The church is in decline. Attendance is decreasing. Membership is decreasing. Financial support of the church is decreasing. That’s what a lot of reports are saying about the church today, particularly in the United States. A lot of studies and reports are being done. And those statistics, in many ways, are real…

Luke 2:1-20
I’d like to share a story with you tonight about Daniel; not the Daniel of the Hebrew scriptures, but Daniel of Thornwood, New York. Back in 1973 my family moved from Yonkers, New York where I had grown up to Thornwood, New York…

Luke 21:25-36
What are you waiting for? This season of Advent that we begin today and for the next four weeks is oftentimes described as the season of waiting. Watching and waiting. So I say to us this morning, “What are you waiting for?” …

Mark 12:38-44
The widow’s mite. That’s a phrase that’s usually used to describe this Gospel reading that we just heard. I’d like to talk a bit about this Gospel reading, actually share with you two observations…

Mark 10:35-45
In two weeks my oldest daughter is getting married here at St. Paul’s. She and her fiancee met at UNC Greensboro. The last few months and weeks have been heading toward that day. I know the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty hectic too as we prepare for this joyous time in our family…

Mark 10:17-31
This past week was the Clergy Conference for all the clergy of our diocese here in North Carolina. We gathered together for three days with our bishops. Each year there’s a different topic someone presents or facilitates during the retreat. It was three days and was in Winston-Salem, where it’s been the last few years…

Mark 9:30-37
So Jesus is walking with his disciples and he has just shared with them what is to come: suffering, the cross, painting a picture where this journey is leading. It says that they are walking “on the way.” Jesus seems to be always “on the way” with his disciples. They arrive at a house and Jesus turns to them and says, “What were you arguing about?”…

Mark 7:24-37
I really think that Jesus came to an understanding of who he was as he lived ever more deeply into his life. Jesus was on a journey, just as we are all on a journey. We discover who we are in the midst of that journey. Thomas Merton uses the phrase, “The journey of life is really a journey to discover one’s true self.”…

John 6:59-69
I’m a huge fan of mob movies: Godfather, Goodfellas, Sopranos. I just find there are so many levels to those movies. You may say, “George, are those the kind of movies a priest is supposed to like?” But then you may say, “That’s alright, he’s from New York.”…

It has been said that one of the mistakes that the early Christians made was that of turning Jesus into a religion. Religion can mean a lot of different things in our lives. If I were to ask you, “What does that word religion mean?” there could be lots of descriptions…