June 7, 2026 - The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

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

An interesting Grace & St. Stephen’s trivia question is, “Where did I first meet members of the Search Committee?” It wasn’t at the church I was serving in Salisbury or at restaurant, though those would be good guesses. No, it was at a Barenaked Ladies concert. Tanya and Linda came to North Carolina as a part of the search process and the Barenaked Ladies are my favorite band, so of course we had tickets. When Tanya found out they were playing in Charlotte the night of their arrival, they also got tickets and we met up there.

May 31, 2026 - The Feast of the Holy Trinity

Lectionary Readings

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

“You shall not make for yourselves any idol.” That is one of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament. Yes, I know that Jesus was once asked which commandment is the greatest – to which he responded with two: love God from Deuteronomy and love your neighbor from Leviticus. To be clear, I’m not disagreeing with Jesus. Those two together, indeed, are the greatest commandment. But the commandment about not having idols might be most urgent for us today.

May 24, 2026 - The Feast of Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Holy Spirit, the Life that gives life: You are the cause of all movement. You are the breath of all creatures. You are the salve that purifies our souls. You are the ointment that heals our wounds. You are the fire that warms our hearts. You are the light that guides our feet. Be with us now, and evermore. Amen.

May 14, 2026 - The Feast of the Ascension

Preached at Evensong - readings are Psalms 24 & 96, Daniel 7:9-14, Matthew 28:16-20

In the name of the Risen and Ascended Lord. Amen.

The first time I went to Israel was in 2012 and I had the opportunity to see so many wonderful and holy sites. But one place we didn’t go was the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. It just wasn’t on our itinerary. So, when I went back in 2020, just about a week before the pandemic began, I told the guide we hired that I wanted to go to see the site of the Ascension. He warned me that there wasn’t much to see and that I’d probably be disappointed. But I insisted – I’ve seen the sites of Jesus’ birth, death, and Resurrection, so I wanted to add the missing Ascension site.

May 10, 2026 - The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Readings (note, we are using a trial version of the lectionary in Eastertide that has an alternate first reading and Psalm)

In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.

The hardest part of faith for a lot of us is the problem of suffering. We experience tragedies, illnesses, and misfortunes and we just want the suffering to stop. Or, if the pain doesn’t go away, we want to know why. Not that a reason for suffering necessarily relieves the pain, but it gives it a larger purpose that at least makes it tolerable. But, truth be told, all the reasons for pain and suffering that preachers sometimes give are unsatisfactory and only lead to deeper sense of woundedness.

May 3, 2026 - The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Readings (note, we are using a trial version of the lectionary in Eastertide that has an alternate first reading and Psalm)

In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.

A couple of decades ago if you would have asked someone in the record label industry what their business was all about, they probably would have said something like: “Well, we try to find talented musicians, then we record their music, and sell albums to you.” They misunderstood their business, which is why MP3s and eventually streaming became such a threat. In actuality, their business wasn’t selling vinyl, cassettes, and CDs, it was selling access to the music people wanted to listen to. But they struggled to figure out how to monetize a non-physical product.

April 19, 2026 - The Third Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Readings (note, we are using a trial version of the lectionary in Eastertide that has an alternate first reading and Psalm)

In the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.

The two stories from our sacred Scripture that speak most deeply to me and that I cherish are Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush in Exodus 3 and what we heard this morning from Luke 24 when Jesus meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Both stories involve fire – a burning bush and burning hearts. Maybe it was playing with campfires on father-and-son camping trips at the church I grew up in that sparked that interest? Who knows. The passage from Luke is such a rich story that is a revelation into God’s very essence and it is also a mirror that shows us something about what it is to follow this living and loving God.