St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, MA
An Oasis of Faith at a Busy Crossroads
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  • Sermon, 11/30/25, 1 Advent

    Psalm 122; Isa. 2:1–5; Romans 13:11–14; Matt. 24:36–44 But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matt. 24:36) In the 1970’s Charles Dederich, the founder of Synanon, a self-help program for those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, established a code of …

  • 9/7/25: The Readings

    The Lessons Appointed for Use on the Sunday closest to September 7 Jeremiah 18:1-11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The …

  • Sermon, 7/13/25: Is “Love of Neighbor as Self!” Sufficient in the 21st Century?

     5 Pentecost Psalm 82:1–8; Amos 7:7–17; Colossians 1:1–14; Luke 10:25–37 “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” Lk 10:36 The story of the Good Samaritan, rehearsed just moments ago in today’s gospel according to Luke, is so well known that even …

  • Sermon, 6/29/2025

    3 Pentecost Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62 Foxes have their holes and birds their roosts, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Luke 9:58 You have most assuredly heard the phrase “attention span.”  I joke often about the length of my homilies, whose length …