This week I spent a couple of days at our annual clergy conference, a gathering of all the active priests and deacons in the diocese. These gatherings serve two purposes. It’s a chance for us to spend time with our colleagues — to worship together, eat...
There is an old joke about a person who dies and goes to heaven, where she is met by St. Peter, who welcomes her and gives her a tour of the place. They walk by beautiful vista after vista with happy people engaging with one another. Peter gave a commentary as they...
It has been quite a week, hasn’t it? It’s one of those weeks when I could not bear to turn on the TV news and could only glance at the headlines. Today’s scripture readings could certainly be applied to our current state. From Jeremiah we have the...
Well, I had a sermon all prepared for this morning. I was feeling pretty smug that I had finished it on Thursday, clearing my weekend. And then about 11:30 last night I looked at the news before going to bed, and immediately realized that the sermon I had...
In today’s gospel we meet two people who believe in Jesus’ power to perform miracles. One is influential and wealthy, the other a social outcast living in poverty. One is male, the other female. In ordinary circumstances they would never come in contact...
There is probably not another story in the entire Bible that has been more misinterpreted, misread, and misused than the Genesis story of Adam, Eve, and the serpent that we heard this morning. One frequent misinterpretation of this myth is that all sin is derived from...
We’ve been hearing a lot about the law recently. After weeks of jury selection and testimony in the criminal trial against a former president, the verdict was returned on Thursday. Guilty on all 34 counts. Much has been made about the fact that this is the first...
The pattern is the same every year. We celebrate Easter and God’s victory over death in the resurrection of Jesus, the son of God. Then 50 days later we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples at Pentecost. And then the next Sunday, before we launch...