All posts by: Wil

DMX: In Memoriam

Our saints are ragged, like this world we walk upon. Our saints are broken, like the hearts that venerate them. Our saints are fleeting, like the memories that fade. Our saints are eternal, like the art they create.  Our saints are ours, like the culture those others try to steal. Our saints belong to us, we who share their wounds, their hopes, their...... Read More

Daybreak Earthquake Jailbreak at Hell’s Gate

Pleasant Hope, I was looking forward to being with you in person last year. I am grateful that we and technology found a way for me to be with you on this most holy day though I still hope for an in person visit. Know that I am praying with and for you during the...... Read More

You Can Keep That Crown: Palm Sunday

(Sermon begins 1:57:46) In the Liturgy of the Palms we read: Matthew 21:5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your sovereign is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey…’” In Isaiah 45, an optional reading for the day, we hear: 7 Thus says the Faithful One, the Redeemer of Israel, God’s holy one,...... Read More

Rainbow Theology in the Episcopal Church

[Opening remarks at the Rainbow Theology workshop of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, for March 2021. Thanks to co-panelist Patrick Cheng for use of his book cover.] Human beings contain multitudes, multiverses, like our Creator. That she, he, they, One who is three, seven, twelve, many is ultimately inarticulable yet mysteriously, in some way...... Read More

A Merry Covid Christmas

My thoughts on finding joy this Christmas season for NBC Think. ... Read More

Advent Anticipations: A Waiting Time

Let us pray: We are waiting We are waiting in the dark We are waiting in the holy darkness We are waiting in the womb of God Between this Advent and the next We wait Sunday120620 from Trinity Episcopal on Vimeo. We are waiting. We are waiting for Christmas. We are waiting for the end...... Read More

Jesus and Hagar: the Form of a Slave

Let us pray: All-Seeing God, All-Knowing God, All-Loving God, we await your coming, your presence and, your return. Amen. Hagar named the Living God who spoke to her: “You are El-ro’i”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing God?” (Genesis 16:13) [The sermon can be viewed here at the...... Read More

A Legal Perversion of Justice

Breonna Taylor's death and the lawlessness of law and order Breonna Taylor, a Black woman sleeping in her bed, was shot and killed by a white police officer who burst into her home on what is now regarded as an improper warrant. Thinking they were being robbed, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired his legal and licensed weapon in self-defense, which the police used as justification for killing her and wounding him. The verdict in the case against the officers found that, as long as someone—in this case a person outside of their home, after repeated questioning and several different responses—said that he heard the police identify themselves, then the shooting was justified, no matter that Breonna and Kenneth did not...... Read More

Jonathan Price Was Murdered and this Won’t Be the Last Time

A psalm of rage and lament to the tune of black women’s tears.... Read More

Riot Psalm

If I were to riot
I would riot against those institutions that actively harm Black people
I would riot against those businesses built on the stolen labor of Black people
I would riot against those churches built with bloodied Black hands...... Read More