Not Angels, but Anglicans

Readings for the Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25 Year B) Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm 126 Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:46-52 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday October 28, 2018. According to the 8th century English historian the Venerable Bede, the Church of England and the subsequent Anglican communion (of which we as […]

The Ministry of Melchizedek

Readings for the Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24 Year B) Isaiah 53:4-12 Psalm 91:9-16 Hebrews 5:1-10 Mark 10:35-45 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday October 21, 2018. Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are a […]

St. Francis the Deacon

Readings for the Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23 Year B) Amos 5:6-7, 10-15 Psalm 90:12-17 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-31 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday October 14, 2018. Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; […]

Homily on Vida Dutton Scudder

Readings for the Feast Day of Vida Dutton Scudder Isaiah 42:5-9 Psalm 25:1-14 Romans 12:1-2, 14-21 John 6:37-51 This sermon was preached in Lewis Hall at Christ Church Eureka in a gathering of the Episcopal Church Women on Wednesday October 10, 2018. Vida Dutton Scudder (1861 – 1954) was a social welfare activist in the social gospel movement […]

St. Francis the Sissy?

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 […]

Salt and Fire

A few years ago, while leading a kid’s church service in Sausalito, I invited the children to sit silently and imagine God holding them and hugging them in his warm embrace. I also encouraged them to listen to the silence, telling them that it is often in silence that God speaks. (The Spanish Mystic St. […]

The Ever-Giving Flow of Divine Generosity

Two Sundays ago, on our Homecoming Sunday (when we bounced back to church), I read a poem from the Christian poet Rainer Maria Rilke who prayed, “May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back, the way it is with children.” I invited us to live our lives […]

Homily for Vestry Retreat and Feast of St. Cyprian and James Chisholm

Today we gather as the elected leaders of Christ Church Eureka parish to pray together, to break bread, to laugh, to play and to listen to each other and to be guided by the Holy Spirit among us as we begin to articulate a mission statement for the church. God has chosen each of us […]

Ephphatha – Be Opened!

Readings for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost (Year B Track 2) Isaiah 35:4-7a Psalm 146 James 2:1-17 Mark 7:24-37 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on September 9, 2018. “For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the […]

McCain and the Wisdom of the Maverick Gospel

Last Sunday, I preached on the life and death and witness of a young Episcopalian named Jonathan Myrick Daniels who understood in his “bones and sinews” the divine wisdom of self-giving love. He understood this wisdom through the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist, through which God communicates and offers his love to his people so […]