We may be a long way from New Orleans and the floods of Katrina, but I know that a lot of evacuees came this direction. I’ve heard stories in the last few days about the hospitality you’ve offered, people who opened their homes and buildings to receive people, who fed them, and for many long years afterward, have been helping people get back on their feet.
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Most of you are aware that we’ve just finished our once-every-three-years General Convention in Indianapolis. It’s a gathering of thousands of Episcopalians, as well as Anglican, ecumenical, and interfaith guests, and an amazing assortment of “merchants in the Temple.” Many people just come to watch for a few hours or days (and many more watch...
I was hustling through an airport between flights a couple of months ago, when a young man came up beside me and asked if I was a pastor. Yes, I said, continuing to hustle toward my next plane. He continued breathlessly, “I want to know if God will forgive me – I’ve cheated on my fiancée, I’ve committed adultery. Will God forgive me?...
A couple of weeks ago, I watched an inattentive taxi driver hit a bicyclist a block away as I was running down the sidewalk. He got scraped up, but he didn’t seem to be severely injured. I hung around until the cops and the EMTs came to check him out. But it led me to reflect on the dangers we meet just in daily living – whether it’s going to...
I’ve been reading a remarkable book about the state of things in the Americas before the first Europeans arrived. It’s by Charles Mann and it’s called 1491. In one place he writes about the development of corn – south of here, in what is now Mexico. Something that looks a lot like modern corn developed very quickly about 6000...
The lections for this Evensong were 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Matthew 28:16-20.
I was at the international gathering of L’Arche last week in Atlanta. There were L’Arche members from more than a hundred local communities in 37 or 38 nations. L’Arche gathers intellectually disabled adults (core...
My youngest brother is a braumeister, who opened a new pub Friday night in California. It’s in an old West mining and logging town that was founded around 1850. The inhabitants have been buzzing with anticipation for months, while he and his partners have remodeled a historic building, installed brewing and kitchen equipment,...
The lections for this sermon were 1 Kings 8:22-23,27b-30; Psalm 84; 1 Corinthians 3:1-11,16-17; Matthew 21:10-14.
Human beings have always had a great yearning to connect with holy places. It is the fundamental reason for pilgrimage, and the reason why we bury people in the church yard. The psalmist claims that even the...
A hundred years! Happy birthday, Girl Scouts! I became a Girl Scout more than 50 years ago, and what I remember of those early years has made a big difference in my life, as I hope it has for you. Learning to identify birds, or how to plant trees, tie knots, or build a fire, are important skills that teach us about the world around us. So are the things we...