The portion of this scripture must be read in conjunction with the section of Acts 17 where Paul’s work in the city is first mentioned. Paul and Silas had left Philippi where they had established a church, and where they had had such dramatic encounters in jail and in the agora, the marketplace, and had…

Note: Biblical quotations are from the NRSV except for the Psalm quotations which are from BCP. Bible study is something we Episcopalians think is good for us, but oftentimes we avoid it like Cod Liver Oil. I want to begin this morning describing a Bible study format being used in this great church of ours….

“My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He plowed it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines.” A vineyard was then, is now, and will always be great deal of work. Cultivated grapevines and must be carefully pruned and trained to grow in a position that makes the…

We encounter a couple of real charmers in today’s Gospel! The kind of boys I’d rather not have around my house. The second son reminds me of the Auto Mechanic who “promises” to have your car ready in four hours and when you go back to pick it up, he hasn’t even looked at it,…

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard The Scripture today resonates with the challenge, “Come, labor on.” It has been said that we are what we do all day so that’s probably why we so often ask people we have just met, “What is it that you do?” In fact, our labor has such…

Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21 [From almost the day she learned to walk, my daughter Elizabeth created an extension…

Several years ago, thirty members of the Council of Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission held their annual meeting in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Their subject matter was culture and social justice, and so they arranged for a workshop of liberation theology and its local expression in Cuernavaca. On a hot April afternoon they were led across…

Do you believe in miracles? Well, that’s what we have come to celebrate today: the miracles of Saint David Pendleton Oakerhater, the only Native American on our calendar of saints. Like all good saints, Saint David Oakerhater has miraculous events attached to his name: wonderful acts God performed through him that really do defy our…