Second Sunday in Lent March 16, 2025 Luke 13:31-35 This passage is difficult to take in. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew the suffering, the betrayal, and the cross that awaited Him. Yet, He did not waver. Despite the pain ahead, He remained committed to His mission, steadfast in love, and unwavering in purpose. […]

  Monday of First Week of Lent March 10, 2025 John 2:1-12 It is significant that the first of Jesus’s miracles in the gospels is turning water into wine. To me, it stands out because it is basically Jesus taking part in a celebration and making sure everyone has a good time (and that the […]

Saturday after Ash Wednesday March 8, 2025 John 1:43-51 Our Gospel passage opens with Philip finding Nathaniel “under the fig tree”, which is widely believed to mean that Nathaniel was studying scriptures and praying when Philip came to him. My immediate visual image is that Nathaniel is engaged in the Jewish version of Morning Prayer. […]

I’m thrilled to tell you that, after a long process of discernment, Bishop Glenda has admitted Mawande Mzongwana into ‘Candidacy for Holy Orders’. Mawande will be ordained a deacon very soon and will serve at St John’s for the remainder of the year. During this time she will continue her work at the EJI, and […]

Good News, Everyone! You know how St. John’s has had only one clergyperson since Deonna Neal left for Colorado Springs last May? You know how we’ve suffered without the dynamism and richness that comes from a team of clergy (instead of a one-priest-band)? You know how when I’m on vacation we need to import a […]

A few years ago I was riding my bike in Harrisburg, the state capital of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The sky was overcast, but the weather forecast estimated the chance of rain at less than 20%. I’m not a gambling man, but I was happy to wager that I’d get back to the church […]

“Do you suffer from moderate to severe sin? This chronic condition occurs in 100% of the human race. You may be plagued by symptoms such as doing things you swore you would not do, saying things you were determined not to say,  leaving undone tasks you promised to do, holding your tongue when there was […]

I grew up with a dirty little secret. Actually, it was my grandmother’s dirty little secret, but I was complicit. Nanny, as we called her, has been dead now for thirty years, so she can’t sue me for telling your all about her guilty pleasure. So here goes. Cowboys. Yup. Cowboys. She loved them. When […]

One of the things I enjoyed most when I migrated to the US with my three children was the new pattern of holidays. We loved the winter because of Martin Luther King Day and President’s Day, neither of which they have in the UK. Then there was the summer. My kids couldn’t believe their good […]