All Saints Sunday Wis 3:1-9; Ps 24 Rev 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44 The Rev’d Dr. Deborah Meister YouTube recording of the service. The sermon begins around 29:00 One hundred three years ago, a child was born into conditions of great injustice. Although he was living in his own land, his people knew no freedom. The boy grew, […]
Feast of St. Francis Jeremiah 22: 13-16; Ps 148:7-18,Gal 6:14-18; Matt 11:25-30 The Rev’d Dr. Deborah Meister Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages. (Jer 22:13) I first met St. Francis in the […]
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 146 James 2: 1-17; Mark 7:24-37 Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister This has not been a good week for people from the East Coast of the United States. Thursday morning, even before my prayers, I sent an e-mail to my family who live in New York City, asking them to […]
The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Jos 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ps 34:15-22 Eph 6:10-20; Jn 6:56-69 Choose you this day whom you will serve. (Josh 24:15) The Rev’d Dr. Deborah Meister Today’s reading from Joshua is one of my all-time favorites; it’s one of the great scenes in Scripture. It takes place at the very end of […]
Pentecost 5 Lam 3:22-33; Ps 30 2 Cor 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43 Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister “There was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years. She had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.” (Mark 5:25-26) You gotta […]
Trinity Sunday Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17 The Rev’d Dr. Deborah Meister During my time in seminary, I had the opportunity to join a seminarians’ trip to England. The itinerary was idiosyncratic: the student who organized it made sure that, in addition to visiting cathedrals and meeting dignitaries, we would visit every single […]
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10:44-48; Ps 98 1 John 5:1-6; John 15: 9-17 The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister I don’t tend to think of myself as a particularly jingoistic person, but I will go to the mat for the claim that the Book of Common Prayer approved by the Episcopal Church, USA, […]
Palm Sunday Is 50:4-9a; Phil 2:5-11 Mark 11:1-11; Mark 14:32-15:39 Rev. Deborah Meister Last week, someone hung a noose beside a church near my former one. It was not the first time that church had been defaced: someone had already taken down their Black Lives Matter banner, twice. Six Asian women were killed by a […]
Lent 4 Numbers 21:4-9; Ps 107:1-3, 17-22 Eph 2: 1-10; John 3:14-21 The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister As many of us know, Dean Bertrand is an accomplished runner, with a bounty of marathon medals to his name. My own career as a runner was much more ignominious.: I ran cross-country for one quarter in high […]
Lent 1 Genesis 9:8-17 Psalm 25:1-9 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:9-15 The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister As many of you know, a group of former inmates meets each week in Fulford (or, this year, online) to support one another in building a new life which is truly free. I learned this week that, each year, […]
Presentation of Our Lord Mal 3:1-4; Ps 84 Heb 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40 The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister “Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.” (Luke […]
The Feast of the Epiphany Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72: 1-7, 10-14 Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12 The Rev. Dr Deborah Meister A few hours from my childhood home, there is a marvelous set of caverns, named Luray. Descending deep into the limestone hills, the caverns comprise two and a half kilometers of extraordinary rock formations, cave […]