Readings for the Feast Day of St. Alphege Today, the Episcopal Church honors St. Alphege, who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury back in the early 11th century. Sometimes called Elphege, Alfege or even Godwin (don’t ask me how Alphege becomes Godwin), this archbishop practiced non-violent resistance against the terrorists of his day: the Vikings. Through […]

Listen to Sermon Here: St Patrick Sermon Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C): Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3:4b-14 John 12:1-8 This sermon was preached at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in San Rafael CA on St. Patrick’s Day 2013. Before England was called England, when it was just an island […]

  Dear Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, For Christmas this year, I was given a book called Patches of Godlight, a collection of quotes that inspired the fictional Episcopal priest Father Tim of Jan Karon’s beloved Mitford series. The book prominently displays a quote from one of my favorite poets, the Jewish Buddhist Leonard Cohen. […]

Listen to sermon here: Transfiguration Sermon Readings for the Last Sunday after Epiphany: Exodus 34:29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36 This sermon was preached at Episcopal Church of the Nativity in San Rafael CA on Sunday February 10, 2013. About 1700 years ago, a Roman emperor imprisoned a kind-hearted priest for secretly conducting […]

INTRODUCTION: “An Arbiter Between Us” Overwhelmed with grief and coated with boils, the righteous man Job sits in ashes and laments, “There is no arbiter between us.” His comforters, who appear to offer more consolation in their silence than in their speech, understand that the “us” in Job’s complaint comprises Job and his God. Because […]

Dear Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, I hope this Ember letter finds you warm and well. I appreciate the simultaneous joy and upheaval proclaimed in the readings for this Advent season. Paul overflows with thanksgiving and blessings while Jesus and John the Baptist warn about cosmic and imminent catastrophe. The concurrence of bliss and disaster […]

This paper was presented at the University of Chicago Divinity School at the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality during the “Reading and Teaching: Spiritus as Pedagogical Resource” panel. In teaching the course Comparative Theology as Spiritual Practice, I asked my students to compare a spiritual classic from their […]

Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity – Proper 20 Track 1 (Year B) Proverbs 31 Psalm 1 James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37 This sermon was preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael CA on September 23, 2012. A Sunday school teacher asked her little children, as they were on their way to […]

Dear Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, As always, I hope this Ember letter finds you well, full of health and life. This year I am struck by the line from Isaiah in the readings for Holy Cross Day, which reads, “Thus says the LORD, Declare and present your case.” In the Hebrew Scriptures, I see […]