No Man is an Island

Readings for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25 – Year C – Track 2) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on October 26, 2025. The message of this morning’s short parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector seems fairly simple and straightforward on the surface: be wary of self-aggrandizing piety […]

St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, and Our Ereymon Topon

Readings for the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church at the Chapel of Our Merciful Saviour in Eureka CA on October 15, 2025. Today we honor St. Teresa of Avila, a Spanish Carmelite nun of the 16th century who was a reformer who founded the Discalced Carmelites and a mystic […]

The Zen of St. Francis

The Zen of St. Francis: An Episco-Bu-Jew’s Reflections on the Poverello This presentation was given at Ensō Village, Zen-inspired Retirement Community in Healdsburg CA as part of the Speaker Series on Wednesday October 8, 2025. It’s a joy and honor to be here and I’d like to thank my friend Kogen for inviting me. You […]

Sauntering with Lancelot Andrewes

Readings for the Feast of Lancelot Andrewes This reflection was shared at Sacred Saunter Outdoor Eucharist on Saturday September 27, 2025 at Sequoia Park during the Season of Creation Not to be confused with the legendary knight of Camelot, Lancelot Andrewes was a 17th century Anglican bishop and one of the founding fathers of Anglican Christianity. […]

“Hallowed Be Thy Name”: On the Road Back Home from the Trappist Abbey

Readings for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12 – Year C – Track 2) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on July 27, 2025. I preached a couple Sundays ago about something that happened to me on my way to a Trappist monastery in upstate New York. Between then and now, […]

Dancing in the Eternal Interflow of Friendship

Readings for Trinity Sunday (Year C) This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on June 15, 2025. “I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. Shall I not call God the Beautiful, who daily showeth himself so to me in his gifts?”[1] These are among the […]

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, […]

Forearmed against Trumpery

Readings for the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (Year B – Track 1 – Proper 24) Job 38:1-7, (34-41)Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37bHebrews 5:1-10Mark 10:35-45 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Sunday October 20, 2024. Over the last several weeks, I’ve been teaching a course online entitled “Early and Medieval Christian Spirituality” in […]

The Force of Humble Love

Readings for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Year B – Track 1 – Proper 22) Job 38:1-7, (34-41)Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37bHebrews 5:1-10Mark 10:35-45 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Sunday October 6, 2024. Happy St. Francis weekend! The saint’s feast day was Friday October 4th, but we Episcopalians like to celebrate […]

The Music of Our Hearts

Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year B – Track 1 – Proper 19) Proverbs 1:20-33Psalm 19James 3:1-12Mark 8:27-38 This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Sunday September 15, 2024. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our […]