“You do not know when the time will come.” Truer words have never been said on the first Sunday of Advent, no? Here we find ourselves, waiting for so many things whose arrival date is uncertain. The peaceful transition of presidential power, for example, or the widespread availability of a good vaccine for COVID-19. We’re waiting for businesses … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Alarm of Advent" »
Today’s Gospel lesson is sandwiched between two other teachings about the integrity of the community of Jesus followers. Matthew 18:10-14 is the Parable of the Lost Sheep—the one in one hundred who goes astray—and Jesus teaches that “it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” Then in Matthew … Read the rest
Continue reading "Better Together" »
A little less than a year ago, I was driving from my previous Trinity Cathedral in Portland Oregon to my current Trinity Cathedral to be with you. Because I was travelling with my son Aaron—you’ll see him in our upcoming children’s moment—we stopped to visit Crater Lake and some of the other magnificent landscapes along the way. As … Read the rest
Continue reading "The View from the Mountain" »
“Lord, teach us to pray,” the disciples asked of Jesus, according to Luke’s Gospel. And in response, Jesus gave them what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer, perhaps the most beloved and enduring prayer in our tradition. From foxholes to hospitals to bedtime rituals to Episcopal liturgies of every kind, we pray and we sing “thy kingdom … Read the rest
Continue reading "Barefoot Conquerors" »
Where do we find God? Indeed, where do we even go looking for God? Especially when the obvious places, like our lovely Cathedral, are closed to us? That’s a big loss, and we feel it every day. As your pastor, the only advice I can offer you is this: feel all the feels. It’s OK to grieve; grief … Read the rest
Continue reading "Holy Household" »
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” It’s a good question, no? The kind of clarity-seeking question we have come to expect of Thomas the doubter, who wanted to see it before he believed it. And from our vantage point in Santa Clara County during this … Read the rest
Continue reading "Chosen for the Way" »
“He had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” I remember the first time I read that phrase, and it came to me with a shock of recognition. For Jesus had indeed been made known to me in the breaking of the bread. My adult priesthood has been intimately shaped by my youthful Christian … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Way to the Bread/El Camino hacia el Pan" »
They didn’t train us for this in seminary. And by this, I don’t mean pastoring through a global pandemic, or becoming video producers or online educators. Although most of us didn’t know much about that before the COVID-19 quarantine, so we’re all learning on the job, no?
No nos entrenaron para esto en el seminario. Y no … Read the rest
Continue reading "Holy Fracture/Santo Fracaso" »
“Unbind him, and let him go,” said Jesus to Lazarus who had just emerged from the tomb. That’s from the 11th chapter of John’s Gospel. And then from the 20th chapter: “Do not hold on to me” said Jesus to Mary Magdalene when he himself had emerged from the tomb. While our Christian scriptures insist—from beginning … Read the rest
Continue reading "Once, and for All" »
“Rabbi, who sinned, that we are all in quarantine?” The Chinese? The Europeans? Fox News?
We mostly don’t ask that kind of question anymore, at least not of our religious leaders. Exactly nobody has asked me whose sin caused the Novel Corona Virus epidemic, although a few people have asked me if we are living in the end … Read the rest
Continue reading "What's the Question?" »