“His master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly” (Lk. 16:8). Strangely enough, the hero of Jesus’ parable this morning is a dishonest manager. Not an evil ruler, a wicked person on a grand scale, but […]
Learn more“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…” (Jo. 3:16). Hildegard has been on the calendar of saints for a long time: she died in the 12th century, after all, at the age of […]
Learn more“When he (the shepherd) has found it (the lost sheep), he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices” (Lk. 15:5). Jesus’ parable about the lost sheep is built on a long tradition that stretches back to the time […]
Learn more“Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?” (Lk. 14:31). […]
Learn more“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you…” (Lk. 14: 13-14). There’s nothing more awkward than being found out of […]
Learn more“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Lk. 12:49). When you’re in a crisis situation, your adrenaline is flowing. There are decisions to be made, often very quickly. We […]
Learn more“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). At the end of the Letter to the Galatians, from which we’ve been reading the past few weeks, St. Paul gives […]
Learn more“For freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1). The early Christians put a high value on the celebration of baptism. St. Paul thought of baptism as a life and death experience: “Do you not know that all […]
Learn more“Here am I; send me!” (Is. 6:8). “Church” is a word that means “gathering” or “assembly,” which points to the church’s origin as a “coming together” of the faithful. There is centripetal force in the word “church”: a […]
Learn moreMembers of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee, and of the Episcopal Church as a whole, have varied convictions about abortion, and the right of access to abortion. The Episcopal Church has a nuanced position, articulated through its General […]
Learn more“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Martin Luther is supposed to have said that when Christians get up in the morning, they should wash their faces… and remember […]
Learn moreWe grieve with our fellow members of Christ in the Diocese of Alabama, following the deadly shooting last evening at St. Stephen’s Church in Vestavia Hills. The Church is the Body of Christ, joined by deep ties of […]
Learn more“Endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us” (Rom. 5:3-4). The philosopher Aristotle wrote, “Hope is the dream of a waking man,” which captures a fundamental aspect of the virtue of hope. Hope […]
Learn more“You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104:31). Our psalm this morning gives us another account of the creation of the world: in keeping with […]
Learn more“I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (Jo. 17:26). Our Gospel today hinges on […]
Learn more“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (Jo. 14:27). In our Gospel today, Jesus is talking about the heart: not just as the seat of the will, the metaphorical place where […]
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