Good Friday: Let us embrace the Cross
A sermon preached on Good Friday 2014 at Church of the Ascension, Chicago. From the Passion according to St. John, “And again another scripture says, ‘They shall look on him whom they have pierced.’”...
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Maundy Thursday: Gird yourselves and look for Jesus
This year, I am the guest preacher for the Triduum at Church of the Ascension in Chicago. Because people sometimes ask for sermon texts, I thought I’d post them here. Enjoy, or not. And,...
Singing the Sarum blues
A few days ago, I posted a ridiculous photo on Facebook (on your right), making a joke about how Advent was finally getting some retail love — including Gaudete Sunday. See there? Purple hats...
The Sharknado Church
After my recent blog post on zombie churches, the Crusty Old Dean rightly pointed out over on Twitter (where I hope you’ll follow me) that zombies are so 2012. The COD challenged me, nay,...
Preparing for the zombie (church) apocalypse
Zombies are trendy these days, and the Christian publishing industry is always churning out books on church leadership. So it should not surprise anyone that there’s a book called “Zombie Church: Breathing Life Back...
The message of canceled church services
UPDATE in 2020: I see this 2013 post getting some attention today, in June 2020. This blog post was written in 2013 in response to issues with winter storms in New England. For those...
How to liven up your Annual Parish Meeting
It’s annual meeting season. Back when I was a rector, I liked them to go smoothly, like well-scripted legislative machines. Now that I merely attend the meetings, I prefer to see some fireworks. So,...
An Acts 8 moment?
For the last couple of weeks, I have been in much conversation with Susan Snook and Tom Ferguson (known for their blogs, A Good and Joyful Thing and Crusty Old Dean). We have been...
NEWS FLASH! BREAKING EXCLUSIVE! The color of the so-called Blue Book revealed!
Three years ago, Seven whole days was privileged to break the news of the so-called Blue Book’s color. Last time, it was crimson. This year, the color will be “salmon pink.” The 7WD news...
The ekklesia of social media
I contributed an article for the Fall 2011 issue of Reflections, the journal of Yale Divinity School. It’s a whole issue on new media, and I was humbled to join some pretty great company...
Angels: setting the record straight
Our culture has an angel problem. Lots of people talk about angels. Guardian angel this, Hallmark card that. Angels appear on TV shows. Angels are regular features in all manner of popular culture, high...
Practicing our slogan
“The Episcopal Church welcomes you!” That’s our deal, right? We’re welcoming. Or not so much. Now that I’m not serving in a parish, I have been visiting lots of Episcopal congregations. It’s been illuminating,...