Readings for the Second Sunday after Christmas Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 84 Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a Luke 2:41-52 This sermon was preached by Daniel at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Crockett CA on January 4, 2015. According to Jewish tradition, at a time when Jesus was a young boy, there were two famous rabbis teaching in Jerusalem, Hillel and […]

Gospel for the First Friday of Advent Matthew 9:27-31 This open-ended homily was preached by Daniel at All Saints Chapel at Church Divinity School of the Pacific on Friday December 5, 2014.  Throughout the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus charges his followers several times to keep their lips sealed about his miracles, healings and messianic identity (Mark 8:29-30). In this morning’s Gospel, […]

Readings for the First Sunday of Advent (Year B) Isaiah 64:1-9 Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 This sermon was preached at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in San Rafael CA on November 30, 2014. Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre […]

Readings for Monday of Week of Proper 27 (HWHM) Titus 1:1-9 Psalm 24:1-6 Luke 17:1-6 This homily was preached by Daniel at All Saints Chapel at Church Divinity School of the Pacific on Monday November 10, 2014.  The word skandalon and its verb form skandalizo appear 44 times in the New Testament, which compels many commentators to assert […]

Readings for the Feast of All Saints  Revelation 7:9-12 Psalm 34:1-10, 22 1 John 3:1-3 Matthew 5:1-12 This sermon was preached at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Crockett CA on November 2, 2014. In Thornton Wilder’s famous play Our Town, one of the main characters Emily dies in childbirth and enters an afterlife in which dead souls sit […]

Readings for the Feast Day of Paul Shinji Sasaki and Philip Lindel Tsen: Ezekiel 34:22-31 Psalm 20 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 John 10:11-15 This open-ended homily was preached by Daniel at All Saints Chapel at Church Divinity School of the Pacific on Friday October 31, 2014.  Most scholars agree that the most bizarre, obscure, incoherent and offensively pornographic […]

Readings for the Feast Day of Vida Dutton Scudder: Isaiah 11:1-10 Psalm 25:1-14 John 6:37-51 This open-ended homily was preached by Daniel at All Saints Chapel at Church Divinity School of the Pacific on Friday October 10, 2014.  According to the Jewish Talmud, the Jewish high priests would keep 12 loaves of bread in the Holy of […]

This sermon was preached at All Saints Chapel at Church Divinity School of the Pacific on Monday September 29, 2014.  Readings for the Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels Genesis 28:10-17 Psalm 103:19-22 John 1:43-51 “The true sign of intelligence,” according to Albert Einstein, “is not knowledge but imagination.” The presence of angels […]

Readings for the Feast Day of Edward Bouverie Pusey: Ezekiel 36:24-28 Psalm 84:7-12 1 Peter 2:19-23 Luke 3:10-14 This sermon was preached at All Saints Chapel on Community Night at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley CA on September 18, 2014. Ever since I was 12 years old, when I was first introduced to Thomas […]

Readings for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17 Year A): Exodus 3:1-15 Psalm 105: 1-6, 23-26, 45c Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28 This sermon was preached at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Crockett CA on August 31, 2014. In the 1930s American author Stephen Vincent Benét wrote a short story called “The Devil and Daniel Webster” […]