title credit and inspiration: the humbling river – puscifer Matthew 14:13-21 St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Austin August 2, 2026 Year A: Proper 13 – A Call to Feed the Hungry In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I would like to ask you to join me in imagining a scene. Jesus has just found out from his disciples that his friend, his mentor, a man he admired very much, is dead. His friend did not die of illness, or old age, or even by accident, no. His friend had been murdered, the result of a reckless promise made by a politician to a young…

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Austin July 26, 2026 Year A: Proper 12 In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. We continue in Matthew’s parables this week. This week, we are focused on verses 31-33 and verses 44-52. When we have a reading that is separated like this, I usually find something in the omitted text that I wish the powers that be who made the lectionary decisions had left in: this time it is verse 35, where Jesus is quoting Psalm 78, verse 2. In Matthew, it goes like this: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables—I will…

Genesis 1:1-2:4a, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20, Psalm 8 St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Austin May 31, 2026 Trinity Sunday In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. + Amen. So, it is Trinity Sunday. There is a tradition of seminarians preaching on Trinity Sunday, as a kind of a rite of passage, or maybe a gentle hazing ritual. However a seminarian may end up preaching on Trinity Sunday, it’s a good week to preach: trying to put huge, foundational theological thought into twelve minutes is the best kind of challenge. On Trinity Sunday, we are trying to explain the foundation of the Christian…

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, Austin February 22, 2026 1st Sunday in Lent In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen We’re starting off on this first Sunday in Lent with the very first sin, Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Fall of humanity, the original sin. Many, many theologians have written many, many words about original sin, and how each of us carries the burden of the disobedience of our forebears—with the majority (or all) of the blame often laid at the feet of women. Feminist and…

Amos 6:1a, 4–7, Psalm 146, 1 Timothy 6:6–19, Luke 16:19–31 St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, AustinSeptember 28, 2025 Year C: Proper 21 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord. Amen. The lectionary readings from the past few weeks are not going easy on us, are they? It’s understandable that we might start to feel just a wee bit defensive after Amos, the Psalmist, Paul, and Luke have finished with us this morning. Whew.  The TV show Top Gear was playing in the background while I wrote this, and at one point Jeremy Clarkson said — while doing…

John 3:16-21 Christ Chapel, Seminary of the Southwest April 30, 2025 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I’ll admit, I have not had the most mature relationship with John’s gospel. One reason for this is old-fashioned GenX contrariness: John 3:16 is the best known verse in the New Testament, frequently written on signs draped over railings at sports events and concerts, sold on bracelets, t-shirts, and all manner of things. It’s popular usage supports a relationship with Christ that I often find too individualistic, and even at times shallow. If everyone seems to like something, my contrary nature insists, I…