Walking in the Light

Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter (Year B) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on April 7, 2024. As we continue our celebration of the Resurrection throughout the fifty days of Eastertide, our lectionary offers us readings from the first Epistle of St. John, which exhorts us to turn away from […]

David, Valerie, and the Vena amoris

Readings for the Wedding of Valerie Jean Budig Markin and David Arthur Tschoepe Song of Solomon 2:10 – 13; 8:6 – 7 Psalm 67 Tobit 8:5b – 8 1 Corinthians 13:1 – 13 John 15:9 – 12 This sermon was preached at the Wedding of David and Valerie on Saturday January 20, 2024 at Christ Episcopal […]

Baptismal Covenant Epiphanies (From Karl Barth and beyond)

Readings for the First Sunday after the Epiphany This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday January 7, 2024. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, when we read again portions from the Gospel of Mark that we heard back on the Second Sunday of Advent, when the camel-haired beast […]

Affirming “Brother Ass”

Readings for the First Sunday after Christmas Day This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday December 31, 2023. 800 years ago, a 41-year-old deacon travelled to the Italian town of Greccio, where he pondered the mystery of Christmas expressed in the words of the Gospel we just heard read. Although his younger years […]

St. John, Celtic Spirituality, and the Heart Sense

Readings for the Feast of the Christ Mass This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka for the Christmas Day service on Sunday December 25, 2023. Merry Christmas! In the ninth century, the brilliant Celtic theologian John Scotus Eriugena (815–877) wrote a homily on the Gospel we just heard read, a homily that has been called […]

The Heavenly Peace of Silent Night

Readings for the Feast of the Christ Mass This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka for the Christmas Eve service on Saturday December 24, 2023. Merry Christmas! Some authors have argued that the spiritual character and contribution of each Christian denomination can be represented well with a great feast day of the church, claiming that […]

Metta Force Be With You

This article was written for the January 2024 Chronicle newsletter for Christ Church Eureka. 2023 is a significant year for me as I celebrate my 40th birthday, my 5-year anniversary at Christ Church Eureka, and begin my 10th year as an Episcopal priest. I was ordained to the priesthood in early January on the Eve of the […]

Seabury and the Patriotic Practice of Stewardship

This article was written for the October 2022 Chronicle newsletter for Christ Church Eureka. This March will be the 240th anniversary of the election of the first Episcopal bishop Samuel Seabury, the namesake of one of my Yorkies. The first Anglican worship service held on American soil took place in California in 1579, but Seabury wasn’t […]

Salt the Earth with the Fire of Love

Readings for the Wedding of Raymond Kevin O’Connor Jr. and Wÿnanda Heyward Bulkley Armas: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7 Colossians 3:12-17 Matthew 5:13-16 This sermon was preached at the Wedding of Kevin and Wÿnanda on Saturday September 1, 2018 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, CA I speak in the Name of God the Creator, […]