As I often do, last week I tweaked the blog post I wrote for St. James's (about why I rarely set aside solitary, focused time to pray and read the Bible) and posted it on my Patheos blog. It became, ...
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Trinity Sunday AWhat does it mean to be made in God’s image?The concept of imago dei (“image of God” in Latin) comes from the beginning of Genesis in one of the creation stories. God makes people on the sixth ...
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While I grew up in the Episcopal Church (right here at St. James's from about age 11), I didn't start thinking proactively about my Christian faith until I got involved with an evangelical fellowship in college. I learned a lot of ...
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Spiritual Gifts Don't Exist in a Vacuum

Pentecost A Jesus ascended into the clouds not so long ago. Before he did, he told us that the Holy Spirit would soon come to empower us that we would be witnesses to the whole world. Then came the Holy ...
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I was gratified to read in the New York Times last week that Norman Rockwell's paintings, derided as mere magazine illustration instead of true art by many critics, are finally getting recognized by both critics and collectors as truly fine ...
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Easter 7A “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel?” “Are we there yet?” “I’m hungry.” “I have to pee.” Do you think Jesus slapped his forehead as he ascended into the clouds? He has spent so much ...
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Consider for a moment whether today's annual Memorial Day Strawberry Festival is evangelism."Evangelism" is such a difficult, uncomfortable word for most Episcopalians that every preacher who ever uses the word in a sermon makes note of how difficult and ...
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Easter 6A When I visited Las Vegas for the first time last October, I stood on the strip and marveled at the awesomeness of Caesar’s Palace, the magnificence of the Venetian, and the size of everything in this bizarre m ...
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It always surprises me how frequently some Internet commenter, on my blog or someone else's, says that s/he is a Christian but doesn't go to church. It happened again this week, when a gentleman (ahem) firmly berated me and ...
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Easter 4A “I don’t get it.” The child sits there quite sullenly, math homework strewn across the kitchen table. “Yes you do,” Mom says encouragingly. Remember when we laid out thirty straws, and how you put them in groups of ten, a ...
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