Sunday Morning at Home

It’s very strange to be sitting in my den at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning!
The past two days, northeastern Ohio received a considerable about of snowfall – nearly 20″ in our area.  This is not large for some areas, but for us, at the end of the winter season (with the municipalities run out [...]

Preaching Extemporaneously

I did not post sermons for October 28, nor for November 4, because on both occasions I did not preach a prepared sermon.  In fact, I would have to say that I did not preach at all.
On October 28, I did what I called “a factual instruction” on tithing using some of the elements set [...]

God Is a Nag! (Sermon for Proper 24c, October 21, 2007)

What is this parable about? Jesus told this parable to his disciples “about their need to pray always and not lose heart;” at least that’s what Luke tells us this parable is about. But I’m not so sure this is a parable about prayer.
Does Jesus really mean that we are supposed to nag God? Is [...]

Church Pledges, Tithes … Dreams

This is that time of year that I am sure most clergy like just about as much as having a tooth pulled without anesthesia; it is that season when we endure the annual campaign to get parishioners to pledge their financial support of the church for the coming year.
Members of my parish will soon be [...]

Get Going! Sermon for October 14, 2007

The following is the sermon I will preach tomorrow (Sunday, October 14, 2007):
The experience of being a candidate for the episcopate is over. Episcopalians in Nevada selected another nominee and so the journey for Evelyn and me is ended. It was a good journey, a voyage of discovery. We learned things about [...]

Nevada Episcopal Election

This is what I had posted on my parish website:
The election of a bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, in which Fr. Funston was nominee, resulted in the call of the Very Rev. Dan Edwards of Macon, Georgia, to assume that post, succeeding the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts-Schori, who left Nevada in 2006 when [...]

Prophetic Book Titles?

I was sitting in our parish library eating lunch with my wife  …. we do this nearly everyday – she takes her lunch hour from work, drives through McDonald’s and picks up a couple of their grilled chicken Caesar salads, and joins me at the church office.
Anyway … I was sitting in the library eating lunch [...]

We are worthless slaves.

Today is the 19th Sunday after Pentecost. In the Revised Common Lectionary, the Gospel lesson for today is Luke 17:5-10:
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the [...]

Lost Friends

While we were away in Nevada, one of the pillars of our parish passed away unexpectedly as a result of what should have been a minor injury. A man in his 80s, he took a bit of a fall and hit his head. He felt fine immediately after and thought nothing of it. [...]

Returned from Walkabout

We have returned home from our trip through the Nevada desert with the nominees for Bishop of the Diocese of Nevada and several members of that diocese’s search, transition, and standing committees.
It was a wonderful, exhilarating, exhausting, eye-opening experience.  Both my wife and I were born and grew up in Nevada, and it is both [...]