Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33 I feel like I need to start today’s sermon by saying it’s been a busy week in Lake Woebegon! Not just snow days that were mild, and non-snow days that were wild, or surprising turns in the news. I also attended a couple of events this week […]

Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:917 You may not know that I have been very busy lately with some important work for our Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Our Diocese was chosen by the national church as the site for a Revival this coming fall, featuring our Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. Michael […]

Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:24-30; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8 As many of you know, I grew up in central Texas. I consider that fact a great blessing in my life—Texas is a wonderful, strange place. In the early 1990s Queen Elizabeth II came to visit our newly-elected Governor, Ann Richards. I was there for her […]

Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18   Each year at this time the lectionary turns our attention toward Christ the shepherd—the Fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday. Each year we hear a part of this 10th chapter of the gospel of John, where Jesus again and again refers to […]

Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48 Story of Moving to Indianapolis Moved from DC in 1999 – for my work Don literally cried – leaving a sophisticated east coast city for what seemed to be a simple, rather bland place Found a house in a beautiful neighborhood – lots of yard for […]

Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:102, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18 Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! I am so delighted to see you all here on this morning; and I am also so glad that finally we have arrived at Easter! This has seemed to me a particularly arduous Lent, not […]

Mark 11:1-11; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:1 – 15:47 Who is this man, this Jesus? That’s the central question of Mark’s gospel. Throughout his telling of the story of the life of Christ, again and again we encounter questions about who he is. Maybe you remember the story in chapter four of […]

Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 Believe it or not, we are on the downhill side of Lent now – it always seems to me that the Fourth Sunday in Lent marks the inevitability of Holy Week. The Church fathers and mothers thought so too – they marked this Sunday as Laetare […]

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 I have a birthday coming up—so it’s got me thinking about birthdays, and birth, and naming, and all of those things related to coming into the world. On one’s birthday it is also natural to think about one’s life to date, or to wonder about our […]

2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 150:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9 As you might imagine, preparing sermons can be a complex task. Each week I read the scriptures appointed for the Sunday, as well as several commentaries, and then I ruminate on what I’ve read: What do I have to say about these words of God? […]