Healing Of The Blind Man by Michael Buesking Dear Incarnation, On Sunday, I preached  about the fourth step of the Prayer of Examen: Face your shortcomings . Honestly name what has gone wrong in your day and in yourself. Saint Ignatius understood that this can be a daunting step, one that can inadvertently lead us away  from God and into self-absorption, even self-loathing. That’s why it comes so late in the Examen, after laying a solid foundation of God's presence, illuminat

Jamie Floyd, one of our former worship leaders, recorded this calming version of Eat this Bread (Taizé) for us during the pandemic. It is one of the most-viewed videos on our YouTube channel. Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. (James 5:13) Dear friends, We are about halfway through our Lenten journey. We’ve spoken often of “journeying by stages,” borrowing language from our Old Testament passages the past two weeks. Like our spiritual ancestors, we journey by stag

The Sower by James Tissot, 1886-94 (France). Part of a series on the Life of Christ. Dear friends, On Sunday morning, in response to the unsettling news of strikes in Iran, we began our service with an additional prayer for peace. I am always grateful for these old prayers that carry us even when we can't yet form prayers of our own. This is the prayer from Sunday, taken from the Occasional Prayers section of the Book of Common Prayer: Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no

Jesus Offering the Light (Arathi) by Jyoti Sahi. 2004, India. Collection of the Artist. Dear Incarnation, Welcome to the season of Lent. The forty days of Lent are a traditional time for the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (acts of charity). As a community, we will spend this season practicing a particular form of prayer called the Examen, which I introduced in Sunday’s sermon ( listen here ). The Examen was created about 500 years ago by Saint Ignati

Dear friends, During my sabbatical last summer, I visited Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Though it is most famous for the stained glass interior, I found myself drawn to the stone carvings surrounding the arched exterior door. My two favorites are above: the creation and temptation of humanity. The figures are surprisingly tender for hundreds-years-old carved stone: God's loving gaze at the person he calls from the dust. God's gentle hand on the shoulder and arm of Eve, drawing he

Hiking in the Italian Alps last summer Dear Incarnation, This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, the final Sunday before the season of Lent. Our scriptures tell mysterious, evocative stories of mountain traverses, radiant light, descending clouds, and a divine voice. These are stories of heaven meeting earth; God’s divine life breaking into our creaturely life and our material world. It’s also an Acapella Sunday, when we’ll particularly attune our ears to the simplicity and po

God-with-us has been revealed . . . now we have to go home a different way. The themes of light, revelation, and wonder have come up over and over again in our gospel readings and feasts during this season of Epiphanytide, or Ordinary Time, between Christmastide and the start of Lent. Again and again, Jesus is revealed to various audiences.

The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Mafa, Cameroon, 1973 Dear friends, I’m not sure I have ever gotten a response quite like I did to Sunday’s sermon on meekness (you can listen here  if the snow kept you away!). I’ve already heard about several after-church meals where people wrestled together with the challenge of meekness. And I’ve received nearly a dozen thoughtful texts and emails. I am so heartened and humbled by this response. You are asking the kinds of questions I want us