Christ’s Non-Judgmental Ministry of Presence

Readings for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8 Year B) 2 Samuel 1, 17-27 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43 This sermon was preached at Grace Episcopal Church in Martinez CA on June 28, 2015. About a decade ago, I worked as an interfaith chaplain at the San Francisco General Hospital, mostly ministering to patients in the […]

Waking Up Christ Inside Out

Readings for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7 Year B) Job 38:1-11 Psalm 107:1-3, 23 -32 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Mark 4:35-41 This sermon was preached at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Crockett CA on June 21, 2015. A couple days ago I watched a fantastic animated film called Inside Out, which creatively portrays the emotional life of […]

Trusting in the Slow Work of God

Readings for the Third Sunday of Pentecost (Proper 6 Year B) 1 Samuel 15:34 – 16:13 Psalm 20 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17 Mark 4:26-34 This sermon was preached at Grace Episcopal Church in Martinez CA on June 14, 2015. Six years ago, I preached my first sermon in an Episcopal church on today’s Gospel parables about […]

A Caldera of Grace

Readings for the Second Sunday of Pentecost (Proper 5 Year B Track 1): 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) Psalm 138 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 Mark 3:20-35 This sermon was preached at Grace Episcopal Church in Martinez CA on June 7, 2015. Thousands of years before Moses received the Torah from Mt. Sinai, there was a massive explosion about […]

Sympathy for MacPhisto: Finding Apocatastasis in U2

A couple weeks ago, I attended my fifth U2 concert, which inspired me to dust off an old paper that I wrote for a course in seminary. The course was titled “The Spiritual Journey of U2” and it was co-taught by Professors Barry Taylor and Ryan Bolger at the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological […]