An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
Liturgies and prayer often mark moments of transition. Baptism, marriage, confirmation, and reconciliation are examples of that. What about beginning the new school year? It also is a time of transition. The new year represents growth and change; moving to…
Read More Blessing Of The Backpacks: A Prayer For The Start Of School
O Lord of life, the God of our salvation, who bears our burdens: Our hearts have once again been broken by violence and gunfire; this time in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton. Our eyes waste away with grief. Our spirit shakes with terror. How long, O Lord, how long?
Proper 12 C - Luke 11:1-13 “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” It would sure be a lot easier to hear and preach today’s gospel…
Read More Let Us Dare To Pray (And Not Just For What We Want) – A Sermon On Luke 11:1-13
Each year October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.…
Read More A Prayer For Domestic Violence Awareness Month
For the refugees, migrants, and displaced persons of this world, Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you. O God, do not be silent; Do not keep still nor hold your peace, O God. God the Father,…
Read More A Litany of Prayer for Refugees, Migrants, and Displaced Persons
“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?
I recently had the opportunity to attend the 12th Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner sponsored by the Dialogue Institute of the Southwest. Diverse people, cultures, and faiths gathered around a meal and conversation to create new friendships and deepen mutual…
Read More A Prayer for Interfaith Conversation and Friendship
Psalm 62:1. "For God alone my soul in silence waits; from him comes my salvation." One Sunday, years ago, I knelt to pray before the liturgy began, as was my usual practice. I always had something to tell or ask…
Read More Prayer Begins When the Words End
A few days ago I posted A Litany of Prayer for Aleppo. I was and still am heartbroken and overwhelmed, maybe even possessed, by what is happening in Aleppo. Omran has become for me an icon of that tragedy. His face and…
Read More Aleppo Doesn’t Need Our Prayers
How long, O Lord, how long? There is no peace in Aleppo. There is no peace in Syria. Every night the people flood their beds with tears and drench their couches with weeping. Their eyes waste away with grief. Their…
Read More A Litany of Prayer for Aleppo
Interrupting the Silence 