Sensual Asceticism

Readings for the First Sunday in Lent (Year A) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday February 22, 2026. There’s a scene in C. S. Lewis’s science fiction book Perelandra in which the hero of the space novel named Ransom travels from Earth to a Paradise-like planet named Perelandra. There we watch him […]

Compassion, ash, and DAsh

Readings for Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 103 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 This homily was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025. “For he himself knows whereof we are made; he remembers that we are but dust.” Ash Wednesday often falls around my birthday. During my first year here, […]

Christos Anesti!

Readings for the Easter Vigil (Year B) Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea] Isaiah 55:1-11 [Salvation offered freely to all] Proverbs 8:1-8; 19-21; 9:4b-6 [Learn wisdom and live] 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 114Mark 16:1-8 Our readings tonight remind […]

Snake-on-a-Stick Sunday

Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday March 10, 2024. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” There’s a Facebook meme that comes around during […]