Sermons

  • Changed by the Wilderness

           The day started early, with simple and delicious buttered bread and a bowl of coffee, which, I learned that morning, was how the folks in the Basque area of France drink coffee, literally in a bowl. Over breakfast, I… Continue reading

    Changed by the Wilderness
  • A Way Forward

           There is not much else I enjoy in this world as much as I love a good story. I love to be drawn in and the rise and fall of a narrative; I love when stories are predictable, and… Continue reading

    A Way Forward
  • An Increased Faith

           Ever since I was a young child, I have been fascinated with trees. The yard of my childhood home has white oak trees that soar more than 100 feet into the sky, with the base of the trunk being… Continue reading

    An Increased Faith
  • A Life That Really Is Life

    In his poem, “Ask Me,” William Stafford has a line I have tucked away in my pocket and it’s one of the lines that seem to find me when I most need it: “Ask me whether/what I have done is… Continue reading

    A Life That Really Is Life
  • The Joy of Belonging

           There is an admiration that I hold for my parents as an adult, one of the many ways in which I admired their parenting was their ability to navigate not one, but two, curious children’s questions. I may have… Continue reading

    The Joy of Belonging
  • A Trampled Sabbath

           In Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, one can find some of the best life advice there is, but within the framework of a non-fiction exploration of writing. Dillard is a master at blending poetry and prose as she dances… Continue reading

    A Trampled Sabbath
  • Sustaining Hope

    There are some places in this world that invite one to ponder and to consider things that they had never given time to before, and over the last ten weeks of my Sabbatical, my life has been full of them.… Continue reading

  • Troubled Hearts

    I still have thirty or so hand-written letters from my grandmother. With crystal clarity, I can imagine the sweeping flow of her loose cursive that told me of the weather in Indianapolis or news from the family. While I didn’t… Continue reading

    Troubled Hearts
  • Conversion and Conviction

    Throughout my whole life, I have suffered from migraines; if you, too, share in this somewhat unpredictable, inexplicable cycle of pain, then you probably know about all the ways in which migraines can rear their head into our lives. Whether… Continue reading

    Conversion and Conviction
  • An Idle Tale

    It has seemed to me that this Holy Week is hitting differently for almost everyone. I’ve heard both locally from our parish, but also from wider sources that this is a deeper and richer spiritual experience than it has been… Continue reading

    An Idle Tale