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…

It seems that Christians are obsessed with counting sheep. How often do you hear Christians of all stripes asking each other about the size of each other’s congregations? Often we hear folks asking, “How many do you have on a Sunday morning?” We marvel at so-called mega-churches. We feel good when we see a large…

A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children…(Jeremiah 31:15) One of the most heart-wrenching cries that you will ever hear in this life is the wailing of a mother over her dead child or children. More and more, television is taking us into the homes that…

The gospel for this Sunday is from Matthew, chapter 14, verses 13 to 21, and it is perhaps the best known parable of the Bible. Or is it? Well, yes and no. Yes, it is certainly well known. But no, even though it is commonly referred to as “The Parable of the Loaves and Fishes,”…

Past presiding bishops Samuel Seabury (Nov. 30, 1729–Feb. 25, 1796) Presiding Bishop by precedence, 1789–1792 Samuel Seabury was born in Groton, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College in 1748 and studied theology under his father, who was originally a Congregationalist minister and later ordained a deacon and priest in the Church of England. From 1752…

This sermon is being written the day after the massacre of eleven congregants of the Jewish temple in Pittsburgh. As we approach the end of our Christian year and focus on the reign of Christ the King, we ponder this event and many other events of violence and terror, the mayhem and madness that stalk…

RCL: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15 Genesis 9:8-17 The covenant that God establishes here is an unusual covenant. Most covenants are between two entities, with the more powerful one promising protection and provision and the less powerful one promising fealty. Here, however, God establishes a covenant with not just Noah, but…

Sometimes the expanse of centuries between when the scriptures were written and when we, in the twenty-first century, are reading them seems to disappear. The readings today that supposedly come from Wisdom and James couldn’t possibly have been written that long ago. They must have been written in our time – in our generation, or…

Exodus 16: 2-15 Often people are quick to mis-characterize the God of the Older Testament as a “wrathful God.” In today’s passage from Exodus we see again the seemingly tireless patience God continues to bestow on his “chosen” flock who so quickly return to fear and accusation even though they have experienced God’s salvation and…

Picture it: The disciples are gathered for worship, as was their custom. They’ve brought with them some bread and some wine, and perhaps some olives or a few pieces of broiled fish. They arrive at the specified location, greet one another with the kiss of peace, and then begin their simple and intimate worship service….