Joseph S. Pagano
The Rev. Joseph S. Pagano is an Episcopal priest living in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. He is co-editor of Common Prayer: Reflections on Episcopal Worship and Saving Words: 20 Redemptive Words Worth Rescuing.
Sermons and Bible Studies
When We Want to Talk…, Easter 3 (A) – 2011
When we want to talk about something or someone we know truly or deeply, we often resort to the language of the heart. Helen Keller said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” In Measure for Measure, Shakespeare wrote, “Go […]
In a Recent Essay…, Easter Day (C) – 2010
In a recent essay, Nora Gallagher talks about practicing resurrection. It is a splendid phrase, âpracticing resurrection.â She wonders whether we spend too much time in the church discussing whether we believe in the resurrection or do not believe in the resurrection. By doing this, she thinks, we may miss the point. She writes: âWhen […]
Where Prayer Has Been Valid…, Proper 28 (B) – 2009
In T. S. Eliot’s poem, “The Four Quartets,” he talks about going to a church at Little Gidding, the site of a small Anglican religious community founded in the seventeenth century. Eliot writes, “You are not here to verify, instruct yourself, or inform curiosity or carry report. You are here to kneel where prayer has […]
We Are In Many Ways…, Proper 11 (B) – 2009
We are in many ways a weary people. Literally and figuratively, we are tired. A survey conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that 47 million American adults suffer from sleep deprivation. Thatâs almost a quarter of the adult population in America. Thatâs a lot of weary people. And it is a serious problem. Fatigue […]
Let Him Easter in Us, Great Vigil of Easter (B) – 2009
Gerard Manley Hopkins has a wonderful poem, âThe Wreck of the Deutschland,â where he uses the phrase âLet him Easter in us.â In this phrase, he uses the noun Easter as a verb. Hopkins writes, âLet him Easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us.â It is a splendid phrase. It is […]
The Grammy Award-Winning Singer, Thanksgiving Day (A) – 2008
The Grammy-award-winning singer Mary Chapin Carpenter recently suffered a pulmonary embolism. She was admitted to an emergency room after experiencing terrible chest pain. A scan revealed blood clots in her lungs. People told her that she should feel lucky because a pulmonary embolism can be fatal. But instead of feeling lucky, she fell into a […]
What Is a Home?, Easter 5 (A) – 2008
What is a home? When you think of the word or image or idea of a home, what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of a building, made with wood and plaster, or brick and mortar. Perhaps you think of home as a shelter from the storm, a place of refuge. Perhaps when you hear […]
Every Person Who Is Born…, Proper 25 (C) – 2007
Every person who is born into this world, who lives and learns and grows, who works and worships and plays, who grays and grows old and dies, has one fundamental question that underlies his or her whole life: âDo you love me?â We are created for connection: connection with others, connection with the universe, and […]
Of All the Issues…, Proper 16 (C) – 2007
Of all the issues facing the church 120 years ago, one that was considered so pressing that it was addressed by bishops throughout the Anglican Communion at the Lambeth Conference of 1888 was this: the observance of the Sabbath. The bishops at that conference issued a report including these statements: âThe principle of the religious […]
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