“In thinking about humility, I was remembering the personal experience I had at the gym with a muscle-bound personal trainer trying to sell me on getting a ‘Fit 3D Scan.’…I explained to my friend that I already knew that I had an unrealistic body image; I also think I’m smarter than I am, kinder, more generous. This web of self-deception is precious and dear to me! I did not get that scan. On the other hand, I do believe that God scans me inside and out. But that’s different, because I know that God really loves me.“

“When I think as an American about these acts of explicit white supremacist violence—about Christchurch and Charlottesville, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma City, Charleston and Birmingham—I have to admit that I also think as a Christian about St. Paul’s words in today’s reading from the letter to the Philippians.”

“It’s weird, when you think about it, how most depictions of the Devil in popular imagination are super spooky, because the Bible never says anything about the Devil being scary-looking. Angels, yes, are terrifying to behold; but the Devil comes off more like a really powerful attorney general.”

“There’s another choice I want to ask you about, and it’s a divisive ecclesiastical question, but here goes: How long do you plan to leave the ashes on your forehead?”

“Every so often, something happens that's so epically important or memorable that the event gets its own name. It doesn’t have to be a huge event to other people; in my family, when we talk about The Camping Trip, my kids know it doesn’t mean any of the campouts they went on with the Y guides or any of their school trips.”

“For many years, panhandlers represented a sort of moral dilemma for me. Should I give them something? Should I not? One year, reflecting on this passage in Scripture, I experienced an immense liberation. The instructions here are remarkably clear.”

“Our reading today is a story of awe and wonder, of worship and majesty. But it’s also a story about what it means to take on leadership in a time of transition.” Greg preaches before our Annual Meeting on the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.

“‘Love is patient, love is kind...‘ Since we only hear it at weddings, we might forget that St. Paul didn’t actually write that letter to a bride and groom. He wrote it to the Corinthian church. He wasn’t giving instructions on how to live together in wedded bliss. He was giving instructions on how to live together as a parish, and that’s worth thinking about, maybe once every three years, or maybe before you attend an Annual Meeting.”

“’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.’ If the Messiah says, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled,’ then that Scripture has been fulfilled. Well, so what?”

“Jesus and his disciples would have known they had less than a decade left of life, if that. And still, their God-given mission was to bring justice to the nations. Now imagine if we set our sights that high. Forget, ‘we would like to grow as a parish.’ Imagine if our mission was to bring justice to the nations, in less than ten years.”