The Facilitator’s Guide to assist in group discussions and better understanding is now available for downloading here for the Episcopal Church live webcast, Civil Discourse in America: Finding Common Ground for the Greater Good on October 22. Political, interfaith and education leaders will offer provocative insights and views during the discussion on Civil Discourse in…

[RCL] Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 Our Gospel passage today is the end of a conversation Jesus had with the Pharisee Nicodemus. Some might hear that Nicodemus is a Pharisee and immediately cast him in a negative light. For that reason, a hearer could be tempted to imagine his conversation with…

Last Sunday we commemorated the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We heard from St. Matthew’s Gospel how John the Baptist saw God’s Spirit alight upon Jesus, and a voice from heaven identify him as “my Son, the Beloved.” Today our lesson comes from the Gospel of St. John and the scenario of Christ’s baptism…

In today’s gospel, we hear the intriguing story of Jesus’ disciples trying to stop a man who had been casting out demons in Jesus’ name. They seem to have become especially upset because the offender was not one of them. In the eyes of the disciples, he was not part of the inner circle, and…

Religious sisters and brothers are eccentrics.  I’m not referring to our being rather dated curiosities (though we often do attract attention).  I’m speaking of how, since the early centuries of the church, individuals have been drawn to the edge, to be eccentric, from the Greek èkkentros, out of the center.  This movement has often been as a protest…

RCL: Micah 5:2-5a; Canticle 15 (or 3) or Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) During Advent and Christmas, we will be using study prompts and other activities tied to the sermon for the week. Read the sermon aloud and follow-up with spoken responses to the two questions at the end. Find our full sermon…

A groundbreaking report released on March 12 calls on The Episcopal Church to address the issues and concerns of the poor in the United States, focusing initially on the needs of Native American communities through its proposed “Model for Domestic Poverty Alleviation.” The report, titled Faith in the Balance: A Call to Action, is based…

Welcome to our online offerings for the Good Friday Offering’s centennial year. Here, you’ll find stories, photos, artifacts, and history about the offering – seeing the way societies, the institutional church, borders, liturgical styles, missiology, and so much more have adapted and otherwise changed over 100 years. Each week, join us as we celebrate a…

“We stand together in hope. We stand together in faith. We stand together in love. We stand individually as ambassadors of hope, vessels of faith, and sentinels of love.  We stand as a community committed to making no peace with gun violence. We pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to inflame and enkindle…

Following are opening remarks, lightly edited for clarity, by House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris to the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, meeting Oct. 20-21 at Kanuga conference center in Hendersonville, North Carolina.