​​​​​​​​​​St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

Few things are more uncomfortable than confronting conflict. Most of us would rather avoid it altogether. We hope tensions will simply fade away, misunderstandings will resolve themselves, and wounded relationships will somehow heal with the passage of time. Yet we know from experience that silence often deepens division rather than mending it. In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks directly into the reality of broken relationships within the community of faith. Far from offering a

In the name of our creator, redeemer, and sustainer. Amen Peter has been in our gospel readings three of the last four weeks. Originally called Simon, Jesus renamed him Peter, which in Greek means rock. Last week Jesus said “Blessed are you, Peter,” but this week poor Peter gets yet another name from Jesus: Satan. Jesus has just told the disciples that he will suffer greatly, endure a horrible death, and rise from that death. Peter’s response? “This must never happen to you.”

Two nuns were out shopping and passed through the aisle displaying beer. The first nun mused how nice it would be to have some beer with their pizza that night. The second nun agreed but said she wouldn't feel comfortable buying it. What would people think about them? The first nun replied that she had an idea. She picked up a six-pack and took it to the cashier who had a surprised look on his face. “We use beer for washing our hair,” said the nun, “a sort of shampoo.” With

Today we celebrate St. Mary the Virgin, not as a distant figure in stained glass, but as a young woman who said "yes" to God without knowing how the story would unfold. In an age marked by uncertainty, rapid change, and anxiety about the future, Mary reminds us that faith is not having all the answers. Faith is trusting God's presence when the path ahead is unclear. We gather to honor Mary, whose quiet courage changed the course of history. In a world that often rewards noise

Author Anthony De Mello tells a story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil. They were perishing from thirst, for as you know, ocean water is undrinkable. What they did not know, however, was that the water they were floating on was fresh water. A nearby river was coming out into the sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles, so they had fresh water right there where they were. But they had no idea. "In the same way," says De Mello, "we

For the next three Sundays, the Gospel passages are a series of parables or short stories with metaphors and analogies concerning the Kingdom of God. Today’s segment is the Parable of the Sower, though because of how detailed it gets, we tend to think that it is more about the soil in which seeds are planted. Here again, Jesus uses down-to-earth elements like the growth of seeds to stimulate in us the longing for what lies beneath the surface of everyday, familiar life. It is

Several years ago, the staff and I were interviewing for the position of parish administrator at Saint Paul's, Norwalk. A 50ish, Catholic woman had applied and we were interviewing her. In addition to describing what her responsibilities and duties would be, we discussed the ethos of our parish and our policy of radical welcome and an open table. “And what do you mean by an open table,” she asked. I explained it meant that anyone may take Communion no matter who they are or

This Gospel always gets my attention. It was a cold, icy winter night in January, 1993, when I sat in that first pew for the liturgy of my reception as priest in the Episcopal Church. This Gospel was the text on which my mentor, Father Richard Van Weely, preached. This morning, thirty-three years later, as we gather at St. Andrew’s days ahead of the observance of Juneteenth, we join a freedom story much older and much wider than our own. In Exodus, we hear of a God who listen

If you want to know what the kingdom of God looks like, Matthew gives us a glimpse in the most ordinary place imaginable: a tax booth. Jesus walks up to someone everyone else has written off — a collaborator, a cheat, a man whose reputation is beyond repair — and instead of condemnation, Jesus offers an invitation. ‘Follow me.’ And before anyone can catch their breath, Jesus is at a dinner table surrounded by people polite society avoids. The holy is happening in the wrong pl

This is Trinity Sunday. God in three persons--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is an ancient story about St. Augustine. One day he took a break from writing about the Trinity to walk along the seashore. He came across a child with a little pail, intently scooping up a pail full of water out of the ocean, walking up the beach and dumping it out into the sand, then going back down to scoop out another pail of water to pour into the sand. Augustine asked the child what he

In the reading from Acts, we just heard about the only so-called drunken escapade ever mentioned in Scripture where there wasn’t a hangover. Nobody passed out. Nobody failed a DUI test. Nobody said things they later regretted or woke up in the wrong bed. There were no kegs of beer in Jerusalem that morning, no empty wine vats—nothing distilled by human hands to lift one’s spirits. This wasn’t a few of the naughty frat boys cooked to a crisp. It wasn’t the wild all night post

I want to begin this morning by asking your prayers for the rector and congregation of All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. Before I was aware of the sad situation the rector shared via video, I chose one of my favorite hymns, “King of Glory, King of Peace” which we will hear during the time of Communion. It is sung by the choir of All Saints Church. Earlier this week, the church received two threats: that a bomb was planted somewhere in the church and was set to de

About 20 years ago, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul’s in San Diego opened its doors to the family and friends of a thirty-one-year-old gay businessman who served as Vice-President of the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation and the Greater San Diego Business Association. His premature death during a ski vacation from an altitude-induced heart attack stunned the community. The Roman Catholic bishop of San Diego refused him burial, to the shock of the grieving family. It st

Most of us know the Emmaus road more than we’d like to admit. It’s the road we walk when some news has broken our hearts. The road we take when the future we counted on has collapsed. The road where we replay everything we thought God was going to do… and wonder why it didn’t happen. So, when Luke says two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem, we understand. They weren’t just traveling. They were grieving. And it is on that road — the road of disappointment and disor

It’s Easter morning, and the world looks exactly the same… until it doesn’t. The headlines haven’t changed. The griefs we carried yesterday didn’t magically disappear overnight. The people we worry about are still on our hearts. And yet—into this very real, very un‑fixed world—Matthew dares to tell us that a stone has been rolled away, that death has been interrupted, that God has already begun something we cannot yet see. Easter doesn’t wait for the world to be ready. It bre

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?" "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today." The little boy replied, "Aw shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!" Well, Jesus shows up every Sunday in the Gospel,

This is a story full of delays, grief, disappointment, tenderness, and—somehow—hope. It is a story where people who love God still suffer. It is a story where Jesus shows up late. And it is a story where death does not get the last word. When Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, his friend Lazarus is dead. The professional mourners have already come. The casseroles have already been delivered. The house smells like grief. And Martha meets Jesus with one of the most honest prayer

The woman he meets at the well is a Samaritan regarded by the privileged as a half-breed and a pagan, yet even women associated with the religious leaders of the day were not permitted to worship with men and had no place or voice in public life. She would have been suspect to her Jewish peers. Respectable women made their trips to the well to draw water in the morning—and in groups. She, however, shows up at noon—evidence that she was not welcome among the ladies who gather

I was told that too much talking can disrupt the stitches that the dentist put in after my molar extraction so this will be a very brief sermon. It’s your lucky day! I dear priest, Father Ken Thomas, used to call tis kind of preaching “just one thought.” The lectionary gives us two stories about temptation and fasting. The first of these is the very familiar one of Adam and Eve in the garden. No need for me to retell it. We’ve heard it loud and clear. The devil tempts Adam

In 1976 a British jazz/blues band named The Manfred Mann Earth Band came out with the song, “Blinded by the Light.” The words and slang (written by Bruce Springsteen) were so difficult to understand that barely anyone really understood what the song was about, but the tune caught on, and by 1977, it had reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Years later, when Springsteen sought to illuminate the meaning of his lyrics, he said, they described his time as a young, energetic mus