Blog - LiftUpYourHearts

After the First Step

Easter 4B

How do any of us ever get up and walk? “Through our own power or piety?” Peter asked rhetorically of people who had just witnessed a healing at the Jerusalem temple. Of course not. The lame man walked because of God’s grace alone. That was their lesson. But have we learned it for ourselves? Likely we didn’t get … Read the rest

What Light Breaks Open

Epiphany 5A

I can still remember the first time somebody gave me salted fruit. I was visiting a plantation in Nicaragua, and the grower cut a fresh ripe pineapple in the field. He sliced it into these bright tantalizing spears, and my mouth was watering for the tang. I was just about to take the slice from his hand when … Read the rest

Torn and Together

Advent 2A

Where do we find hope these days? In things torn down, or in things raised up? According to Matthew, the answer is yes… and yes. There’s nothing—nothing—beyond God’s redemptive reach. But the lessons we read in church during Advent seem so divisive, and the stakes seem so high, that I sometimes find it nearly impossible to see past … Read the rest

Apocalytic Hope

Proper 28C

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place… “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”

These things must take place, but, um, remember… “do … Read the rest

Lovely Feet

Sermon for the 50^th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination: Grace Cathedral. 2 November 2025 Isaiah 25:1, 4a, 6-10a and Matthew 27:50-56

If I were to open my phone to the most recent text exchanges I’ve had with Madre Anna Lange Soto, you’d notice that a lot of them have to do with choosing shoes. We pounded some pavement together … Read the rest

Take Heart: Christmas 2025

“In this world you will have trouble… but take heart!” (John 16:33)

Take heart. Whew! That feels like a high calling this year, when our heart for the vulnerable people we live among—immigrants, young people, hungry families, people needing the protection of due process—seems to take a daily blow. This means there are days when we pick up a pen … Read the rest

Love Wins.

Proper 24C

“Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and … Read the rest

A Tenth of Gratitude

Proper 23

Ten lepers healed. Shout about that miracle from the rooftops. And—Trinity Cathedral Portland—your new rooftop is looking awfully good!

In an age of high quality—if not highly accessible—medicine, it’s easy for us to forget the disaster that was chronic illness in Jesus’ time. Specifically of leprosy, a label that might have described any number of painful and debilitating … Read the rest

Good Influencers!

Proper 22C

“We have done only what we ought to have done!” That’s reassuring… sort of. At least the slaves seem to have known what they were supposed to do. Those hapless disciples, on the other hand, made what sounds like a perfectly reasonable request for greater faith, and instead, they got a rather confusing parable. All I can say … Read the rest

A Name and a Story

Proper 21C

Many years ago, when I was a brand-new priest, I was asked to be the spiritual director for a weekend retreat. The retreat, sponsored by a well-established prison ministry, was designed for women whose husbands or sons were incarcerated. This is not a population with whom I had much prior experience, but I’m a Spanish speaker and so … Read the rest

No One Can Serve Two MasterCards

Proper 20C

Some years ago, I witnessed a rather masterful preacher interpret this parable by cutting up her MasterCard in front of the congregation, and then dropping the pieces in an offering plate. “No one can serve two masters,” she reminded us, while ceremoniously depositing shards of plastic. The object lesson was both clever and shocking. I’ll certainly never forget … Read the rest