One of my favorite stretches of highway is I-35 between Emporia and Wichita, Kansas. That section winds through the heart of the Flint Hills, one of the last large sections of intact tallgrass prairie in North America. It’s stunning at any time of year; each season brings its own variation of color and texture, and … Continue reading Portents in Heaven and Signs on Earth: Pentecost’s Call for Creation Care

Today is the feast of Saint Matthias. The one and only connection I have to him is that, every Tuesday, I preside over three short liturgies in St. Matthias Chapel on the campus of a local school. Those three liturgies are the extent of my formal responsibilities as chaplain. The school was originally founded by an … Continue reading Tuesdays with Saint Matthias

A few years ago, I received an unexpected gift from an old friend. The package contained a short note written on a card, and a simple rosary he had made for me. The note described how, a few years before, he had started praying the rosary, and it had become an important spiritual practice for … Continue reading Working the Beads

The 2003 book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, tells the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician who has dedicated his life to delivering quality medical care to some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world. The book focuses particularly on his work to help tackle the public health crisis posed by tuberculosis in … Continue reading Mountains Beyond Mountains: Address to the 162nd Annual Meeting of Trinity Cathedral

In addition to our principal celebrations on the Lord’s Day, the cathedral celebrates Holy Eucharist every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Our weekday services are not well-attended. Occasionally, we’ll have as many as eight or nine people in the congregation, but most of the time it’s two or three, and on many days, like today, it is … Continue reading Daily Bread

On August 12, 1805, Meriwether Lewis and his “Corps of Discovery” expedition reached the source of the Missouri River in the Montana mountains. He took a cool drink from the spring, rested a while, and ascended to the top of the ridge at Lemhi Pass. The group had been travelling in canoes upstream and uphill … Continue reading Address to the 161st Annual Meeting of Trinity Cathedral

In the ancient church, before calendars were widespread, it was the custom for all of the holy days for the year to be announced on the feast of the Epiphany. Just as the Christian faith is centered around the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the Christian calendar is centered around the feast of Easter. … Continue reading 2018 Epiphany Proclamation

Over the next few months, our Old Testament lessons will follow the lives of the great patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith in the book of Genesis. These stories are artful, fun, and spiritually rich, but they can also seem quite strange. There are a lot of unfamiliar social and religious customs, the characters are … Continue reading Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost 2017

The title for my sermon this morning is “Proclaim Original Grace”, which is the title of the second chapter of our Lenten book Find Your Way Home. Our Old Testament reading today is actually the story of our original sin. That juxtaposition was intentional. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that original sin … Continue reading Proclaim Original Grace, First Sunday of Lent, 2017