Last June and July the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church was convened in Salt Lake City. You may have heard some of the news from there: Michael Curry was elected our Presiding Bishop, marriage equality was affirmed, the triennial budget was passed with significant new investments in evangelism and racial reconciliation. This was the official … Read the rest
Continue reading "Dealing in Purple" »Tag: Bible
Waiting on Gospel Wine
Three weeks ago yesterday I was at a wedding. At The Bishop’s Ranch, which is a pretty special thing because the Ranch normally doesn’t host weddings. For those of you who may not yet be familiar with it, The Bishop’s Ranch is an Episcopal camp and retreat center in the heart of the Sonoma County wine country. … Read the rest
Continue reading "Waiting on Gospel Wine" »Pretenders to the Throne
I’ve been away from St. Stephen’s a lot recently, so unless you’re directly involved in adult education—which is part of my diocesan day job and mostly what I’m called to do here—I’ve been missing you. But there’s a lot of great new adult classes starting soon, so stay tuned for opportunities to grow in faith. We’ll have … Read the rest
Continue reading "Pretenders to the Throne" »Wisdom in All the Wrong Places
Who is wise and understanding among you?
The letter of James poses that question rhetorically, because the author already has an answer ready for us: “wisdom… is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” If that’s what you’re like, you are indeed wise. But … Read the rest
Continue reading "Wisdom in All the Wrong Places" »The Bewildering Word
One of the privileges of serving our diocesan community in the area of Christian formation—which is my day job—is that I get to work with a lot of young people who are really passionate about faith. They constantly inspire me to imagine and to work for a the kingdom of God. But I pray for them continually, because … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Bewildering Word" »The Front Matter and the Foundation
Advent 1B 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lor
d Jesus Christ. I’ve always wanted to say that to a congregation. I’m a relatively new priest and its still kind of a holy surprise to speak the words spoken by apostles who went before me.
We heard this greeting near the beginning … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Front Matter and the Foundation" »Proof Texting
Today was the last day of training for the new Stephen Ministers at St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church. I was privileged to be part of the training team for these lay caregivers, and so I’m already grieving the goodbyes soon to come (after tomorrow’s festive commissioning) as I move on to new ministries.
Wanting to send my trainees … Read the rest
Continue reading "Proof Texting" »Inevitable Crisis and Unlimited Forgiveness
This past week, almost 130 priests and deacons from the Diocese of California gathered at the Bishop’s Ranch to listen to, learn from and pray with our central sacred texts—the four canonical gospels—in ancient and fresh ways. Alexander John Shaia, a psychologist and scripture scholar who led this year’s clergy retreat, offered us a way … Read the rest
Living Sacrifice and Holy Lives
One of the most persistent puzzles of cognitive science is what’s called the “cocktail party effect,” which for us could just as well be called the coffee hour effect. It’s the ability we human beings have to single out and listen to a particular voice in a room buzzing with many voices, and its … Read the rest
Fear of Feeding
Allow me the liberty of beginning with a disclaimer. I’ve been a priest for all of six weeks now, and every Sunday it still feels brand new. Which means you may have to bear with my learning, but you also get the benefit of my complete and shameless joy in the new job. And, lest you’ve never … Read the rest