This word from the Lord promises a healing in the aftermath of hurt. After breaking comes re-making. After the crisis comes a re-creating. We pray with hope for God’s grace. O God be merciful to us, for we long for you to make us whole again. We long to be made whole again ..read more

If you remember just one thing from today’s sermon, I want you to remember that each of us is a beautiful flower in God’s kingdom garden. Each of us has been given grace to bloom where we are planted, even more glorious than Solomon, more grand than the richest ruler we could imagine. Look around. We are all God’s magnificent flowers. It’s true. Remember that if nothing else ..read more

Sermon for June 19, 2016, by the Rev. Joseph H. Hensley, St. George's Episcopal Church, Fredericksburg, VA ..read more

The prophet Isaiah describes a vision a vision of the coming of the Messiah when the whole creation will be changed. The wolf will live with the lamb. A child will play over the whole of the snake. So, I look out at this gathering today, and I see Isaiah’s vision lived out. People of all stripes and personalities and dispositions somehow, someway dwelling together in Christ’s name ..read more

At Evensong (A Rannaigheacht Ghairid, a traditional Gaelic form ..read more

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story, a parable, a teaching story, and this story is told to the Pharisees and to his disciples about a rich man and a poor man. Parables are supposed to be mysterious, so I don’t want to try to wrap it all up and tell you exactly what it means. But I do want one thing to be abundantly clear, and that is that God is always coming to our assistance, helping us to live the life that really is life, a life of wholeness and beautiful proportion ..read more

Let me quote the apostle Paul as he wrote to the Philippians in the reading we heard earlier: “I thank my God every time I remember you.” Good morning beloved St. Georgians. I thank our God when I remember you and when I remember all the ways that God is at work in our midst. And I say with Paul, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion.” God is up to some good work at St. George’s ..read more

Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday. It is one of the major feasts of the church year, right up there with Christmas and Easter. In some places the celebration begins on the night before, on the eve of the feast. You may be familiar with the name for the night before All Saints Day…All Hallows Eve. I will say that Halloween is one of my favorite nights of the year, because it is the one night when neighbors go knocking on each others doors and are greeted with grins and sweets. The dead come to life. People walk the streets and can be whoever they want to be. It’s a beautiful thing. All Hallo ..read more

We began our service with a prayer containing these words: “O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory. Grant to us that we may be changed into the likeness of Christ from glory to glory. Are we serious about this prayer? Do we really want to be changed into the likeness of Christ ..read more

Joy to the world. The angel says to the shepherds, “Behold I bring you good news of great joy.” The prophet Isaiah says, “You, God, have multiplied the nations, you have increased its joy.” Psalm 96 says, “Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad…then all the trees of the wood will shout for joy before the Lord when he comes.” Joy. Joy. Joy. If there is one word you remember from this Christmas sermon tonight, let it be this: joy ..read more