This week’s Gospel reading from the lectionary are a bit disjointed, as it skips over two major revelatory miracles and just has two transitions that carry us from the sending of the Disciples to proclaim the Kingdom has come and then to the consequences of the two great miracles. (We’ll circle back to these events in the coming weeks). 

The verse that leapt out to me this week from the reading was St. Mark’s observation in his Gospel that Jesus had compassion on the people he encountered in the wilderness because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And that verse leads me into a meditation and a call to action for the members of the Episcopal Church in our present context. But it’s not the typical call to action… it’s about getting ourselves back to our first principles, our very first ones, so that all the rest can follow.

You can view or download the sermon directly at this link.