Sermon preached at Holy Apostles, Katy and Hope, Houston on 3 Epiphany Year B, the calling of the disciples in Mark's Gospel.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Inheriting Christ's Vision of the Kingdom of God
Those who follow Jesus and are baptized inherit Christ's Exodus vision of the Kingdom of God and are invited to be the authentic workers who mend what God has united and what humans have put asunder. Sermon preached at St. Thomas Wharton, Baptism of Our Lord, Year B, 2015.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Our Business - Boxing Day Sermon
Feast of St. Stephen and Boxing Day celebration at Mucky Duck in Houston. Proceeds benefited Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Friday, December 19, 2014
We are the Workers God is the Sower
Sermon preached on the celebration and blessing of St Mary Magdalene Manor 2014
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Ours is a Yes Gospel
Sermon preached Advent 2B 2014 St Timothy's Houston and St Martins Confirmation
Fishers of People
Sermon preached at patronal feast of St Andrew at St Andrews in the Heights Houston 2014
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Prayer for the United States
Yet, the lack of comprehensive data means that we can't know if there's been an upsurge in such cases, says Samuel Walker, a criminal justice scholar at the University of Nebraska in Omaha and author of The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. "It's impossible to make any definitive statement on whether there were more incidents in the last 5 to 10 years than in the past," he says. "We just don't have that kind of data." But what is certain, Walker says, is that the fatal shooting in Ferguson "was just the tip of the iceberg."
The article was updated following a USA Today report with this information:
USA Today reported that on average there were 96 cases of a white police officer killing a black person each year between 2006 and 2012, based on justifiable homicides reported to the FBI by local police. As reported, the FBI's justifiable homicides database paints only a partial picture—accounting for cases in which an officer killed a felon. It does not necessarily include cases involving victims like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others who were unarmed when confronted by police.
Risk factors [for the social determinants of violence] within close relationships (family, friends, intimate partners, and peers) are:The health and well being of a society is always rooted deeply in how well families and individuals are able to thrive within a supportive community. The recent violence reveals not only racism and violence but the deep issues that prevent individuals and their families from thriving in the United States today. We must face the fact that we are not well and the divisions and violence we now suffer are deeply rooted and symptomatic.
- poor monitoring and supervision of children by parents
- harsh, lax or inconsistent parental disciplinary practices
- a low level of attachment between parents and children
- low parental involvement in children's activities
- parental substance abuse or criminality
- low family income
Risk factors within the community and wider society are:
- associating with delinquent peers.
- low levels of social cohesion within a community;
- gangs and a local supply of guns and illicit drugs;
- an absence of non-violent alternatives for resolving conflicts;
- high income inequality;
- rapid social and demographic changes;
- urbanization;
- quality of a country’s governance (its laws and the extent to which they are enforced, as well as policies for education and social protection).
Our country and her leaders must ask some penetrating questions. Have we been lulled into complacency after the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, ignoring the remaining struggles in the areas of education, economics, and mass incarceration? Have we been deluded by greater inclusivity and access to public accommodations to erroneously believe ours to be a “post-racial” society? Have we, as religious leaders and the broader community, become so co-opted by status, comfort, and materialism that our prophetic voices on behalf of the marginalized have been muted?Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued the following statement on the way forward from Ferguson regarding racism:
The Episcopal Church joins many others in deep lament over the tragic reality that continues to be revealed in Ferguson, Missouri. The racism in this nation is part of our foundation, and is not unique to one city or state or part of the country. All Americans live with the consequences of centuries of slavery, exploitation, and prejudice. That legacy continues to lead individuals to perceive threat from those who are seen as "other." The color of one's skin is often the most visible representation of what divides God's children one from another. ... I ask you to stand with hands extended in love, to look for the image of God in every neighbor, and to offer yourself in vulnerability for the sake of reconciliation across this land. May we become instruments of God's peace and healing, made evident in communities of justice for all.The issues that face our country are profound. While we are a nation founded on a vision of freedom - racism blurs that vision. While we are a nation founded on a vision of peace - violence (gun violence specifically) mars our sight. We are a country who is blessed with great riches and which offers a vision of prosperity; but that ideal is broken by scarcity and economic depression for many of our youth.
Weariness must not conquer our spirits. Apathy and despair are not options. We will never lose hope! The legacy of our people has been forged in the crucible of slavery, oppression, lynchings, pain, and suffering and we’ve never surrendered to the spirit of defeatism or anarchy. Our efforts will be intensified as we work within our denomination and beyond to develop strategies to address the multitude of issues impacting our community, as we also partner with others who advocate and work for justice and peace. Our testimony is that “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us!”Let us pray for our country, let us pray for one another, let us pray for the families, let us pray for the end of racism, let us pray for the peace and the end of violence. Let us pray and let us act.
You can find resources for discussion at the Episcopal Digital Network.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
House Rules
Preached at Trinity Midtown Houston and St Lukes Livingston; Christ the King Sunday, Matthew 2531ff Year A
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
The WERPed Kingdom of God and Your Place in It
Sermon preached at St Martins Houston at the ordinatio of Suse McBay to the diaconate.
Quotes
- "Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a life and a living process." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer." Oliver Wendell Holmes
- "Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others." Kathleen Norris
- "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." John Wesley
- "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton
- "One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans." C. S. Lewis
- "When we say, 'I love Jesus, but I hate the Church,' we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the church seldom asks us for forgiveness." Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
- "Christians are hard to tolerate; I don't know how Jesus does it." Bono
- "It's too easy to get caught in our little church subcultures, and the result is that the only younger people we might know are Christians who are already inside the church." Dan Kimball