November 30, 2025 - The First Sunday of Advent

Lectionary Readings

O come, O come, Emmanuel. Amen.

“Advent begins in the dark,” so says the Episcopal priest and author Fleming Rutledge. At least in the northern hemisphere, Advent, which is the liturgical new year, begins as the days are colder and darker. This is our plight as followers of Jesus, to be living between the two Advents of Jesus Christ – between his first and his second comings. We have seen his Resurrection light but we wait for that light to vanquish all the darkness of our lives and our world. Many describe this as living in the “already but not yet” and that can be both an exciting and challenging place to be.

November 27, 2025 - Thanksgiving Day

Lectionary Readings

Blessed are you, O Lord God, King of the Universe, for you give us the living bread from heaven. Amen.

Later today at your dinner table, someone might say “Pass the bread,” to which you might respond based on the text from John, “You seek only to fill up on carbs. Do not ask for food that perishes, but for food that leads to eternal life.” On second thought, maybe just pass the rolls if that happens. But the point that Jesus is making is one worthy of our attention on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a question of what we hunger for.

November 23, 2025 - The Last Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Lord Jesus, help us to recognize that the way of the cross is the way of abundant life. Amen.

If we had to name what the most pervasive and pernicious idol in our culture is we’d have a lot of contenders because there are so many things that we allow to define us, that we end up serving, that we pursue instead of the living God. But if we pay close attention to our modern society, it becomes clear that the idol we struggle the most with is control. It’s the one thing that we just can’t imagine giving up. Sure, if we can have some control over our circumstances, we might be willing to give up money, rightness, or reputation. But our need to be in control has taken such deep roots in our hearts and minds that it’s an idol that we gladly serve in exchange for some sense of predictability and stability.

November 9, 2025 - The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Readings

Help me to speak not about you, O God, but for you, that your people might hear your word for them. Amen.

Some of the things we learned as children simply aren’t true and with apologies to any schoolteachers who have said the opposite, there absolutely is such a thing as a stupid question. Case in point – imagine a woman dies after having been married seven times, which husband will she be married to in the Resurrection? It’s a bad question.

November 2, 2025 - All Saints Sunday

Lectionary Readings

O Lord, help us to embrace the difference that comes being a part of that mystic sweet communion of your Church. Amen.

I really enjoy psychological thrillers – movies and shows like Black Mirror, Inception, Memento, and The Matrix. They have mind-bending plots that make you, along with the characters, ask the question “what is real?” As people of faith, this is a question that we constantly contend with – what is real? As we heard in the reading from Ephesians, we are to “see with the eyes of our heart.” We come to know and trust that the least shall be the greatest, that it is more blessed to give than to receive, that death is not final, that in the Eucharist we received the Body and Blood of Jesus. But, constantly, we live in a world that makes us question the reality of our faith.