The Episcopal Church was in the headlines with an announcement that the Diocese of Los Angeles had elected a lesbian female as Suffragan, that is, an assistant, Bishop. Reaction to the election was, predictably, swift and often negative. According to the way some interpret “the Bible” same sex relationships are allegedly evil. Yet nowhere does Jesus say anything about the subject and nowhere in the entire Bible is there anything about intimate relationships between women. Some, but not all, scholars…

2 Samuel 1:1;17-27 Psalm 130 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43 + In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, AMEN. When I was a small boy about 3 to 4 years of age in Forest Hills, in Queens, New York, I had the unfortunate experience of living as an asthmatic child in a household with parents who were both smokers. My asthma attacks were frequent. I could hardly breathe, and just like the little boy on the billboard we used to see,…

At a parish I used to attend, I was thurifer every Sunday for about a year. As Sunday Mass ended and I conclude my thurifer duties, I censed Our Lady of Guadalupe in the back of the Church because I honor Mary. I honor Her because She gave us Jesus.  I also honor Her because She can inspire the Ecumenical Catholic Communion to do great things…if we let Her. Our Lady of Guadalupe, according to a priest in Mexico City,…

At Sunday Mass when we sing or say the Nicene Creed, we “acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But the Church pays only lip service to this idea. While we read Bible passages about forgiveness, hear confessions, and pronounce absolution, Churches seldom oppose punishment per se in the secular world.  The United States, a supposedly “Christian” country, has yet to read, mark, and inwardly digest the concept of forgiveness. Instead, we have a punishment mentality. Most punishment occurs…

At a home for the elderly, residents with dementia gathered for their weekly rhythm exercises. The therapist directed each member to bang out numbers and shake maracas to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Some who seemed otherwise non compis mentis could nonetheless tap on cue. Alzheimer’s researchers report that patients unable to speak can sing childhood melodies. Why? Since Acts 2:46 tell us, “Song is the singing of the heart’s joy,” should not the Gospel of Jesus be sung at Mass? The gospels…

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION – AUGUST 19, 2012 St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Phoenix, Arizona Sermon preached by David Justin Lynch, Esquire Magnificat in place of the Gloria. Collect: 1979 BCP, Page 34. OT: Wisdom 7:21-30; Psalm: 9:9-14; NT:  Acts 1:6-12; Gospel: John 19:25-27 + In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, AMEN. The traditional doctrine of the Assumption for Western Christians has Mary, the Mother of Jesus, rising up into the sky instead of dying. ^ Eastern Christians…

The ongoing debate over health care has overlooked my very simple solution. What is missing is a discussion whether health care is a right. I say it is, and that there should be no compromise on that. Everyone is entitled to health care, period end of story. My proposal to deliver it is as follows and should be in the form of an Amendment to the US Constitution 1. All persons lawfully present in the United States are entitled to…

Holy Week begs the question, “Why did Jesus die on the cross?” Many Christians believe in “penal substitution.” They believe: all humankind has sinned, God’s justice requires a penalty be paid for sin, so God sent Jesus to suffer the penalty in our place by dying on the cross. But what does that say about God, and is that how Jesus saw himself? “Penal Substitution,” the dominant theory of Calvin and Luther in Sixteenth Century Continental Europe, has been widely…