Missouri Diocesan Convention, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis

  Well, the Occupy-ers are being thrown out of one park after another.  They were evicted from Zuccotti Park near Wall Street Monday night and from Kiener Plaza here last weekend.  Oakland tired of them quite a while ago, and London still hasn’t been able to make up its mind about whether to let them […]

St. John’s Cathedral, Denver

A colleague of mine, who used to be the chaplain at Sing Sing, says that baptizing inmates was one of the more powerful things he got to do there, and that his little congregation understood it as turning sinners into saints. He also talks about the fact that all saints have a past and all […]

St. James, Hyde Park, NY

  "The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock." Getting here has had something in common with that storm and flood, only it’s been snow rather than rain.  Yet this house continues to stand fast.   […]

Proper 25A, Deuteronomy 34:1-12

  What do we do about the death of Moammar Qaddafi?  Will we pray for him?  Can we commend him to the mercy of God?  The fate of Osama bin Laden brought the same challenging questions.  We are linked together, even in death.  If our only response at the death of tyrants is rejoicing, we […]

Diocesan visit – Northern Indiana: Proper 24A

  Have you ever seen God’s glory passing by?  The beauty of autumn can be like that, as dying leaves go out in a blaze of glory.  We didn’t see God’s creativity as clearly when everything was lush and green in the middle of summer, but we certainly see evidence of its passing.   Moses […]

Diocese of Northern Indiana Convention: Teresa of Avila

  Most people who know anything about Teresa of Avila know that she was a mystic, and spent much of her life in contemplation.  Some are aware that she was proclaimed a “doctor of the church” by the pope in 1970, the first woman to get that title.  In Roman Catholic circles, that means her […]

Presiding Bishop speakes at Everyone, Everywhere

  Well, we’ve come to the mountain.  Is it the mountain of God’s house?  There’s a place in the foothills of Colorado Springs, not too far from here, called Garden of the Gods.  It’s an amazing collection of rocks to climb or contemplate – or both.  It’s hard not to appreciate the wonder of divine […]

For the Anniversary of the Dedication of a Church

  My husband and I went backpacking in northern Nevada in August.  We hiked up a trail that started at 8500 feet, and then left the trail and climbed over a ridge well above 10,000 feet.  We sat out a hail and thunderstorm on top of the ridge, and then climbed down the other side […]

A Pastoral Letter on Israeli Palestinian Peace

St. Paul’s Cathedral, Peoria, IL

  I spent several days recently in a small hotel in Cape Town.  My hosts in that diocese chose the Palm House, which is much beloved by visitors.  It’s a lovely old house set on a piece of land large enough to have some garden space for banquets and weddings.  It’s not fancy, but it […]