• The Blessed Community

    The Blessed Community

    Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, and all of the saints a Homily for the Feast of All Saints  |  Text: Matthew  5:1-12  For us, this principal feast we call All Saints is not so much about honoring the dead, but honoring the community: the whole community: past and present and future. For honoring only our…

  • What you think about Halloween is what you think about life

    Do you dress up? Pass out candy? Head off to a party? Or do you sit at home in the dark, hoping those darn kids would stay off your lawn? I loved Halloween when I was little. I loved dressing up and playing make believe. I wanted to cut out early of swim practice because…

  • First, Love

    First, Love

    How Jesus’s subversive call to love continues to challenge us a Homily for Proper 25A  |  Text: Matthew  22:34-46  Commander Love Love GOD. Love neighbor. This is the basis for all of our teaching. We can see it, too. When we read those first five books of our sacred scripture, those written in Hebrew, we…

  • How Generosity Could Save the Church

    How Generosity Could Save the Church

    I’m going to come right out and say it. The economics of future-proofing the church are directly dependent on the generosity of older generations. If the church as we know it is to survive the next two decades, it’ll be because something changed. Either we changed or the culture changed. Or maybe the circumstances changed. Or all…

  • Why TV Needs Father Gabriel

    Why TV Needs Father Gabriel

    Warning: mild spoilers of The Walking Dead follow. The Walking Dead. I haven’t read the comics, though I should have by now. I’m a geek, I used to be a comic geek at that, and I love the show, so this is totally in my wheelhouse. Maybe I love the suspense of watching the show as it comes on: of waiting until…

  • Rejecting the Trap

    The dishonesty behind asking compromises any answer Jesus may have to the question a Homily for Proper 24A  |  Text: Matthew  22:15-22 The Trap This is not a story about taxes. This is a story about a trap that backfires. A trap set to deal with authority. And every time we go near the question of…

  • Loving is more than words. So is GOD.

    Loving is more than words. So is GOD.

    A long, long time ago, a deeply faithful people were given a name. A very important name. The very name of their god. The same god who was revealed without a proper pronoun, but a description. The popular translation is I AM WHO I AM But even these words in English don’t capture the movement and…

  • Our Kids Deserve Better Than Columbus Day

    Let’s give Columbus Day the heave-ho. It is long past time. Besides, it isn’t a big deal anyway. Columbus Day is the lamest of national holidays: There are no long-standing American traditions of cookouts and celebrations today. It has no significant religious connections other than the fact that Chris was Catholic. It isn’t beloved for…