November 8, 2026 – The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

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

There are forty–seven shopping days until Christmas. Actually, I’m not suggesting that you stress about being a good participant in capitalism’s takeover of our faith. I mention it though because both the Church and our larger society have turned a corner in the past week. And no, I’m not referring to the election. After Halloween, you’ll notice holiday decorations starting to go up in stores and homes. Like it or not, we’ve entered into the season of secular Christmas in the first week of November. And in the Church, something also has shifted as we’ve passed All Saints’ Day.

November 2, 2026 – All Souls

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the God who makes all things new ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

“We seem to give them back to thee, O God who gavest them to us. Yet as thou didst not lose them in giving, so do we not lose them by their return. Not as the world giveth, givest thou, O Lover of souls. What thou givest thou takest not away, for what is thine is ours also if we are thine. And life is eternal and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon, and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.”

November 1, 2026 – The Feast of All Saints

Lectionary Readings

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

A theologian has said that “we inoculate the world with a mild form of Christianity, and it becomes immune to the real thing.” We do this in so many ways, by using “Christian” as an adjective to describe music, or ethics, or politics, and thereby make faith subservient to whatever the main thing is. Or we get swept up in the tide of individualism and think that we can take the bits and pieces of faith that we like, discarding the parts we don’t, and come up with our own versions of the faith. As the philosopher Voltaire put it, “In the beginning God created humanity in his own image, and we have been trying to repay the favor ever since.” Or sometimes we dilute our faith by idolatry, where God is one deity among others. Those other gods can be country, political party, money, success, appearances, you name it, and we’ll worship it.

October 11, 2026 – The Feast of Saint Stephen & The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

First reading; Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel text

That your Church may be filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

That prayer is one that was used weekly from 1924 to 1926 as this building was being constructed. Grace Church was established in 1873 and Saint Stephen’s in 1893, merging in 1923. As they came together, they set out to construct this gem of a building and the first liturgies held in this space were on Sunday, October 10, 1926—100 years ago yesterday. This is certainly something to celebrate—100 years of worship and community in this space. And our prayer remains the same: that this church might be filled with the Holy Spirit.

October 4, 2026 – The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary readings; Epistle reading

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

            I prefer Dijon over yellow mustard. I usually choose the scenic route over the interstate. And I think the Rite I funeral liturgy is far superior to Rite II. On these topics, I am biased. We misunderstand bias though to be a bad thing.

September 27, 2026 – The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings (Epistle reading)

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

            In Latin America, the musical that we know as The Sound of Music is called “The Rebel Nun.” And they’re not wrong. The sci–fi blockbuster Blade Runner was going to be called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.” Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Who can forget the Steven Speilberg classic “A Boy’s Life,” better known as E.T. Or what if we called The Wizard of Oz, “The Witch–Slayer of Kansas”? Titles matter.

September 13, 2026 – The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

In the name of the One who raised Jesus Christ from the dead after first raising Israel out of Egypt. Amen.

How much debt do you have? That’s a serious question. We all have debts and sometimes the amounts are so large that we don’t really know how much we are carrying. Oh, I’m not talking student loans, medical debt, car loans, mortgages, or credit card balances. While our relationship to money and financial debt is absolutely a spiritual matter, that’s not what I mean. No, I’m talking about a much more searing and uncomfortable conversation about our relational debt. Jesus says, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”