“Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Jewish and Christian Scripture and, Chair of the Biblical Area at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia: You’re fired.” Let us pray. (Click here for sermon audio.) Blessed are you, Holy One our God, Sovereign of the universe,
who has chosen faithful prophets to speak words of...... Read More

With the prophet I say: Habakkuk 1:2 How long, Holy One, shall I howl for help, and you will not hear? Cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see iniquity and compel me to look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; litigation and contention arise....... Read More

[The image is courtesy of Karen Whitehill, a digital collage in which she superimposes the heads of vintage stars over the Last Supper by Juanes. Many thanks for her gracious permission.]     Jesus told a parable like this (in Luke 13:6-9): A woman had a fig tree planted in her vineyard; and she came...... Read More

Download the audio mp3 A great cloud of witnesses surrounds us… Let us pray: Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. If your preacher preached about faith last week, she or he might have ended with, “To be continued…” The more than forty verses in Hebrews 11 and the beginning...... Read More

Download the audio mp3 Genesis 15:6, Abraham trusted in God… Hebrews 11:1, Faith is the essence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen… 3 By faith we understand… Let us pray: Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. I believe I can fly  I believe I can...... Read More

Listen to the recording (mp3 file) Hosea 11:3 I, I taught Ephraim to walk,  I took them up in my arms; yet they did not know that I healed them. 4 I pulled them along with humane restraint,  with ties of love. And I was to them like those who lift babies to their cheeks,...... Read More

[I prepared this meditation for the Logan Legacy Prayer Breakfast, celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. Canon Thomas Wilson Stearly Logan, the longest lived priest of African descent in the Episcopal Church who died at the age of 100, at the request of the committee who assigned me the theme of “Engendering Prophecy”...... Read More

Baby, I need you to hold this for me. Baby, just say that it’s yours. Baby, you got my love on lock. Here, “locked” equals “locked down.” And for far too many women that means being locked up. Baby, I can’t go back there. Baby, I’ve already got three strikes. Baby, women’s prison is soft...... Read More

Luke 9:28 … Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. [Audio link to sermon available here] Now, let us pray: Holy One of Old, open our eyes that we may see. Amen. Luke 9:28 Now about eight days after saying, “23…If any want to become my...... Read More

Let us pray: Come thou Wisdom from on high and order all things far and nigh To us the path of knowledge show and cause us in Her ways to go. Amen. It was for the author of the gospel attributed to John as if time had stopped and started all over again. Or been...... Read More