When Cooks Attending Services…, Advent 3 (A) – 2010

December 12, 2010

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.” When cooks attending services in villages all over England would hear these words from the Collect of the Day, they would hurry home afterward to stir up the fruity batter that had been fermenting in their kitchens for weeks, the prime ingredient […]

There Was a Little Girl…, Proper 12 (C) – 2010

July 25, 2010

There was a little girl who lived on a street right next to a cemetery. Her school was straight across, on the other side of the cemetery. That cemetery frightened all the children who lived on her street. In fact, they took great pains to avoid the cemetery, walking all the way around it to […]

Love Received Is Love to Be Shared, Proper 17 (B) – 2009

August 30, 2009

Love received is love to be shared. Life is short – and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us. So let us be swift to love and make haste to be kind, and the blessing of God will be with us. In the […]

So Begins A Song…, Ascension Day – 2009

May 21, 2009

“He came singing love, and He lived singing love He died…singing love He arose in silence For the love to go on, we must make it our song You and I be the singers!” So begins a song from the New Zealand Hymnal. What was promised is removed for a time, so it can be […]

Before It Was a Noun…, Thanksgiving Day (B) – 2009

November 26, 2009

Before it was a noun, “thanksgiving” was a verb. The difference matters. A desert father once said: “If you have a chest full of oranges, and leave it for a long time, the fruit will rot inside of it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them […]

Again… Jesus Spoke to His Disciples in Parables, Proper 12 (A) – 1999

July 25, 1999

Have you ever tried to explain to a friend, who has never visited, about your home town? It can be a bit disconcerting when you start to describe what for you is so familiar and heart warming, and you look up to see descending over your friend’s eyes a haze, the eyelids starting to droop, […]

To The End of the Age…, Trinity Sunday (A) – 1999

May 30, 1999

“REMEMBER: I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE” Have you ever lived remotely: in a place apart? Many people live in places that are remote-sometimes by choice, sometimes not. Those who live apart from others by choice may have moved there in search of peace and quiet, escape from hustle […]