Second Sunday in LentYear ARCL Leaving the Familiar and Starting Over By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC There is a profound human desire within all of us for security. We like to know what is coming next. We build routines, we stick to familiar paths, and we create comfort zones because…
The Hunger and the Whisper
First Sunday in LentYear ARCL The Hunger and the Whisper By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC We have officially stepped into the season of Lent. And whenever we arrive at this point in the church year, there is a natural temptation to view Lent as a kind of spiritual boot camp,…
Shadows on the Mountain of Light
Last Sunday after EpiphanyYear ARCL Shadows on the Mountain of Light By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC Every single one of us has experienced what we might call a “peak” moment in life. It could be the day you got married, the birth of a child, a sudden breakthrough in a…
Radical Obedience from the Inside Out
Sixth Sunday after EpiphanyYear ARCL Radical Obedience from the Inside Out By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC If we are completely honest with ourselves, most of us like a clear, straightforward rulebook. Rules make life manageable. They give us a baseline for what is acceptable, and they let us know exactly…
You Are the Light of the World
Fifth Sunday after EpiphanyYear ARCL You Are the Light of the World By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC There is a big difference between a faith that is merely visible and a faith that is actually vital. We see this tension jump right out at us in our reading from Isaiah….
The Threshold of the Temple
The Presentation of Our LordFebruary 2RCL The Threshold of the Temple By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC Have you ever had the experience of waiting for something for so long that you forgot what it actually felt like to hope? Maybe it’s waiting for a biopsy result, waiting for a child…
Shadows, Fractures, and the Net
Third Sunday after the EpiphanyYear ARCL Shadows, Fractures, and the Net By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC If we are honest with ourselves, it is incredibly easy to look at the world around us, and sometimes even the world inside our own hearts, and feel like we are navigating a landscape…
What Are You Looking For?
Second Sunday after EpiphanyYear ARCL What Are You Looking For? By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC Every single one of us, at some point in our lives, has sat down, looked at our hard work, our relationships, or our spiritual lives, and felt a heavy, sinking feeling. It’s the feeling that…
The Voice on the Waters
First Sunday after the EpiphanyThe Baptism of our LordYear ARCL The Voice on the Waters By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC There is a striking contrast in our readings today between two different kinds of power. It’s a contrast that challenges almost everything our world tells us about what it means…
Home by Another Way
Second Sunday after Christmas DayAll Years Home by Another Way By +Brian Ernest Brown, CWC If you look closely at the readings today, you might notice a profound tension. It’s a tension we all live with every single day: the gap between the world as it is, fragile, unpredictable, sometimes…