The Gift of Emptiness
Receiving Your Inheritance – Sunday after the Ascension (Easter 7) Year A Acts 1:6-14 Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 John 17:1-11 We have come into a place in the cycle of the lectionary that is difficult for me to write about. The way that Jesus speaks to His disciples and to His Father […]
Why Do We Study?
(This is another of the articles I wrote for the Cross, the publication of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. It deals with one of our three disciplines (Prayer, Study, and Service). But it speaks to the study of the Bible in a wider context too, so here it is.) Prayer, Study, Service. We hold to […]
“O come, O come Emmanuel!”
(I wrote this back in 2015 for the Cross, the publication for the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. I think most of it still applies.) Most of us have sung this already this season. If we haven’t we certainly will soon. It is the cry of every heart, even those who don’t know God, (though they […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – 1 Advent, Year A
First Reading Isaiah 2:1–5 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the […]
A new take on Romans 7
I wrote this back in November of 2012. I suspect it’ll find it’s way into a Divergence in Year A (Proper 9, I think) But I’m going to publish it now, separately, with a few minor edits. Maybe this isn’t new, but it’s new to me. I’ve read an awful lot of commentaries on Paul […]
The Stations of the Cross
Over the course of my career as an Episcopal priest I have found myself discontented with the versions of the Stations of the Cross that I knew and used during Lent. Early on I found a set of Stations written by a friend, a Roman Catholic priest that felt “better” and used them for a […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 29/Christ the King, Year C (track one)
First Reading Jeremiah 23:1–6 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, […]
“Are You the One?”
This short story grew out of my meditations on the message that John sent to Jesus from prison. Once upon a time there were two parents, a loving Mother and Father, who had to go away for a long time. Now, this mother and father had many children. A big family, at least a dozen […]
On Fatherhood
Another article I wrote for the Brotherhood of St. Andrew a number of years ago. I think it still holds. This year Father’s Day fell on Trinity Sunday. I joked with my parish during the sermon that I was grateful because it gave me an excuse to focus on one Person of the Trinity, and […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 28, Year C (track one)
First Reading Isaiah 65:17–25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will […]
Receiving Your Inheritance – Proper 12, Year B
What if we actually did, receive our inheritance, that is? John 6:1-21 When Sara and I lived in Manhattan we worshiped for about two and a half years at the Church of the Holy Apostles. Sara also did a year’s “Field Education” there, so we became pretty involved for that short while. Holy Apostles’ great […]
Evangelism – Through the Gifts of the Spirit
The article below is one that I wrote a long time ago for the Cross, the publication of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. That’s why it’s aimed at “men” and “brothers.” But it’s no less important for having been written that way. The world wasn’t nearly as messy a place when I wrote this as […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – All Saints, Year C
First Reading Daniel 7:1–3, 15-18 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 26, Year C (track one)
First Reading Habakkuk 1:1–4, 2:1-4 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 25, Year C (track one)
First Reading Joel 2:23–32 “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. “The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow […]
Divergence on the Lectionary – Proper 24, Year C (track one)
First Reading Jeremiah 31:27–34 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to […]