do throughout our lives. Over and over…
Read More Leave Home, Get Baptized, Go to the Wilderness – A Sermon on Mark 1:9-15, Lent 1B.
O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk; grant rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to…
Read More The Prayer of St. Ephrem
This setting is by the Italian Composer, Gregorio Allegri. It is based on Psalm 51 and was composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably in the 1630s. Psalm 51, Miserere mei, Deus (Have mercy on me, O God)…
Interrupting the Silence 