“I don’t understand, but I know my God does.”- The words of Pastor Frank Pomeroy the day after a gunman killed 26 worshippers of his congregation, including his own 14-year-old daughter. “I don’t understand, but I know my God does.” When we face tragedy or loss, particularly when it comes suddenly and violently, we are […]
Sermon Topic: Christ's Resurrection
Would You Like to be Famous or Immortal?
A couple of years ago The New York Times ran an article entitled “Who’s more famous than Jesus?” (March 14, 2014) It was an article on a newly launched website called ‘Pantheon’ in which a team of designers, engineers, and scientists worked together to quantify, analyze, measure and visualize global culture. It’s fascinating; you tap […]
Evermore Give Us Faith
Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which giveth life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. For […]
Hopeful Living
For many of us it is hard to understand the feelings of those who have lost loved ones in violent circumstances. As we celebrated the mass of Resurrection only a few hours ago, a suicide bomber walked into the children’s’ area of a park in Lahore, Pakistan, where families with children were enjoying their own […]
The Wonder of Jesus
The adjective “wonderful” can be thrown around casually, as we might say “that was a wonderful paper” or “a wonderful concert,” or “I had a wonderful time.” But in its proper sense the word “wonderful” applies to something that is full of wonder, something that is a marvel, or even a bit miraculous, something that […]
I want to know Christ.
When I was first ordained, a middle-aged parishioner needed to have some complicated surgery on her leg; I went to take her Holy Communion in her home and was horrified to see what looked like scaffolding around her leg. I could not take my eyes off it – I kept glancing at the thin bars […]
Blind Bartimaeus
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Gospel of Mark is a famously swift-moving gospel. Everything happens quickly, one event after another with barely enough time for the reader to catch his breath. In today’s portion of chapter ten, in the course of just a single sentence, one […]
We Know Not When Jesus Will Come Again
The temple in Jerusalem, built under Herod, was “admirable for its massive dimensions and handsome style” [so Gundry, Mark, 735]. In today’s gospel, one of Jesus’ disciples, leaving the temple in Jerusalem with Jesus, is so impressed with the temple that he exclaims: Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! For […]
The Eternal Freshness of the Wounds of Love
“If I climb up into heaven, thou art there; if I go down to hell, thou art there also” – words from Psalm 139 which speak of the presence of God in the whole of the universe. If you were not in Church on Good Friday or Palm Sunday then, I am afraid, you are […]
The Tomb is Empty
I once had a professor who had a bad hip, and bad eyesight. His hip caused him to waddle a bit like a penguin, and his eyeglasses provided a great prop for something he did more often than he probably realized. This made him lovable, but also easily mimicked. “How you view the world,” he […]
