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A sermon on Mark 10:35-45 and Hebrews 5:1-10 on the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24B in the Zabriskie Memorial Church of Saint John the Evangelist on 18 October 2015 Ambition: you either have too much of it or not enough. Those who have too much are criticized for their... Read More →

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, What is man that you should be mindful of him? Psalm 8 Today we celebrate God’s glorious order of creation coming ourselves in wonder, and later bringing our beloved... Read More →

The Calling of Matthew – The Feast of St. Matthew Deacon Buck Close 20 September 2015   He saw a man sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.     The great Renaissance painter, Caravaggio, immortalized this... Read More →

Holy Cross Day 13 September 2015 John 12:31-36a Holy Cross Day is not typically a day on which the church celebrates baptisms, but it is, in fact, very appropriate to do so, because baptism does not make any sense apart from the cross. In baptism, we are buried with Christ in his... Read More →

I ascribe to what academics call a “high Christology.” I believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, the Second Person of the Trinity. I believe that he was fully human and fully divine, and as a result that Jesus was without sin the entire course of his life. In this regard I am... Read More →

All of us have “go-to guys” in our lives: those men and women we turn to whenever we have a particular need or problem. To whom do you go when your internet is down at work? That IT guy. To whom do you go when your sink backs up? That plumber guy. How about eternal life? Who’s... Read More →

The Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” To many, “them’s fightin’ words,” as they say, since it opens a can of dogmatic worms, scooped out of the rich soil of the papacy. And how tempting it would be to... Read More →

Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” This past Friday was the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits. By coincidence, as I was... Read More →

Yesterday we had a wedding in the church, with 191 people in attendance. As I stood in the Choir Room with the nervous groom and his nine (yes, nine) groomsmen, I pointed to this portrait of Peter Quire that normally hangs on the wall there and told him that July 11th was the... Read More →

One of my most memorable childhood family vacations was going to see the Redwoods in northern California. From the park rangers, I learned about the two varieties of the California Redwood: the Sequoia giganteum and the Sequoia sempervirens, members of which still hold the... Read More →