Opening Prayer: Heavenly Creator, give us the strength to be your face, your voice, and your hands in the world. Amen Are we being recognized? In today’s Gospel we heard two instances of recognition. These questions could be interpreted in different ways. Today, I want us to look at these...
+Help us, Lord, to become the master of ourselvesthat we may be the servants of others.Take our minds and think through them;Take our lips and speak through them;Take our hearts and set them on fire with your love. AMEN.+ The American humorist, Garrison Keillor, whose stories often have religious allusions,...
Today is the last Sunday before I begin my sabbatical this coming Thursday. I am very aware that sabbaticals are incredible privileges, and I am very aware that I really need one. I am aware that the entire team will hold things graciously and ably while I am away, and...
This homily is #6 in our Lenten sermon series, Essentials of Prayer. Today is the Fifth Sunday in Lent, and, as we look toward beginning Holy Week with Palm Sunday next Sunday, this is the last in this particular sermon series on prayer. Looking back at the prior weeks, we...
This homily is #5 in our Lenten sermon series, Essentials of Prayer. We have looked at prayer in our bodies; prayer in the face of suffering; and prayer as our very life. Today, we look at prayer that reveals, that pulls back the curtain, allowing to us to see the...
This homily is #3 in our Lenten sermon series, Essentials of Prayer. The 1993 movie Shadowlands gave us a glimpse into the incredible love story between the Oxford and Cambridge scholar C. S. Lewis and his wife, the American poet and writer Joy Davidman. They marry first as friends and...
This homily is #2 in our Lenten sermon series, Essentials of Prayer. There is a line from the film The English Patient that rings true for our conversation today, as we gather for prayers on this, the First Sunday in Lent. Today as well, we continue our reflection on prayer...
One of the four focus points for the School for Christian Practice is "Practices of Prayer." By claiming this, we affirm the essential place of prayer in our life as followers of Jesus. Prayer lies at the heart of who we are, yet how we understand prayer is varied, complex--and...
This homily is #1 in our Lenten sermon series, Essentials of Prayer. What does it mean to pray? What is prayer? For something so ubiquitous, seemingly everywhere and so common in our lives, have we truly paused to reflect on just what we mean when we say “I am praying for you,”...
There may be two images that capture me as a young child. One is me tending the fire at the deer camp while others go hunting early in the morning. I didn’t want to hunt; I wanted to keep the fire going. It gave me time to be alone with...