Weekly essays inspired by Anglican themes and theology.
(Part 2 of 2) In last week’s essay, I made some sharp criticisms of the Presiding Bishop’s Easter Letter – its tendency to eisegesis (reading his own views into Scripture, rather than reading out of Scripture the ideas it sets forth), its privileging of the experience of those deemed to be marginalized and oppressed as…
(Part 1 of 2) There was a time when I would occasionally do a “cleanse” of my system with a robust jeremiad against the latest folly of the Episcopal church. Though I have eschewed this indulgence in recent years, this is not to be taken as a sign that I now think that the Episcopal…
Easter Lilies – 2025 The lilies adorning the Church were given to the glory of God and in loving memory of: • Mr. and Mrs. Howard J. Hoffman and Mr. and Mrs. Earle M. Culver by their family • Margaret L. Armstrong, by the Culver family • Anne Crawford, Frances Meyer and Julie Backus Smith by Robbie and…
On Easter day, the veils of Lenten array come down, and the image of the risen Lord is revealed once more. That’s the meaning of Easter: in the bodily resurrection of Christ the hidden victory of the cross is unveiled, it glory and power to save. To the outward eye the cross may be nothing…
Over the course of Holy Week the Church reads the Passion narratives of all four gospels in order. It is a lot to absorb, and these notes are intended to assist us in doing so. It is the ancient lessons for Passion Sunday (the 5th in Lent), which introduce two key themes of these narratives,…
During Holy Week, the church reads the passion narratives of all four gospels – Matthew on Palm Sunday, Mark on Monday and Tuesday, Luke on Wednesday and Thursday, John on Good Friday. Given their length and importance, they take center stage; but at morning and evening prayer the church reads John’s account of Jesus’ teaching…
In Lent, as the church prepares to celebrate the paschal victory of Christ, the church reads the books of the Law – especially Genesis and Exodus – and also the prophet Jeremiah and his Lamentations. Each in its own way sheds light on the strange work of God in the cross. Genesis tells of the…
In four verses of Scripture, the Prayer Book’s “comfortable words” invite us, who in the confession of sin have acknowledged ourselves justly condemned as sinners and subject to the impartial judicial wrath of God, to put our faith in Christ, that in him we may find comfort – deliverance from guilt, fear, and shame into…
When the Prayer Book speaks of “comfort”, it means something that fortifies, that strengthens and encourages those who are discouraged and demoralized, above all by the knowledge of their own moral failures, those transgressions of God’s law, which stir his impartial judicial wrath against us, and which fill us with guilt, fear, and shame. The…
By ancient custom, the sacred images of the church are veiled in penitential array of unbleached linen during the season of Lent. Thanks to memorial donations, we have been able to replace our old and shabby Lenten array, and on Ash Wednesday you will see that it veils all the sacred images, including those of…
By ancient custom, the sacred images of the church are veiled in penitential array of unbleached linen during the season of Lent. Thanks to memorial donations, we have been able to replace our old and shabby Lenten array, and on Ash Wednesday you will see that it veils all the sacred images, including those of…
Accounts of how the world came to be – cosmogonies, creation myths – are various. A warrior god slew a primeval chaos-dragon, and made the world from its carcass – that’s one prescientific version, popular in ancient Mesopotamia. The popular version in our day, is that nothing gave itself being, and organized itself through random mechanistic and material interactions. The Mesopotomian creation myth might be more persuasive. How does nothing cause something? And how can random material mechanisms produce reason, beauty, justice, and love?