What We Heard

Father Bill reflects on resurrection: "Resurrection is not only about what happens after death. It changes how God’s life and our life relate now."The texts for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A) are Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; and John 14:1-14. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on May 3, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on resurrection: "To recognize the risen Christ is not simply to perceive something; it is to be drawn into a new way of living."The texts for the Third Sunday of Easter (Year A) are Acts 2:14a,36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; and Luke 24:13-35. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on April 19, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on resurrection: "The stone gets rolled away not once, in a garden, two thousand years ago -- it gets rolled away wherever people show up in the dark, still hoping, still reaching, still willing to look."The texts for Easter Sunday (Year A) are Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; and John 20:1-18. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on April 5, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on spiritual sight: "The light is not something we manufacture. It is something that shines on us -- and then we are called to live from it."The texts for the day (the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A) are 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, and John 9:1-41. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on March 15, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on being born again: "New birth is not always sudden or dramatic. For most of us it is gradual, a slow awakening to the fact that we are already being loved into life, that the Spirit has been moving long before we thought to look for it.The texts for the day (the Second Sunday in Lent, Year A) are Genesis 12:1–4a; Psalm 121 ; Romans 4:1–5, 13–17; and John 3:1–17. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on March 1, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on the Transfiguration: "The spiritual life is not about manufacturing light. It is about uncovering the light already burning within us."The texts for the day (The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A) are Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; 2 Peter 1:16-21; and Matthew 17:1-9. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on February 15, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on being the light of the world: "Light is not the goal. Light is the consequence."The texts for the day (Epiphany 5A) are Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 112:1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-12; and Matthew 5:13-20. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on February 8, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on current unrest and beloved community: "The Beatitudes are not a list of virtues to achieve or rewards to be collected later. The are a declaration about where God's Reign is already breaking in."The texts for the day (Epiphany 4A) are Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; and Matthew 5:1-12. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on February 1, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on revelation: "The light doesn't just brighten what we already know. It widens our horizon."The texts for the day (Epiphany 3A) are Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 5-13; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; and Matthew 4:12-23. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on January 25, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on being beloved: "Belovedness is not an achievement but a gift, not a reward but an identity, not conditional but utterly, radically given."The texts for the day (Epiphany 1A) are Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; and Matthew 3:13-17. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on January 11, 2026.

Father Bill reflects on the continuing revelation of Incarnation: "God rejoices over human lives not as problems to be solved,but as beauty to be cherished."The texts for the day (Christmas 1A) are Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147:13-21; Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7; and John 1:1-18. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on December 28, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the fierce joy of the Magnificat: "The promises Mary carried in her body become the ministry Jesus embodies in the world."The texts for the day (Advent 3, Year A) are Isaiah 35:1-10, Canticle 15 (Book of Common Prayer), James 5:7-10, and Matthew 11:2-11. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on December 14, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the merciful fire that creates space for beauty: "God's fire is the heat of holy love, setting us free from whatever keeps us bound."The texts for the day (Advent 2, Year A) are Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; and Matthew 3:1-12. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on December 7, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the beginning of the Church year in darkness: "Advent is God's reminder that the world is soaked in possibility."The texts for the day (Advent 1, Year A) are: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; and Matthew 24:36-44. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on November 30, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the sovereignty of Christ: "A true king reigns not from above, but from among.The texts for the day are from the Revised Common Lectionary for the Feast of Christ the King (Proper 29, Year C, Track 2): Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1:11-20; and Luke 23:33-43. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on November 23, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on endurance, "the steady, embodied holiness of not giving up on goodness."The texts for the day are from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 28, Year C (Track 2): Malachi 4:1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; and Luke 21:5-19. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on November 16, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on resurrection: "When fear takes the microphone, remember what love has already spoken." The texts for the day are from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 27, Year C (Track 2): Job 19:23-27a; Psalm 17:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; and Luke 20:27-38. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on November 9, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the Feast of All Saints: "Love keeps finding a way to be embodied, to take human form again and again."The texts for the day are Daniel 7:1-3,15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; and Luke 6:20-31. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on November 2, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on gratitude: "When we are grateful, we are no longer the center of the story. We become part of a larger mercy already moving through the world."The texts for the day are Sirach 35:12-17; Psalm 84 :1-6; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; and Luke 18:9-14. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on October 26, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the true nature of healing: "Our world is full of dis-ease -- not only in our bodies, but in our body politic.... We long for a cure, but what God offers is something deeper -- reconciliation."The texts for the day are 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c; Psalm 111; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; and Luke 17:11-19. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on October 12, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the blessing of animals at the outdoor service concluding our celebration of Season of Creation: "It is as not as if our companion animals are outside God's blessing and we are somehow bringing them in... they already shine with God's life."Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on October 5, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the link between creation and justice: "The poor man Lazarus is the earth itself, lying at our gate."The texts for this week are Amos 6:1a, 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; and Luke 16:19-31. They are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 21, Year C (Track 2). Full texts are available at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on Sunday, September 28, 2025.

Ched Myers and Rose Berger reflect on a challenging parable and, on the fall equinox, the gifts of the sun, as part of our ongoing celebration of Season of Creation. The texts for this week are from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 20, Year C (Track 2): Amos 8:4-7, Psalm 113, 1 Timothy 2:1-7, and Luke 16:1-13.

Father Bill reflects on the Cross: “Redemption is not only a past event. It is a living rhythm, God’s pulse moving in all things.”The texts for this Sunday are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary for Holy Cross Day, Year C: Isaiah 45:21-25, Psalm 98, Philippians 2:5-11, and John 12:31-36a. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on September 14, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on discipleship in the Season of Creation: "Our life in God cannot be separated form our life with the soil, the waters, and the generations yet to come."Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on September 7, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the place of those who labor in Jesus' vision of God's Reign as "a banquet where the overlooked and overworked are at the center, not the margins."Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, California) on August 31, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on the healing gift of sabbath: "Sabbath is God's weekly revolution..."The texts for this Sunday are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 15, Year C, Track 2: Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; and Luke 13:10-17. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, CA) on Sunday, August 24, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on God's purifying fire that brings new life: "The presence of God exposes the landscape of our hearts..."The texts for this Sunday are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 15, Year C, Track 2: Jeremiah 23:23–29; Psalm 82; Hebrews 11:29–12:2; and Luke 12:49–56. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, CA) on Sunday, August 17, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on faith: "Fear freezes us, but faith moves us."The texts for this Sunday are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary for Proper 14, Year C, Track 2: Genesis 15:1-6; Psalm 33:12-22; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; and Luke 12:32-40. Full texts can be found at The Lectionary Page.Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, CA) on Sunday, August 10, 2025.

Father Bill reflects on this week’s readings from the Revised Common Lectionary (Proper 13, Year C, Track 2): Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23; Psalm 49:1-11; Colossians 3:1-11; and Luke 12:13-21. Preached at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ojai, CA) on Sunday, August 3, 2025.