Sensual Asceticism

Readings for the First Sunday in Lent This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday February 22, 2025. There’s a scene in C. S. Lewis’s science fiction book Perelandra in which the hero of the space novel named Ransom travels from Earth to a Paradise-like planet named Perelandra. There we watch him walking through […]

The Mysterious Conversion of St. Francis

Readings for Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 103 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 This homily was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Ha pater sou ha blepon en to krypto apodosei soi. Your Father (pater) who sees […]

Thomas Merton & Anglicanism

“The best of Anglicanism is unexcelled” – Thomas Merton Thomas Merton was baptized Anglican, grew up Episcopalian, and later became perhaps the most influential Christian mystic of the 20th century, whose writings and spirituality still inspire Episcopalians and Anglicans today. Baptized in the Church of England while living in France and raised in the Episcopal […]

It Is Good for us to Be Here

Readings for the Last Sunday after Epiphany (Transfiguration) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Shrove Sunday February 15, 2025. “It is good to be here. It is good for us to be here.” During an ecumenical event in Sacramento last month, Roman Catholic priest and Executive Director of the Interfaith Peace Project Fr. […]

Our Luminosity: Rector’s Report on 2025

Readings for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday February 8, 2025. On Saturday January 31st , I made a visit to one of our local record stores, where I purchased the vinyl soundtrack of the 1982 film Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley, with music by Indian composer Ravi […]

Christian Unity Based on a Question

This article was published in the Times-Standard on Saturday February 7, 2026 as “A Question to Propel Us Toward True Christian Unity” By the Rev. Daniel DeForest London, Ph.D. The week of Jan. 18 to 25 was the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a week bookended by the Feast of the Confession of St. […]

Q: How Long? A: Behold, the Lamb of God!

Readings for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on January 18, 2026. In March of 1983, the Irish Rock band U2 released their third album, titled “War”; and the opening track of the album is called “Sunday Bloody Sunday” which describes the horrors of the decades-long […]

Our Baptism, Belovedness and Behavior

Readings for the First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of Our Lord This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on January 11, 2026. Today is the feast day of the Baptism of Our Lord (when we baptize Theodore Alex Zheng); it is also the 12th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, […]

An Epiphany Sermon inspired by Lancelot Andrews and T. S. Eliot

Readings for the Feast of the Epiphany This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on January 6, 2026. Since we celebrated his feast day in September during a Sacred Saunter, I’ve been regularly praying the Private Devotions of Lancelot Andrewes, the 17th century Anglican bishop who is responsible for translating the King James […]

The Magi as Proto-Anglicans

Readings for the Second Sunday after Christmas Day This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on January 4, 2026. Happy Eleventh Day of Christmas! Tomorrow night will be this season’s Twelfth Night, which is the name of that Shakespeare comedy in which the character Duke Orsino says, “If music be the food of […]