Getting Political with St. Patrick

Readings for the Second Sunday in Lent Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35 Psalm 27 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on March 17, 2019. This Lenten season has been extra special for me because Ash Wednesday fell on my birthday and because the feast of St. Patrick falls on a Sunday, […]

Sauntering with St. Patrick

Readings for the Feast Day of St. Patrick Ezekiel 36:33–38 Matthew 28:16–20 Psalm 97:1–2,7–12 This reflection was shared at Sacred Saunter Outdoor Eucharist on Saturday March 16, 2019 at Sequoia Park in Eureka. Today, our Scripture readings are the readings for the feast day of Ireland’s most beloved saint, Patrick, who actually was not Irish, […]

Praying with St. Patrick

Readings for the Feast Day of St. Patrick Ezekiel 36:33–38 1 Thessalonians 2:2b–12 Matthew 28:16–20 Psalm 97:1–2,7–12 This sermon was preached in Lewis Hall at Christ Church Eureka in a gathering of the Episcopal Church Women on Wednesday March 13, 2019. Before England was called England, when it was just an island “at the outermost edge of the […]

Listening to the Divine Heartbeat this Lent

Readings for the First Sunday in Lent Genesis 15:1-12,17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on March 10, 2019. This Lent, we have already had many opportunities to slow down and listen to what the Celtic Christians call “the heartbeat of God” beating in all of […]

Shinrin-yoku in Sequoia Park

Readings for Saturday after Ash Wednesday Deuteronomy 26:16–19 Matthew 5:43–48 Psalm 119:1–8 This reflection was shared at Sacred Saunter Outdoor Eucharist on Saturday March 9, 2019 at Sequoia Park in Eureka. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but […]

Ash Wednesday Sermon 2019

Readings for Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 103 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 This homily was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019. It was Johannine scholar and Salesian priest Frank Moloney who first called my attention to the incongruity built into the Ash Wednesday service, in which […]

Sacred Saunter

Readings for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany Jeremiah 17:5-10 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Luke 6:17-26 Psalm 1 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on February 17, 2019. This last Fall I attended a conference at the WayCross Conference center in Morgantown Indiana for Episcopal clergy across the country sponsored by the Church Pension […]

Fanny Crosby and the Blessed Providence of God

Readings for the Feast Day of Fanny Crosby Isaiah 42:10-12, 16 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 9:35-39 Psalm 108:1-6 This reflection was shared at the monthly gathering of Associates and Oblates of the Community of the Transfiguration on February 7, 2019, in honor of Sister Diana Dorothea who became the official Lent Madness Hymn Writer in Residence (!). Last […]

Christ Church Eureka Rector’s Report

Readings for the Third Sunday after Epiphany Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21 Psalm 19 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on January 27, 2019. In our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus shares the mission statement for his entire ministry: “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim […]

Mary, Martin, and the Creatively Maladjusted

Readings for the Second Sunday after Epiphany Isaiah 62:1-5 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11 Psalm 36:5-10 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on January 20, 2019. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”[1] By “creatively maladjusted” he meant those who refuse […]