Katharine Jefferts Schori
Historically Black Colleges and Universities Recognition
What joy is here this morning! Joy like we’ve just experienced in song and praise is a mark of being fully alive. The presence of joy is a sign of abundant life. We’re here to celebrate education as a vitally important resource for abundant life – not only for students, but for the world around […]
Women of Equity: 50/50 in 2020
I am deeply humbled to have been invited here tonight, and I’m also delighted at the opportunity to reflect with you about leadership. I believe that the fundamental meaning of that word is being an agent of change. We don’t yet live in the world we yearn for, and therefore change is required. Leaders gather […]
Alexander Crummell – Diocese of Iowa Clergy Day
We are in the midst of an ongoing conversation about leadership – in this nation, globally, and in the Church. We are consumed with worry about Syria, about the economic state of this nation and the world, and about the health and sickness in most human systems and systems of creation. We live with an […]
Proper 18C – St. Andrew’s
Are you possessed? Possession isn’t just something that happened to a few sorry souls in Jesus’ day. That’s really what’s going on in alcoholism or other addictions. People are driven by the need to get something and maintain a supply of it, and sometimes they’re willing to do almost anything to satisfy that need. That’s […]
30th Anniversary of Jubilee Ministry
Well, Labor Day is behind us, and school has started in most places, and the usual reports are starting to roll in about “what I did on my summer vacation.” I remember a math teacher in junior high insisting that vacations were times to do what you don’t normally do. In his case, it meant, […]
Greeting for the 25th Anniversary of the ELCA General Assembly
I bring you greetings from the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, which has been the formal name of The Episcopal Church for nearly 200 years. Early in our history in the fledgling United States, we began to send missionaries to other parts of the world and to other sovereign indigenous nations in these lands. As […]
Proper 12C – St. Stephen’s
I met a character named “Flat Stanley” a couple of years ago. One of the people in my office had a friend who asked me to pose for a picture with Flat Stanley. Stanley is a paper doll who travels with people or is sent by mail to other parts of the world. His travels […]
St. Peter's- Confirmation/Eucharist
It’s been a long journey to this place. The last few days have been filled with travel challenges, and it is very good to be here. We’re all on a journey, whether we make our home right here or a long way from here or in several places around the world. Jesus’ early community of […]
Macrina – Southwestern Virginia Clergy and Spouse gathering
There is a remarkable trio of bakeries in Seattle that feature breads and baked goods that combine the best grains, fruits, and produce of the Northwest with Old World breadmaking and pastry techniques – slow ones, that depend on wild yeast and local ingredients. The owner has this to say about her work, “In the […]
Proper 11C – Confirmation and Reception
I went to a farmer’s market last week, and found it filled with fruit, greens, and root vegetables of both expected varieties and unusual ones. I bought a basket of tiny sweet raspberries and some greens of a sort I’d never tried before, and several other things, and enjoyed their bounty through the next few […]