For over thirty years Alan Neale has spoken with passion, relevance, authenticity and humor of themes that are profound and pressing; the profound he makes simple and accessible, the pressing he makes immediate and welcoming. All these years past have provided little time for Alan to write extensively and so now he begins a long-postponed desire and there are many themes waiting to be translated into books; the task is daunting and enthralling and he longs to begin in 2015
The Book of Psalms in Hebrew Scripture is constantly, and inexorably, the expression of all human emotions. The Book encompasses the most human of emotional experiences as fear, praise, jealously, confusion and anger. Thank God it does not massage nor anesthetize the starkness of these wayward and wild emotions; God’s presence seems not to require… Continue reading
(STUDY NOTES) Trinity Church Newport, RI 02840 “Discovering the Divine Magic in Our Lives” ; January 10-February 7 January 31 #4 “Close Friends We Neglect” – ‘Dangers of Familiarity’ “Epiphany” is a word of Greek origin, related to such English words as “theophany,” “phenotype,” (*) and “phenomenon.” It means an appearance, a displaying, a showing… Continue reading
Trinity Church Newport, RI 02840 “Discovering the Divine Magic in Our Lives” ; January 10-February 7 January 24 #3 January 24 “Words Too Familiar – Hearing with New Ears” “Epiphany” is a word of Greek origin, related to such English words as “theophany,” “phenotype,” (*) and “phenomenon.” It means an appearance, a displaying, a showing… Continue reading
Today’s sermon spoke to implicit presumptuousness in today’s Gospel (Water to Wine, John 2:1-11) and explicit presumptuousness in recent actions by the Anglican Communion concerning The Episcopal Church; actions that I consider to be shameful. Thank God I am an Episcopal priest able to be an authentic Anglican. Click below to hear sermon audio. Sermon… Continue reading
Given my British background we may well agree to disagree on the pronunciation of “process” – is it “proh… (long ‘o’)” or “pror… (short ‘o’)? However it is pronounced, we won’t argue will we? “Let’s call the calling off.. off”. Well that was complicated but it is just the beginning of considering the importance of… Continue reading
The story is told that when John Wesley (then a member of the Church of England) approached Bishop Butler of Bristol to recount Wesley’s conversion, the Bishop responded, “Enthusiasm, sir, is a horrid thing; a very horrid thing indeed”. Now remember that the Bishop was an Anglican and that Episcopalians (the American expression of Anglicanism)… Continue reading
A provocative and comforting Gospel passage, I did my best (with God’s help) to preach on the text (Luke 2:41-52). Below is sermon audio and a beautiful rendition of a hymn I mentioned in the sermon and, if you scroll down, also the text for the sermon (not quite what was preached in the pulpit!!!… Continue reading
This sermon was preached on Christmas Eve at the glorious Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. Known only to a few, this would be my last Christmas sermon as Rector. Very rarely have I put aside a prepared sermon once in the pulpit but it happened on this occasion. There is no text,… Continue reading
On Saturday night (12/5) I went to bed with, I thought, the sermon completed for the morrow. At 4am (12/6) I awoke ‘suddenly’ and was moved to write an altogether different sermon. I enjoyed preaching and thinking about this sermon and I think ‘syncopation’ is one way to describe the Advent tensions, maybe the tensions… Continue reading
I cannot imagine being a member of a church that did not struggle with the abominable Paris murders. Last Sunday my Rector, Canon Anne Marie Richards, preached to the events; this week it was my turn. In all the thought about, preparation for, this sermon I think I was challenged to realize that the two… Continue reading