Sermons

    When I was young, one of my favorite books was Pollyanna, the story of a girl who is orphaned at a young age, and sent to live with a wealthy, but austere and stern aunt in a distant part of the country.     Pollyanna had never met...

    I wonder how many of you have been to the ordination of a priest? It is an impressive service. Most churches pull out all the stops -- the best of the best music, beautiful flowers in abundance, often incense. The procession includes all the clergy...

    “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”     When you heard that passage read a few moments ago, did you look around for the wedding couple?    ...

            How wonderful it is to be here this evening with all of you. This is the first time in two years that we have been able to pull out all the stops and celebrate a major feast day of the Church as...

    If we have learned anything in the past 20 months of pandemic it is that human beings need community. Isolation may be okay for a little while, but soon we are longing for contact with other people, to be with friends and family.    ...

    When I looked at the scripture readings for this week I was reminded of a game from Sesame Street. Four objects would be shown on the screen while one of the characters sang these words:     “One of these things is not like the other....

    Let me be the first to wish you a happy new year today.      That’s right. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of a new year in the church calendar.      And as always, we begin with a paradox....

    It has always struck me as kind of a shame that Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday, removed from any special notice at Sunday worship services.     Most years, including this one, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the first Sunday of...

    Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us...

Charlie Plumb was a fighter pilot in Vietnam. He returned safely from 75 combat missions. But on his 76th flight, his plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected from the plane just in time, pulled his parachute, and drifted to the ground. He was captured...

    I was doing some web surfing this week when a headline caught my eye. "My Church Doesn't Know What to Do Anymore" it screamed at me.     "Leading a church is harder now, in 2021, than it was in 2020," writes Elizabeth Felicetti, rector of St....

Jesus said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”     St. Anthony of Thebes, brought up in a wealthy Christian family, but orphaned at age 18, heard these...

    Sometimes I think the most amazing thing about Jesus is the patience he has with his disciples. Today’s Gospel reading is a good example. Jesus is trying to tell the disciples something important.     He knows that his time on earth...

    It seems to start out as just a casual, idle conversation. Jesus and his disciples are walking to the village of Caesarea Philippi, in the northernmost part of Israel.     His actions have been gaining notice lately – the healing of a...