Luke 17:11-19
A few years ago I was visiting a parishioner at the hospital, who was dying. I remember arriving there, and the family was gathered in the hospital room. I spent some time there. When someone is dying it’s just a very sacred time. I always try to respect a family’s time together…

Luke 16:19-31
There was a rich man. Jesus tells this parable, “There was a rich man.” There was also another man in the story, and what’s interesting is, he has a name, Lazarus. Somehow Lazarus has a name and the other man is described as a rich man. It’s said, that in all the parables that Jesus gave, this may be the only one where one of the characters actually has a name…

Luke 15:1-10
Have you ever seen that painting of a shepherd? It’s usually depicted as a shepherd holding a staff, walking, and having over his shoulders a lamb, holding the feet as he’s walking. I’ve seen that painting in different variations. I’ve also seen a sculpture of that nature as well. That’s something that comes from the Gospel reading this morning…

Luke 14:25-33
Did Jesus really say that? Did you listen to that Gospel reading? Did that one phrase in that reading jump out at you? It says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wives and children, brothers and sisters, yes even life itself cannot be my disciple.” Does that sound like something Jesus would say? It’s kind of disturbing if you read it…

Luke 12:32-40, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Mary and I tend to do most of our grocery shopping at three stores: Lowe’s, Food Lion, Harris-Teeter. We live near Route 55, over in Apex and those three stores are right there on 55. We use them for different reasons. I love the pretzels at Lowe’s. When I’m out of pretzels I’m off to Lowe’s…

Luke 12:13-21
A few years ago, I joined a couple of other priests from our diocese and worked with a consultant for a couple of years learning about what is referred to as family systems theory. There is a rabbi, Rabbi Edwin Friedman, who has taken a lot of what we’ve learned of family systems theory and put together a book called Generation to Generation to help clergy to understand congregational life…

Luke 11:1-13
I returned home the middle of last week, from Groton, Connecticut where I was with my daughter Elizabeth. I think I shared with you a couple of weeks ago that Elizabeth and her husband Danny live in Groton where he’s in the Navy at a submarine base. He’s what is referred to in the Navy as a “nuke.” He’s been trained in nuclear energy. All these subs are powered by nuclear power…

Luke 10:25-37
In my first year of seminary, many, many, many years ago, my class began each day with meditation. We gathered in a small chapel and the spiritual director of the seminary led us through this meditation. It was a meditation that’s based on what’s referred to as the spiritual exercise of Saint Ignatius, sometimes referred to as Ignatian Spirituality…

Luke 7:36-8:3
I want to share some thoughts with you, particularly on that Gospel reading we just heard. The Gospel reading really spoke to me this past week. If I can do some name dropping: yesterday was the ordination of Ann Hodges-Copple as our new Bishop Suffragan, and our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts-Schori was the principal consecrator…

Acts 16:9-15
It’s the end of the semester for a lot of our college students. My oldest daughter Elizabeth is going to be graduating this Friday from UNC Greensboro with her master’s in music education, and then on a couple of days later with her husband Danny to Connecticut where they will be living…