The First Sacred Saunter: The Road to Emmaus

Readings for the Third Sunday of Easter (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Sunday April 23, 2023. Last Sunday was Holy Humor Sunday, but the Easter laughter (the risus paschalis) persists in today’s Gospel reading in which Jesus seems to play a kind of practical joke on the disciples […]

Touch the Body of Christ: “Let Him Easter In Us”

Readings for Easter Sunday (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Easter Sunday April 9, 2023. Happy Easter! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! ALLELUIA! Throughout this Lenten season we’ve engaged our senses by listening to the wind with Nicodemus, by savoring the water with the Samaritan woman, […]

Wade in the Water: An Easter Vigil Sermon

Readings for the Easter Vigil (Year A) Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea]Isaiah 55:1-11 [Salvation offered freely to all]Ezekiel 36:24-28 [A new heart and a new spirit]Zephaniah 3:14-20 [The gathering of God’s people] Romans 6:3-11Psalm 114Matthew 28:1-10 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA at the Great Vigil of Easter […]

The Cross and an Interfaith Friendship: A Good Friday Homily

Readings for Good Friday Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Psalm 22 Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 John 19:1-37 This sermon was preached on Good Friday at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on April 7, 2023. The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John, which we just heard, has tragically been used by Christians throughout history to justify anti-Jewish violence. […]

Holy Monday Reflection: “More Clearly, Dearly, and Nearly”

This reflection was offered at the Christ Church Eureka Centering Prayer group on Holy Monday, April 3, 2023 Today is Holy Monday and it is also the feast day of St. Richard of Chichester, a 13th century missionary bishop who served poor fishermen and farmers throughout England and who died 770 years ago today, on April […]

The Episcopal Church (1888 – 2022)

A brief introduction to The Episcopal Church (1888 – 2022) for the Anglican Cycle of Prayer From 1880 to 1920, the American population would swell from 50 million to 105 million; and this dramatic increase in population brought with it a series of social and economic problems associated with urbanization, industrialization, an economic depression, and dangerous working […]

The Episcopal Church (1792 – 1888)

A brief introduction to The Episcopal Church (1792 – 1888) for the Anglican Cycle of Prayer By the end of the eighteenth century, the Protestant Episcopal Church had become one church among several others in the states. In 1817, the General Convention of the church established the General Theological Seminary in New York, the oldest seminary in […]

The Episcopal Church (1579 – 1792)

A brief introduction to The Episcopal Church (1579 – 1792) for the Anglican Cycle of Prayer The first recorded worship service using the English Book of Common Prayer on American soil was led by Francis Fletcher, the chaplain of Sir Francis Drake on the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist in 1579. Today, there is […]

Listening for Divine Truth with F. D. Maurice

Readings for the Feast Day of F. D. Maurice This reflection was shared at Sacred Saunter Outdoor Eucharist on Saturday April 1, 2023 at Sequoia Park in Eureka. Today’s Gospel concludes with Jesus saying to Pilate, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” After this, Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” A […]