A friend and I were talking about this summer’s weather recently, and she decided that the summer should be called 2023: the summer nothing would dry. But I had another title, 2023: the summer of the weed. I don’t know what your yard looks like, but I fear that by...

I’m not one to give my sermons titles, but if I were to give this sermon a title it would be either, “Wounded People Wound People,” or “Heal Yourself and You Heal the World.” To me these are the same titles you could give to most of the Book of...

Abraham is the father of three major religions. We know him as the faithful man who answered God’s call at the age of 75 to leave his native land and to travel with his wife to an unknown land. We know him as the man who had a son when...

As I read our scripture passages for today, I found myself thinking about systems and the tendency of systems to do everything they can to remain the same or to achieve “homeostasis.” It took me back to my high school biology class when we learned about all the ways that...

About a month ago, I attended the Diocese of Maine’s annual clergy conference. For two days we got to soak in the wisdom of Dr. Catherine Meeks. Dr. Meeks is an Episcopal layperson and the executive director of The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, located in Atlanta, Georgia....

I was recently reading a sermon written by the Episcopal priest and author, Barbara Brown Taylor and there was an idea from the sermon that has stayed with me and seemed particularly relevant as I read our passage from acts for this morning. She was speaking about the times when...

Over the two and a half decades that I have served parishes as an ordained person, I have had the privilege of being with many people at the end of their lives. I have seen people die suddenly whose family and friends were completely unprepared for their death. And I...

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Yes, indeed, I am going to preach a sermon focusing on that passage. I guess I like to do things the hard way. Or, probably...

What does a Christian Community look like? Today I am not going to give a sermon, but instead lead a discussion, or a Bible study. I want us to look very closely at our readings from Acts for today and since it is a passage about Christian community, I think...

A Sermon for St. Andrew Church in Newcastle, Maine, preached by the bishop, the Right Reverend Thomas J. Brown, on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, 30 April 2023. To God be the glory. The image of the Good Shepherd is both among the oldest and deeply loved images for the...