Repainting the Church
In his book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton writes, “If you leave a thing alone you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be…
Category: Posts
Digging Deep for Support in Lent
I have been watching the massive construction efforts on Genesee Avenue for weeks now as the main supports for San Diego’s new trolley tracks are being placed. First a massive…
The God of Detours
How common it is to experience disappointment and a sense of abandonment by God when we adopt a course that we believed to be God’s will, only to experience it…
Preaching While White
I recently returned from an international preaching conference titled “Preaching on the Borders” in San Antonio, Texas. The conference is a combination of worship sessions with preaching from stellar preachers,…
The God of Slow Time
In January, I was the recipient of a great privilege: over three weeks of vacation and rest between my previous post at All Saints Church and my new post as rector…
Learning to Walk in the Dark
Recently, I have been thinking about being in the dark, both the literal darkness of short days and the figurative darkness of uncertainty and worry. That’s because I just read…
Why I Opposed a Commemoration of Franciscan Friar Junipero Serra
As Pope Francis prepares to canonize the Franciscan Friar Junipero Serra, some are protesting and some are celebrating the “first Hispanic saint” of the U.S. As a graduate of Junipero…
Christians without Borders
Between the worldwide refugee crisis and the discussion of U.S. immigration in our presidential debates, we are faced with the question of how we respond to those who cross the borders…
Christianity Lite? Puhleeeez.
Back in 2003, when I decided to leave the Catholic Church and to be received into the Episcopal Church, people told me that I had chosen “Catholic Lite,” as in “all…
Talking to Jesus at Night: A Lenten Meditation
Talking to Jesus at Night Janine Schenone We rarely get glimpses of Jesus at night in the Bible. The two that come to mind are Jesus’ night in Gethsemane before…
Lenten meditation on hope
I have been reflecting a great deal upon hope in this Lenten season. This started when I preached on the second Sunday of Lent about the phrase “hoping against hope”…
In Praise of Competition
“Competition” is a bad word to most spiritual teachers and theologians. Especially in feminist, womanist, and mujerista theology, competition is seen as a male, patriarchal value that leads to battle, destruction and…
Preaching in a Foreign Tongue
In my position at All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, I preach in Spanish once or sometimes twice a month. It’s a language I love but do not speak fluently…
The Easter Bunny, Resurrection, and Jesus
Many years ago on a spring morning, I was hustling my daughter and me through our morning routine: she needed to get to preschool, and I needed to get to…
