Ascension and Gratitude

Readings for the Feast of the Ascension Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47 Ephesians 1:15-23 Luke 24:44-53 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on May 13, 2018. Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Ascension, a feast that commemorates a truth we claim and proclaim every Sunday when we say, “I believe…in Jesus […]

John Wesley’s Three Simple Rules

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year B) Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on May 6, 2018. The Rev. Kathryn Dunning of the First United Methodist Church here in Eureka presented to me a little book of John Wesley’s Three Simple […]

Abide

Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year B) Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22:24-30 1 John 7:21 John 15:1-8 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on April 29, 2018. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, […]

The Good Shepherd’s Pastoral Theodicy

In 1940, Anglican author and apologist C.S. Lewis wrote a book titled The Problem of Pain, which addresses the question of suffering: How do we reconcile an all-loving and all-powerful God with a world of suffering? Lewis offers an intellectual defense of God’s justice and righteousness in the midst of suffering. The theological term for […]

Divine Method in the Madness of Forgiveness

Three days after our upcoming Celebration of New Ministry is the birthday of perhaps the most famous Anglican in all of history. He’s not a saint but I have quoted him in sermons; and he’s not someone that we necessarily think of as an Anglican but the reason we know that April 23rd is his […]

Opening Our Doors to Doubt

One of the first things I learned about Episcopalians is that they don’t ask people to leave their brains at the door. Generally, Episcopalians are quite comfortable with questions and actually invite people to inquire and to probe, to challenge and to investigate. In fact, the Book of Common Prayer calls us to pray that […]

Touching the Risen Christ, the Door to Heaven (Easter Sunday Sermon)

This year, since our great Feast of the Resurrection falls on April Fool’s day, I feel invited to begin my sermon with a joke. St Peter was guarding the Pearly Gates (the doors to heaven) where he would welcome and then interview new souls who were coming into heaven. He saw Jesus walking by and […]

Easter Vigil Sermon by St. John Chrysostom

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, there is a tradition of reading the Paschal homily of St. John Chrysostom on the first Eucharist of the Easter season. John Chrysostom was the Archbishop of Constantinople back in the 4th and 5th centuries; and he earned the name “Chrysostom” which means “golden-mouthed” because of his eloquence in preaching. […]

The Cross and the Holy Spirit of Compassion

A Good Friday Homily preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka “I came into the world,” Jesus said, “to testify to the truth.” And Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” For centuries, Christians have attempted to answer this question, specifically, “What is the truth to which Jesus came into this world to testify? What is the […]

The New Commandment of the New Covenant

Whenever God makes covenants with his people, he provides clear instructions for fulfilling our part of the agreement. We call these instructions commandments or sometimes “mandates.” God gave specific commandments to Noah and Abraham when he made his covenant with them. He commanded Moses and the children of Israel to follow the teachings of the […]