A whole lot of Christmas going on! Three sets of readings for The Day (and non-liturgical eve). Christmas I: A prophet combines the theme of pregnant expectation with the hope of resurrection, irresistible to Christian readers who cannot help but to read backwards with the evangelists through the prism of the life, death and, resurrection...... Read More

2 Timothy 2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, from the line of David [and Bathsheba]; that is my gospel… (Proper 28 Year W) In the name of God: The Author, the Word and the Translator. Amen. On October 28, I had the privilege of being seated and installed as the Right Rev. Sam B....... Read More

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

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

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

Let us pray: God of fire and light who dwells in thick darkness,the light and the dark are alike to thee,open the eyes of our hearts that we might see. Amen. In the velvet darkness, darker than a thousand midnights down in a cypress swamp, this luminous darkness, this radiant blackness, the wholly black and...... Read More

Luke 13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Go! And get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘See here, I am casting out demons and restoring health today and tomorrow, and on the third I...... Read More

A sermon on the Purification of the Virgin Mary from Luke 2:22-39 Hymn of Preparation: “Home,” from the Wiz. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. For good and for ill, there’s no place like home. Sometimes we just want to go home. Sometimes we just want...... Read More

We begin with the simple historical fact that Jesus was a Jew… It is impossible for Jesus to be understood outside of the sense of community which Israel held with God… The Christian Church has tended to overlook its Judaic origins, but the fact is that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew of Palestine when...... Read More

The third episode of the History Channel’s ratings-shattering series, The Bible, moves from the Israelite scriptures of Judaism and Christianity to the New Testament added by Christians to the canon we share with Judaism. I have previously responded to some of the issues of the series here and here and here. Today I’d like to reflect...... Read More