Sermons

    "Jesus saw a great crowd and he had compassion for them."     Compassion. It's at the core of who Jesus is. Time and time again in the gospels we hear of Jesus' compassion -- for the crowds who have gathered to see and hear him, for...

    You know it is going to be an interesting week of sermon preparation when you open a commentary on the Gospel lesson and read this, “The story of the beheading of John the Baptist is hardly a text one would spontaneously choose for a sermon.”     No...

    Happy Fourth of July! On this day that we celebrate the founding of this great nation that we all love, it seems appropriate to begin the day in church with prayers for our country.     By any standards the past year has been a difficult one for...

    It is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible, the battle between David and Goliath. This tale of the young boy who, using only a sling shot, defeats a mighty giant of a warrior, has become the iconic tale of the triumphant underdog....

    When I was growing up, in the days before cell phone cameras were ubiquitous,  there was a popular TV show called “Candid Camera.” Those of you who are old enough may  remember that the program’s premise was that the show’s crew would set...

    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...

    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....

    Today is Pentecost, one of the most festive days of the church year. It's the day that at long last the disciples receive the promised Holy Spirit.     The Pentecost account in the Book of Acts is one of the most vivid stories in scripture. Tongues...

    While most of us were busy doing other things this week a major feast day of the Church slipped by. This past Thursday was Ascension Day, the day that Christ, who has already risen from the dead, finally ascends into heaven.     Ascension Day is...

    When I read today's gospel a man came to mind who I have not thought about in many years. Ernest was a fellow parishioner at St. Ann's in Nashville.     He was a quiet, unobtrusive man, probably in his mid-80s. He had long been a...

    Of all the technological advances in the past couple of decades the one that I love the most is probably the GPS, whether in my car or on my phone. As the men in my family will tell you, I have a notoriously bad sense of direction.. So I take great joy in typing...

    It is the first Sunday after Easter, which every Episcopal priest knows means it's Doubting Thomas Sunday. The gospel reading we heard today is exactly the same the Sunday after Easter every year.     I'll let you in on a clergy...

    Wow! I could just stand here and look at you all morning. It is so wonderful to see your faces, or at least your eyes. It is so wonderful to hear more than one or two voices joining together to say the prayers, the psalms, the responses. It is so...

    Unimaginable suffering. Excruciating pain. Bottomless grief.  Incomprehensible cruelty.  All of that is on display on this most somber day when we remember the death, the execution, of Jesus.      It's a hard story to...

    “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”     These words are from the 51st Psalm, considered to be scripture’s quintessential prayer of penitence. Tradition says the verses were penned by the great King David after he...