The reading from First Corinthians is kind of disturbing, isn’t it? Paul seems convinced that the last judgment is coming soon, and he directs the followers of Jesus to live as if the only thing that matters is the present moment, and everything that is concerned with the future – weddings, funerals, hopefulness, and even grocery shopping, should be set aside to…

Today both our first lesson and our Gospel lesson are stories about being called – Samuel is called by God to prophesy to Eli, and Nathanael is called, first by Phillip and then by Jesus into discipleship. And calling may well be on many of our minds these days. This church is in the middle of a search for a new Rector,…

You know, if you were a member of the Orthodox Church, the twelve days of Christmas would have only just begun, and the feast of the Epiphany, which we celebrated on Tuesday, wouldn’t be here until January nineteenth. I only mention this because in the Orthodox churches, the gospel lesson you  would hear read on Epiphany is not the story of the…

You have to feel a little sorry for poor Joseph. Nothing seems to be working out for him the way he planned. The woman he’d been betrothed to for a long time, perhaps since before either of them were even born, in the way things happened back then, is pregnant. Joseph knew he’s not the dad, and Joseph knew that his life…