John 14:6-15 When Bonnie asked me to come here to preach on the Feast of St. Augustine, I started looking for stories about your patron saint. Most of stories I found are ones you already know, but there is one story that dates back to his youth, when his mother, Monica, wanted him to embrace the Christian faith in which he was raised and become a priest. Augustine, we all know, had other ideas. The official biographies, which I think you well know, tell the story of how he left home to teach rhetoric. The unofficial biography … [Read more...]
Gospel-worthy
September 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Philippians 1:21-30 The House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church is meeting in Quito, Ecuador, this week. One hundred and sixteen bishops from the 109 dioceses spread out over 16 nations have gathered to pray, to learn … and to think … One thing they were asked to think about came from Don Compier, a liberation theologian who recounted to the bishops a recent conversation he had had. Compier told them that “he was recently asked by someone in another denomination: ‘If you care about the poor, why are you an Episcopalian? Aren’t you just interested … [Read more...]
Extravagant forgiveness, extravagant love
September 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Matthew 18:21-22 How many of you have found yourself weeping this week? How many of you have found yourself turning off your televisions and radios, turning past stories in the newspaper, skipping the Facebook comments … … because you just can’t go there again? Ten years after the horrible tragedies of 9/11, many of us, myself included, are still filled with grief. We have moved on from the immediate shock, from the numbness, from the piercing pain that came with the attacks. But we are still filled with grief. • • • This morning’s Gospel lesson from Matthew … [Read more...]
You are invited to the dance … whatchya gonna do?
September 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The keynote address at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, College Park, Md., at their Homecoming Dinner, 10 September 2011. A story from the 2nd century after Christ, of two monks in the Egyptian desert: A disciple went to Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I am able, I keep my little rule, my little fast and my little prayer. I strive to cleanse my mind of all evils thoughts and my heart of all evil intents. Now, what more should I do?”Abba Joseph rose up and stretched his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He answered, “Why not be transformed … [Read more...]
