Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Good Morning, Church! On Easter Day of 1742, Handel’s Messiah was played publicly for the first time with its famous Alleluia chorus. Alleluia…. It was played in 1863 after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Alleluia…. On the first day of this millennium, it was played at sunrise on the island of Kiribati, the Polynesian island closes to the international date line, making it the first music, the first sound to usher in the 21 st  century

“Since the Law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered?” Pope Leo, this past Palm Sunday, made the bold claim that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war and pray for things like “overwhelming violence.” Those who play war games with other people’

One of the things that I continue to be challenged by in this world is my desire to speak and to be heard. In a church with so many educators, I imagine that I am not the only one who has had this desire. As a priest in a congregation who had many people attend the No Kings Protests yesterday, I imagine that I am not the only one who wishes those in power would listen to our voice. As one who has been adopted into the legacy of the Civil Rights pioneers and those who were not

Do you ever find yourself in a place of struggle, where you have options of how you can respond to a situation in your life, but you really don’t know what to do? Find yourself in an obscurity, and know how much you need the light? It seems to me that one of the key distinctions that is being made in our Gospel passage this morning, is the distinction between certainty and humility; of pretending to see clearly, and keeping a sense of awe and wonder for what is possible in th

Today is a day, when we need water from a rock! From the Mountain of Despair, a Stone of Hope; Living water from the Rock of Ages. The magical thing that sometimes comes out of our church’s practice of following a lectionary calendar, in which we repeat cycles of readings every three years is that it is often possible to look back 3,6,9, or 12 years and consider what was happening in the world the last time these particular readings were the selections of the day. We can asse

Good Morning St. Andrew’s, I have to say that I am a little disturbed this morning. And even more so when I hear, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” I’m disturbed because I realize how often we fall short of being a great nation. The show Westworld has a tagline that comes to mind this morning, which says, “these violent games have violent ends.” The premise of the show is that humans have creat

I’m interested to know how everyone’s Lenten disciplines are going. We’re through the first half week, We have our traditional Scripture readings about resisting temptation, About Jesus spending 40 days in the Wilderness (just as the Hebrew people spent 40 years in the Wilderness before finding the promised land), We’re reminded that we have almost all of Lent to go before Easter. So, How’s it going? However you are doing, just remember that the most important thing is not wh

Sociologist Arlie Russel Hochschild coined the phrase “deep story,” to describe our embedded cultural narratives-often mythological in nature-that we tell ourselves about ourselves. James Baldwin said that “history is not merely something to be read,” but that it shapes our identities and that it lives within us, so that we can learn how to understand our presence and grasp our future. In this third Sunday of Black History and Black Future month, I’m moved to preach to you: Y

Sermon Begins @ 20:56 Today, Jesus is talking to us about being salty, about not losing our flavor. Now, does anyone else think that it’s strange that when we have Jesus telling us to stay salty, that no one ever talks about Lot’s wife from Genesis 19? Do you remember the story? They are escaping from Sodom and Gomorrah and they are instructed not to look back. But Lot’s wife looks back and she turns into a pillar of salt. So, Jesus tells us not to lose our saltiness, but app

Sermon Begins @ 22:14 This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about people who have gone before. This week, we have lost both our beloved Mary Herring of St. Andrew’s and The Rev. Deacon Top Borden, who served so faithfully at St. Simon of Cyrene, our sister church in Lincoln Heights. We also buried Jeanne Hayes on Wednesday morning. Last week, I learned of the passing of a dear friend in St. Louis, David Everson, who was the first person to sign-on, when I floated the idea of st

Sermon Begins @ 17:50 The strange and sometimes disheartening thing about getting out of normal life for a little while (and tell me if you’ve had this experience) is that the world doesn’t slow down. Vacation, it turns out, is not an escape from the world, because even while you’re on vacation, you’re still in the world. Biblical Scholar NT Wright, who is the retired Bishop of Durham in England, has done a series of interviews recently with American evangelical podcasts. In

Sermon Begins @ 32:55 We are at the holy night where Advent turns to Adventure, where the Lord’s delay turns to a new day. How perfectly this night prepares us for hope. On this blessed Christmas Eve, I’m moved to preach to you: Hope is a Child, where Heaven and Earth meet. As the prophet Isaiah foretold so many centuries before the birth of Christ, a little child that leads us, The hopes and fears of all the years met in an unexpected place. The little town of Bethlehem, the

Sermon Begins @ 14:56 This week as family and friends come into town, or some of us travel to see those whom we love for Christmas, Remembering that the Holy Family also travelled, In as much as we are reminded of Jesus’ words that his mission of restoring the world would tear families apart, We also recognize at seasons like this, that his ministry also brings people and families together. I’m moved to preach to you: “I’m willing to wait for it.” Particularly, I want to enco

Sermon Begins @ 16:44 Good Morning St. Andrew’s I’m moved to preach to you this morning: Always Preparing the Way. An old man, who had been very successful in his career, who had even been hailed in his younger days as one of the brightest minds of his generation was once asked why he kept a train ticket from 1933 in his wallet. He replied that on the weeks when he barely had enough to eat and his ledger book said, “rent overdue,” it was a reminder what the fight was really a

Sermon Begins @ 16:42 I’m moved to preach to you this morning: Let’s stop waiting, and let’s start waking. A few weeks ago, a man who does civil war re-enacting walked into the Second Reading Book Shop in Alton, Illinois. Speaking to the owner, John Dunphy, who has written books on the Civil War, the man proclaimed that he wouldn’t be buying any of Dunphy’s books, because of all of the misinformation about the topic that has been going around. Identifying himself as the desce

Sermon Begins @ 16:40 11 years ago today was the last time that Christ the King Sunday was on November 23 rd . How do I know this little bit of trivia? Constantine Slane was born on Christ the King Sunday 11 years ago and today is his birthday. It took him 38 whole hours to get here. Starting on Friday at noon and arriving just before sunrise on Sunday morning. He’s named for my father-in-law’s law partner and mentor Constantine Pulos. His name is also the name of the first g

Sermon Begins at 19:50 I want begin by assuaging any fears based on my wife’s Facebook post at the beginning of this week.  I have not joined a convent, though I did spend this past week and will spend the coming week at Transfiguration Spirituality Center trying to get significant chunk of my doctoral dissertation completed. I went to prayer with the sisters of the Transfiguration every night when I was there to say Compline.  It was awesome. Also, and I didn’t know this goi

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