After Rome, one of the cities I miss most is Oxford, in the UK. Nowhere else I have seen the same hue of golden light reflected by the lime stone of its colleges at sunset, or been restored by more peaceful walks than those afforded by its meadows. I remember with equal fondness even the […]
Sermon Topic: Forgiveness
Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
“We are the family that love built.” Words of Bethane Middleton-Brown, the sister of the Rev. Depayne Middleton, one of the nine people killed in in a horrific shooting during a bible study held at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, ten years ago this June. The families of the nine […]
Forgiveness is Hard, Forgetting Even Harder
Last Tuesday we had a memorial Evensong for the late Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Like many present, I was struck by the homily that was given by the director of the Mountbatten Institute based here in New York, an institute that fosters international exchange and mutual understanding across different cultures. In the homily, Paul Beresford-Hill, […]
Will it be Magic, or True Love?
In 1959 the Clovers released a song about a young man who was searching for love. He goes to visit that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth down on Thirty-fourth and Vine. He told her that he had been a flop with chicks since 1956. So, she read his palm, made a magic sign, and sold […]
Learning to Minister Like Angels
On Friday, Father Austin and I had the privilege of gathering with many faith leaders from New York with Pope Francis at the 9/11-Memorial Museum for a service of reflection and prayer. It was intensely moving and very humbling. I have visited the memorial before but I had never visited the museum and I walked […]
A forgiven person forgives.
When I was young, I did not know that there were any other faiths apart from the Christian Religion; I had never met a black person; I had never travelled abroad; our most exotic food at home was grapefruit served as a starter; I was told that Roman Catholics were not Christians and that gay […]
The World Could Not Hold All the Books of Jesus
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The final words of Saint John’s Gospel: There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written [Jn 21:25]. These words have troubled some commentators (so Raymond […]
We are the family that love built.
Note: On June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Nine people were shot and killed, including the senior pastor; the horror of this reverberated throughout the United States. “We are the family that love built.” Words of Bethane Middleton-Brown, the sister […]
And Forgive Us Our Trespasses...
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Over the forty years of my life as a priest, the issues raised by this sentence in the Lord’s Prayer have been among those matters most regularly […]
Penitence
In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. I’m trying not to take it personally that I’ve been assigned the Sunday when we talk about penitence. But I can’t help but wonder: is it because I’m seen as especially familiar with repentance? Or more pointedly: that I should be especially familiar with […]
