Image credit:  Christa by Edwina Sandys Let us pray: God of our mothers, Hagar, Sarah and Keturah, fold us under the shelter of your wings with all your children of every race and every faith. Amen. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have...... Read More

Let us pray: God who dreams in flesh and blood, teach us to respond to the cries of your people with justice, compassion and unfailing hope. Amen. God told Moses to say: I have heard the cry of the Israelites and I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them, press them, squeeze them. Exodus 3:9...... Read More

Madonna and Child, Laura James Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. In the beginning… Those words mark the beginning of the story of our faith. In the beginning God… At the birth of all things when nothing yet was birthed, there was God pregnant with all creation. In the...... Read More

Love. Sex. Money. Power. Death. All of these things are present in and behind our lessons, particularly the first two, especially if you know where to look. Let us look with eyes wide open at the treasure house of the scriptures and see what they have to say to us across the expanse of time,...... Read More

1 Kings 8:41 And, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when such a one comes from a faraway land because of your Name— 42 For they shall hear of your great Name, and your powerful hand and your outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, 43 you, you...... Read More

Our first lesson could easily be and should be translated: 2 Sam 11:4 David sent emissaries to kidnap Bathsheba and she came to him then he raped her. Then she cleansed herself from her defilement and returned to her house. 5 [After some time] the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am...... Read More

My farewell sermon at the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. (I decided to publish this unchanged because I believe this is a fit word for today.) I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your daughters and your sons shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions, and your elder men shall...... Read More

[Holding the Ethiopian Israelis in prayer as they fight racism in their country. Their uprising came after I finished the sermon.] The Psalmist cried out: God did not despise or detest the affliction of the afflicted. God did not hide God’s face from me. God heard when I cried out to God. That doesn’t always...... Read More

 As we begin our Lenten pilgrimage, my theme is the borrowed title of Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple. Because I do believe that “it pisses God off if you pass by the color purple and don’t even notice,” I chose a text that I know no one ever preaches for Lent, if at...... Read More

(Image of Assyrians torturing Israelites from Lachish, 6th century BCE Turn That Motha Out Jonah 3:1 The word of the FAITHFUL ONE came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 “Get up, get yourself to Nineveh, that great city and proclaim to it the proclamation that I speak to you.” 4 Jonah…  preached and said,...... Read More