A couple of weeks ago I spent some time with our Communion class. There are 27 children this year. In my class we focused on what we do when we get together for the Eucharist…

There is a New Yorker Magazine cartoon that had two people talking to each other, and one person is saying to the other, “Well, enough about me. Let’s talk about you. So what do you think about me?” I feel a little bit like that today in that I would like to talk a little bit about me. Not that I’m preaching me, but to talk a little about what I’ve been experiencing this past week and talk to you about that this morning…

Mark 1:29-39
“After they left the synagogue.” That’s how our Gospel reading begins today. Jesus and his disciples had left the synagogue, and then unfolds this story that we just read from the Gospel reading this morning. When you think about it, a lot of what we read about in the Gospels about Jesus is about his ministry outside the synagogue…

Today is the day of our annual meeting which we had from ten to eleven o’clock between our services. So today is a little bit different in my preaching. Instead of what you would normally look at as preaching or a homily, I want to talk about our parish and where we find ourselves, and give thanks to you for all you do to make St. Paul’s who it is and what it is…

There was a youth minister who was invited to speak at a youth conference a few years back. At this youth conference were people from upper high school to college age. They were from different denominations from all parts of the country gathered together for this conference. Among many of the presentations this young youth minister was invited to give a talk…

I’ve sometimes wondered if this season of Advent comes at the wrong time: just before Christmas. Now, you may say to me, “but isn’t that what Advent is for, leading up to Christmas?” Let me answer that in kind of a non-dualistic way: yes and no. I think we oftentimes see Advent as a time we walk through to lead us to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We approach it almost as a sort of sentimental journey…

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. It’s the final Sunday of our church calendar year. Next sunday will be the beginning of a new church calendar year, with the first Sunday of Advent. Our calendar is a little bit different than the calendar we live in our day-to-day lives, but today is the final Sunday. And it’s called the Feast of Christ the King. You could say to yourself, if there’s a Christ the King, there must be a kingdom…

Matt. 23:1-12
I’m taken with the Gospel reading, these words that Jesus shares with his disciples. He’s giving some reflections on the leaders of the Jewish tradition at that time. I think it’s important to remember that when we look at the scriptures, particularly the New Testament, we see Jesus engaged with Judaism and with Jewish leaders and where he critiques. He’s not criticizing Judaism; Judaism is really a prototype for all religion…

Have I ever told you how much I love New York City? I love the teasing that goes on here at St. Paul’s about the various places we’re from and have traveled in our lives. My being a New Yorker is part of that. I love the kind of bantering we do, especially my Boston friends, Red Sox fans. You know the difference betwen Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park? You can get a hot dog at Yankee Stadium in October…

Where were you? Where are you? And where are you going? Those are three questions I’d like to share some thoughts on this morning as we gather on this tenth anniversary of 9/11, September 11, 2001. Where were you? Where are you? And where are you going? It seems there’s a certain part of us, whenever there’s some historic event that happens in our lives, we remember where we were when we heard about it or discovered it…