If you’re experiencing a little déja vu this morning, it’s probably because you were at church on February 26, the last Sunday before Lent, which is our annual reading of the Transfiguration Gospel. We get the story twice this year because, in their wisdom, the compilers of our Prayer Book decreed that the traditional feast … READ MORE…
There is a story about a man who was a member of his parish, but who didn’t give anything to the church one year. When the priest went to check on him, he opened the door and asked, “Did you know that my son just wrecked his car and needs a new one?” The priest … READ MORE…
Jacob is on the run. He is running from the murderous rage of his twin brother, Esau, whom he has tricked out of his birthright as the firstborn son. He is in the wilderness, alone, heading for the farm of his uncle, Laban, where he is to find a wife. And out there, in the … READ MORE…
Happy pride! Pride is a time when people come out. Come out of hiding. Come out of dark places and into the light. When people celebrate things that for many years were visible only in secret places. This reading today is part of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. He is talking to a people, … READ MORE…
It’s Independence Day weekend. This is a holiday when we celebrate freedom, when we celebrate the unique character of the United States, formed and shaped by the same men who also shaped the governance of our own Episcopal Church. It’s a secular holiday, but the 4th of July is also named as a major feast … READ MORE…
How appropriate that, on the day when our secular culture celebrates fatherhood, we read in Genesis of God’s promise to Abraham that he would be the father of nations. This is the story that puts the twinkle in his eye that ultimately becomes the whole chosen people of God. Three strangers come to Abraham’s desert … READ MORE…
“Breathe on us, breath of God, fill us with life anew, that we may love what thou dost love; and do what thou would’st do.” (The Hymnal 1982, #508, alt.) You may have heard it said that in the story of the Acts of the Apostles, the principal character … READ MORE…
Easter 7A, May 28, 2017St. Paul’s San Diego John 17:1-11 Community is the essence of living in residential seminary. Some have said it is like living in a fishbowl. You get thrown into this place from your previously secular life with all these other people who are very different from you and then you are … READ MORE…
This week I received a precious gift. It’s a gift I will remember and cherish. It’s a gift I never wanted and wish I had never received, and yet I am grateful for it. There is no more sacred task for a priest than the task, the privilege, of being permitted to be present with … READ MORE…
Easter 5A, May 14, 2017 St. Paul’s San Diego Creation Care Sunday, John 14:1-14 It’s a regular pattern. Disaster strikes– maybe it’s a flood. Maybe it’s a tornado, or a hurricane. Maybe it’s an earthquake. There are many casualties and lots of devastation. And before relief efforts can really get fully underway, voices will start … READ MORE…