I have a pastor friend who tells a story about leading a Bible study focused on what he called “the hard teachings of Jesus”. His group was discussing the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18, who came asking Jesus about how to inherit eternal life. As we pastors tend to do, he was trying to … Read the rest
Continue reading "Power & Practice" »
I can’t quite escape the irony of ascending this pulpit, when we’ve just heard about Jesus coming down from the mountain to teach. Luke’s version of the beatitudes parallel Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount, but here his teaching is delivered on a plain. On the level ground, where you might say that the mountain and … Read the rest
Continue reading "Leveling on the Plain" »
“Here I am, send me.” I’ll confess that it’s a bit uncomfortable being the person in the pulpit hearing and also saying those particular words. I mean, here I really am! In this somewhat visible location. If God’s about to call on someone, there’s no back row for me to hide in. But—spoiler alert—there’s no back row for … Read the rest
Continue reading "Here We Are" »
Perhaps you’ve heard the popular saying that “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” This proverb is a slight corruption of a story from Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s tale, Alice in Wonderland. You may remember the conversation between a disoriented Alice and the mysterious Cheshire Cat. Alice asked: “Would you tell me, … Read the rest
Continue reading "Discerning the Way" »
I’m a California native, so I’ve known a lifetime of water scarcity. Which is not actually that different from the experience of Jesus’ followers living in the Galilean desert. And yet, there were six stone water jars, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Glory… God’s glory is like that!
We live in a grape-growing region, where what limited … Read the rest
Continue reading "Glorious" »
What a privilege to be here, this Sunday of the feast of Christ the King. Which also happens to be the celebration of Hipolito, Tom, Mariann and Chris the Canons. I too have served as both an honorary canon and canon residentiary in my ministry, so I remember these celebrations with joy. I know I’m not telling … Read the rest
Continue reading "The King's Law" »
Follow Jesus or go away grieving. How many of us have ever faced a decision that felt so consequential and so… binary? Get married or stay single or divorce. Buy a car or not. Have a child. Quit a job. We struggle with these kinds of decisions, and rightfully so, especially if we think that choosing one possibility … Read the rest
Continue reading "Non-Binary" »
What are you hungry for? What kind of bread actually fills you up? What would it really be like to never hunger again? By Biblical standards, those are serious questions; perhaps some of the most serious questions any of us will ever ask of ourselves. And according to Jesus, the answer has everything to do with how we … Read the rest
Continue reading "Eat THIS Bread" »
Whew. This gut-wrenching Palm Sunday story, dramatically read by our deacon and his family, reads like a catalog of provocative questions and defamatory statements about Jesus’ identity. At the outset, Pilate asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews, and then the Gospel ends with a centurion proclaiming “truly this man was God’s son.” In between, … Read the rest
Continue reading "Chaos into Quiet" »
Last Sunday, during our noon forum hour we showed the first of twelve videos produced by the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. They feature conversations with local Episcopalians of color, and I have found them to be very moving. Today we’ll be hearing from Salying Wong, rector of St. Thomas Sunnyvale. But last week the video featured Brett Wormley, … Read the rest
Continue reading "Can it be that Bad?" »