God’s Relentless Invitation to Friendship

The readings this morning can be interpreted as conveying a wrathful and violent God hell bent on consuming and burning down a city or a people that reject or offend him. In Exodus, as the Israelites worship the golden calf, God says to Moses, “Let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against […]

The Empathy of St. Francis

There was a discussion in a First Grade religion class focused on St. Francis of Assisi. After school, a First Grader came home very excited about what he had learned and blurted out to his mother, “Guess what, Mommy? Today, I learned that St. Francis was a sissy!” Now one practical way to ensure that […]

The Meaning of the Hebrew Letter Aleph

Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (Track 2) Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 Psalm 25:1-8 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32 This sermon was preached at the Chapel of St. Francis at San Francisco Towers on October 1, 2017. “God guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly.” This morning I want to talk about […]

St. Michael, All Angels and Imagination

Readings for the Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels Genesis 28:10-17 Psalm 103:19-22 John 1:43-51 “The true sign of intelligence,” according to Albert Einstein, “is not knowledge but imagination.” The presence of angels in the Scriptures invites us to develop this intelligence by exercising our imagination, pushing us to see beyond the boundaries […]

Grace That Saves a Kvetch Like Me

By now, you know how much I like to glean wisdom from our Jewish brothers and sisters, especially when it comes to reading the Hebrew Scriptures. This is partly because I have Jewish background on my father’s side. My great grandfather grew up in a shtetl in the Ukraine and I have memories of colorful […]

Taking Action Like Nachshon

Three weeks ago we began our series of readings from the book of Exodus or from what our Jewish brothers and sisters call the Book of Names, Shemoth. I invited us to consider how our individual names and how our collective name (Redeemer) call us to embody God’s love in San Rafael and the world. […]

Prayer and Service to the Poor

My mantra for ministry for about the last decade has been “prayer and service to the poor.” Prayer and service to the poor. These two pursuits have been the primary mission of my youth ministry in southern California and the mission of the Marin Episcopal Youth Group since it began in 2012. Sometimes when I […]

Our Redeemer, Rock and Rainbow

Today our lectionary launches us on a nine-week long series of readings from the book of Exodus, which recounts the epic story of the Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. This story serves as a central and foundational narrative for Judaism and Christianity and even for Islam. These next nine weeks in Exodus will […]

Hine Ma Tov (Behold, How Good!)

Hine ma tov umanayim shevet achim gam yachad. Behold! How good it is when brothers and sisters gather together in community. I have been wrestling and praying through this morning’s Scripture readings for the last couple weeks while also lamenting and grieving over the horrific violence and hatred we have witnessed in our country and […]

The Kingdom of God is like…a Margarita

In the Gospels, there is one subject that Jesus loves to talk about more than anything else. Does anyone what it is? A close second is the subject of money, but more than anything else, Jesus loves to teach and preach about the kingdom of God. We see this in our Gospel reading this morning […]