Am I losing my mind?
That’s what my friend Lisa asked recently. Now there’s no shortage of reasons why followers of Jesus might ask that question at this time of year. Mary Magdalene and Mary, were you losing your minds when you snuck off to see the tomb of one so shamefully executed? Or when an angel sent … Read the rest
Continue reading "Easter Community Guidelines" »“What was written in former days was for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope,” wrote the author of the letter to the Romans. Which sounds comforting in a season when I am actively searching for signs of hope. And of course there are plenty: even in the … Read the rest
Continue reading "Things Hoped For" »
What a week, no? I think we’d all be in our rights to seek a little distraction, so I’m wondering: what’s your favorite genre of scary movie? I’m not talking about anything you might have seen on CNN or MSNBC or Fox News…
Myself, its crime dramas. You know the scenario. Someone does something wicked, but the culprit … Read the rest
Continue reading "Practicing to be Unprepared" »In these final painful days of our electoral season, when saintliness seems remote from the public sphere, the familiar words of what’s popularly known as the Golden Rule: “do to others as you would have them do to you” seem to take on a special urgency. Mostly because they are the words of our Lord, whose teaching I … Read the rest
Continue reading "Subjunctive Saints" »
I never imagined myself saying this in church—or anywhere else, for that matter—but this morning I feel a bit like a mulberry tree. Some very faithful people said “be uprooted from your 13 years of service on the staff of the Bishop of California and be planted at Trinity Cathedral,” and here I am. Feeling a bit out … Read the rest
Its somewhat legendary in the Episcopal Church that the seminarian or brand new clergy get assigned to preach on the Sundays when the lessons are really difficult, or when the theology is complicated (like on Trinity Sunday). Steve, I’m not a seminarian! And just because I’m moving away is not an excuse to punish me.
But here we … Read the rest
Continue reading "Eschatological Investment" »Many years ago when I was waking up to my Christian faith, I took a Bible study course that used a particular method for reading scripture. Bible scholars call that a hermeneutic: a lens though which we consciously (or unconsciously) interpret a sacred text. So in this case, for each Scripture passage we studied, we were asked to … Read the rest
Continue reading "Compassionate Judgment" »“What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.”
So said the rich man in the parable of Jesus we just hear this morning. He’s really … Read the rest
Continue reading "In Between the Barns" »Genesis 18:20-32
Luke 11:1-13
Today’s Gospel is one that evokes great humility for a preacher. Well, that’s true of almost any Gospel. But what could I possibly say this morning that would add anything to the Lord’s Prayer, which has preached itself through the prayers of billions of people over thousands of years? You all know this prayer; you’ve prayed … Read the rest
“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” As a mother who has raised two sons, I am well versed in the primal human desire to incinerate things. But Jesus immediately rebuked James and John for suggesting that the inhospitable Samaritan village be destroyed, and the disciples continued towards Jerusalem … Read the rest
Continue reading "Freedom to Follow" »
