Whitney Rice
The Rev. Canon Whitney Rice (she/her/hers) is an Episcopal priest who serves as the Canon for Evangelism & Discipleship Development for the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. She is a graduate of Yale Divinity School, where she won the Yale University Charles S. Mersick Prize for Public Address and Preaching and the Yale University E. William Muehl Award for Excellence in Preaching. She has taught undergraduate courses at the University of Indianapolis and has contributed to Lectionary Homiletics, the Young Clergy Women’s Project journal Fidelia’s Sisters, and other publications. She has served as a researcher and community ministry grant consultant for the Indianapolis Center for Congregations and is currently a member of The Episcopal Church’s Evangelism Council of Advice. A communicator of the gospel at heart, she writes and teaches on a wide variety of topics, including rethinking evangelism, stewardship, leadership, women’s theology of the body, mysticism, and spiritual development. When she’s not thinking about theology, particularly the intersection of evangelism and justice work (which is all the time, seriously), you’ll find her swing dancing. Find more of her work at her website Roof Crashers & Hem Grabbers (www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com).
Sermons and Bible Studies
What Happens After the Miracle?, Christmas 1 – December 28, 2025
[RCL] Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147; Galatians 3:23-25;4:4-7; John 1:1-18 Let’s start with the obvious: for many people, it’s not really clear why we’re here in church today. We’ve just come off a great festival of Christmas services, with music and candles and all the spectacle you could ever want. So we have to ask the […]
Counting the Cost, Proper 18 (C) – 2025
[RCL] Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33 Our gospel today begins with some of Jesus’ most controversial words in the New Testament. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” That sounds pretty intimidating! […]
Proving Scripture Wrong, Palm Sunday (C) – 2025
[RCL] Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49 Palm Sunday is an invitation of the most extreme kind. If you picture a polite and proper written invitation to an important event, it’s usually on pretty, white paper and arrives quietly in your mailbox with a diffident request for an RSVP. Palm […]
In the Beginning…, 1 Christmas – 2024
[RCL] Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147 or 147:13-21; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; John 1:1-18 The first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John are certainly well-known—“In the beginning was the Word.” But this passage can seem too floaty, too esoteric, too obscure, abstract, and idealized. It’s poetry, yes, but it’s not particularly helpful poetry, and when we […]
God’s Joy Is Justice, Advent 3 (C) – 2024
[RCL] Zephaniah 3:14-20; Canticle 9; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18 This sermon is also available as part of a compilation of all the sermons for Advent and Christmas this year. Within that document, which you can find at sermonsthatwork.org, you’ll find some study questions that you can use by yourself, with your small group, or with your […]
To the End and Beyond, Monday in Holy Week – 2024
[RCL] Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 36:5-11; Hebrews 9:11-15; John 12:1-11 We return, as we always do on Monday of Holy Week, to the little house in Bethany. Ears still ringing from the raucous crowds thronging the streets of Jerusalem yesterday on Palm Sunday, perhaps our own voices are hoarse from shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of […]
Let Go Into Jesus, Tuesday in Holy Week – 2023
[RCL] Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 71:1-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; John 12:20-36 Being there for one another in times of trouble is harder than it appears on the surface. We often define a friend as someone who will be there for us when we need them, but what does that really mean? Our first instinct when something […]
Who Counts at Christmas?, Christmas Day (II) – 2022
[RCL] Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7)8-20 We begin the story of Christmas with a sentence from scripture that’s not quite true. “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.” Well, almost all the world. Everyone who had some kind of position in society, […]
The Cross Defeats Shame, Wednesday in Holy Week –2022
[RCL] Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 70; Hebrews 12:1-3; John 13:21-32 As we continue our journey through Holy Week, our attempt to be faithful to Jesus in his hour of need, we need to ask: what prevents us from following him? What drives us away from his presence? What keeps us from living up to our aspirations […]
Bible Study: Advent 1 (B) – 2020
RCL: Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 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 compilation for individual, small […]
Waiting Upon the Lord, Advent 1 (B) – 2020
[RCL] Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 Waiting is the hardest thing to do because it feels like you’re not doing anything. And it seems twice as hard when you’re young. When we’re children, Christmas always seems eons away and we think the end of school or our birthday will never […]
The Gate, Easter 4 (A) – May 3, 2020
[RCL]: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10 Even though we are in the season of Easter, our lives may still feel like one long Lenten discipline of social distancing and fighting illness. Even as we proclaim the truth of Easter resurrection, Good Friday’s shadow still looms long. We know that Jesus, the […]
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