An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
We have some decisions to make - as individuals, as a parish, and as a city. They are important decisions, not unlike the decision facing the disciples in today’s gospel (John 20:19-23) I say that in light of and specifically…
Read More We Have Some Decisions To Make – A Pentecost Sermon On Acts 2:1-21 And John 20:19-23
In today’s gospel Jesus talks about the coming of the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth. What if the Advocate, in whatever ways she or he shows up, comes not to advocate to another on our behalf but to advocate to us on our own behalf? They are truth tellers for us. They call us more deeply into our authentic selves. They are the ones who transform and change our lives. Who are those people for you?
America is in a hard place these days, and we have been for quite a while. Over the last few months of the coronavirus many have said that we’re all in this together. Yes, but we’re not all together in this. We are not “all together in one place” on this day of Pentecost. Our country is divided, fragmented, and wounded. And so is my heart. Maybe yours is too. It’s not easy to talk about our wounds; whether it’s our individual wounds or our national wounds, whether it’s the wounds we’ve received or the ones we’ve inflicted. To talk about our wounds requires us to look at what we’ve done and left undone. It means we each have to look within ourselves. It means taking responsibility for our lives. It means valuing the life and wounds of another as much as our own.
There are moments in each of our lives when we begin to hear a new language. It’s new yet echoes with familiarity. We know it through our deepest longings and desires. If fills us with hope, life, and peace. It…
Read More Pentecost Makes us Capable of God
This Litany to the Holy Spirit was prepared using the traditional form of a litany. The contents of the litany are based on scripture, the Book of Common Prayer, and an Eastern Orthodox prayer to the Holy Spirit. O God…
Read More A Litany to the Holy Spirit
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
The collect and readings for the Feast of Pentecost may be found here. Think about 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…
The readings and collect for the Feast of Pentecost may be found here. The appointed gospel is John 20:19-23. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the…
Read More Breathe, You Have Been Pentecosted – A Sermon on John 20:19-23 for the Feast of Pentecost
The Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-13) describes the day of Pentecost as accompanied by “a sound like the rush of a violent wind.” “Divided tongues, as of fire,” appeared and rested on each of the disciples who began to…
Read More The Icon of Pentecost
Interrupting the Silence 