(Note: The following homily was preached at a memorial service held at St. Anne’s Episcopal School in Denver, Colorado on Aug. 20, 2008. Sam and Grace Masoudi, and their cousin Julia Reiman, were killed in a freak accident in the beach community of Gearhart, Oregon. The Masoudis and the Reimans had gathered for a family vacation […]

(Note: This sermon is the fourth in a 7-part series based on the Book of Exodus. Each sermon is intended to be an introduction to the themes that are being discussed in weekly small groups going on in parishioners’ homes. Although the issue of “why bad things happen to good people” might not necessarily be […]

It was Wednesday of Holy Week in 1997 and I was sitting in my brand new office in the new church we had just finished building after seven years of struggle. I looked out my window and saw three men inspecting something back in the northeast corner of our church property. A few minutes later […]

In the book, The Dance of Hope, written in 2003, the former Bishop of Colorado, Bill Frey, says that one of the things he’s observed about Christian communities is that there often seems to be a kind of spiritual malaise, even a kind of depression.  He goes on to say that that this malaise often […]

Today, and for the next six Sundays, I’m going to do something different – I’m going to preach on the Old Testament, specifically, on the Book of Exodus.  I’m doing this for several reasons. First, it’s a way of celebrating the fact that Good Shepherd, like many Episcopal Churches, is now using a new schedule […]