Pope Leo, the Skandalon and the Satanic Cross

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 […]

Attitudes that Help Us Be

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 […]

True Shepherds in Paul Sasaki and Philip Tsen

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 […]

Vida Scudder and the Showbread

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 […]

St. Michael, All Angels and Imagination

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 […]

Edward Pusey

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 […]

The Devil and Daniel (in the Rock and Bush)

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” […]

John’s Epilogue in August or “Epilogust” (Jn 21)

Throughout the month of July, I attempted to blog about each chapter of the Fourth Gospel in order to get a sufficient grasp of the Gospel as a whole. I did this as part of my preparation for designing and teaching a class on John this upcoming Spring semester at CDSP and, more importantly, as […]

A Peruvian Spirituality of Prayer and Service to the Poor

Readings for the Feast Day of St. Martin de Porres, St. Rosa de Lima and St. Toribio de Mogrovejo: Psalm 9:9-14 James 2:1–8,14–17 Mark 10:23–30 This homily was preached at All Saints Chapel at The School for Deacons Opening Eucharist on Saturday August 23, 2014. In the early 1980s, Catholic priest and spiritual author Henri Nouwen left a […]

Jeremy Taylor, Robin Williams and Holy Living

Readings for the Feast Day of Jeremy Taylor Psalm 139:1-9 Matthew 24:42-47 This homily was preached at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley CA on August 13, 2014 “God is wholly in every place, included in no place, not bound with cords except those of love” – Jeremy Taylor “It would just be nice, if heaven […]