What are you most hungry for? That’s really what we’re here to wrestle with this morning. What kind of bread are you shopping for?
Many people are looking for the kind of bread that we store away in wallets, barns, and banks – sometimes we call it dough, and the fact that it’s not yet baked hints at its inability to nourish and satisfy. ...
The General Convention which took place in Indianapolis in July offered new and creative responses to the call of the gospel in our day. We saw gracious and pastoral responses to polarizing issues, as well as a new honesty about the need for change.
General Convention addressed a number of significant issues that will impact the life and witness of this Church for years into the future...
Feed my sheep. Jesus’ primary concern was that the people around him be cared for, and he usually started with food. Jesus’ vision of the heavenly banquet had about equal parts of eating, healing, and teaching people about the kingdom of God. He charged his disciples with sharing food as a way of remembering him, and our most central act as his...
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,...