Recent Sermons

Today’s Gospel—the story of Lazarus and the rich man—embodies three sweeping biblical themes. The first is the reversal of fortunes. As we say during Evening Prayer, “He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away.” A second and related theme is the danger of wealth. The Bible never teaches that wealth is, in and of itself, bad — but it is always dangerous. The

Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created. In 771 the new emperor Charlemagne faced dire issues in his empire. If not tended, these problems would have rendered his empire fractured and useless, and he knew it. The issue did not come from outside threats, though those were many. Saxons threatened from the north, war in the south in Spain raged on as the Islamic Empire rapid

We have made it to the feast of Pentecost! This is the day that we have been looking forward to for weeks. Even leading up to the Ascension our readings from Jesus’ farewell discourse in the Gospel of John has been anticipating this feast day. And at the Ascension last Thursday, Jesus promised that his departure was necessary so that he could send his Spirit upon his Apostles. And as our Preface to the Canon summarizes, this feast is the celebration of the Holy Spirit’s desc

Ascension - Perugino, 1496-98 GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that since we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell + The Feast of the Ascension, which we observed on Thursday, is the occasion for the Church to celebrate the conclusion of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and to commemorate his heavenly session, his taking his rightful pos

"JESUS said unto his disciples, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." For the second half of Easter we have been contemplating the long farewell discourse in the end of the Gospel of John, and this week we continue in the same passage. Easter is a season of joy as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, but it is also a season of anticipation. Easter anticipates the radical changes that occurred after the resur

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We are now more than halfway into Eastertide, this glorious season in which we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I mentioned last week, all of the Gospels appointed for the services in the latter half of Eastertide come from an extended passage of the Gospel of St. John where Jesus, before his death, t