February 26, 2020 - Ash Wednesday

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Ash Wednesday is a unique day in the Christian year. On every other day of the year, our focus is outward – we focus on caring for those in need, or the environment, or the Church and we focus on glorifying and praising God. Certainly, we praise God in all things, Ash Wednesday included. But today is unique because our focus is not outward, but rather inward. On Ash Wednesday we come face to face with our sinfulness, our mortality, and our neediness. It’s important that we spend one day a year doing this sort of introspection because, for one, it’s honest, but also because such reflection prepares us to receive more fully the grace of God.

February 26, 2017 - Last Epiphany A

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Have you ever had a mountaintop experience? You know, those events that somehow seem to be more real than ordinary reality? A moment where life doesn’t seem to be big enough to hold the experience? A few years ago I had the privilege of going to Israel; standing in the places where Jesus taught, died, and rose again were mountaintop experiences. The birth of our daughters were similar experiences. Perhaps you’ve had that sort of experience, too? Maybe when you saw a particular painting in the Louvre, maybe when saw the Grand Canyon out of an airplane window, maybe when attended Evensong, maybe when you fell in love? Mountaintop experiences are holy and memorable because they awaken us to the beauty, depth, and grandeur of life that we ordinarily overlook.