[RCL] Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2 or Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9 On this last Sunday of the Epiphany season, we are struck by glimpses of glory emanating from two occasions of theophany found in today’s lectionary. As with the heat and light of the sun, we know its effects, but we can’t get…

[RCL]: Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2 or Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9 Over the course of the liturgical year, we make our way through the Gospel, hearing the accounts of Jesus’ ministry from birth, to life, to death, to life eternal. On the first Sunday of the season after Epiphany, we encounter Jesus at…

The Last Sunday After the Epiphany, Transfiguration Sunday, is also World Mission Sunday. How appropriate. “Mission” is derived from the Latin word mittere, which means “to send.” It entered the Christian lexicon in the 16th century during the Age of Discovery and the expansion of imperialistic European power to the “New World.” However, the concept of…

[NOTE: In celebration of World Mission Sunday, the following sermon is written as a first-person account by a missionary in Tanzania, Africa.] I am a missionary in Tanzania. When people hear this, they usually have one of three reactions: “You must be a saint”; “I didn’t know the Episcopal Church had missionaries”; or “I’d like…

Episcopalians get it about glory; that the glory of God is the hidden flesh-and-blood truth about everybody, everywhere. Therefore proclaiming the glory of the incarnation is the business we are in. Which is to say that we – every parish, diocese, province, person – are in the business of healing, and feeding, and serving, and…

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for…

“In the thick of this thing called life…weighing the loss and counting the cost—together” What in the world can September 11th teach us about companionship in mission? Good question. It is right up there with what use can hardship, suffering, dying and evil be to God’s presence and work in our lives. Reams of paper,…

I love tales of the supernatural. Perhaps it’s because my mother wouldn’t allow me to watch them when I was younger. All it took was the first telltale strains of the theme music from “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” or “The Twilight Zone” to emerge from the TV set, and immediately my head flew up from the…