Reality and the Cross A Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Cross September 13, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Stuart Higginbotham During these last few months, I have had the chance to go back through my library and pick out titles to read.  It is interesting which books stand out to me now, which ones... Continue Reading →

  The dead cardinal   The thing about windows is that you don’t want them so clean that the birds can’t tell whether it’s  an opening to a room to explore or the impending cause of their demise. I have seen some people place stickers of little butterflies there, but I think that’s a bit... Continue Reading →

Increase in us true religion Exodus 3:1-15; Matthew 16:21-28 August 30, 2020   Increase in us true religion.  I’m not sure if you caught that line from today’s collect--or if it caught you, as it were--but I am always hooked by this phrase each year when this particular Sunday comes round.   Increase in us true... Continue Reading →

But be transformed... Sermon for Sunday, August 23, 2020 Romans 12:1-8 When I was first ordained a priest, I served as curate at St. Benedict’s parish, in Smyrna.  The parish was a new church start, brand new, from scratch. It was an incredible place.  Still is.  We met for the first two years or so... Continue Reading →

Bee   Just the other day I was watering the plants in the garden at dusk in the shade when  the water had a chance to soak in. My shoulder brushed a shrub I love with violet flowers like paper and a blossom buzzed. I paused and gently tapped several until one spoke back. One... Continue Reading →

What can I do with this shit?   Today, when my jaw was clinched so tight for the umpteenth time that  it hurt and my ears rang from  the pressure that I carry right there in that place where I try my best to keep my face calm and project a facade of  “I can... Continue Reading →

Where is Wisdom in this? July 26, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Stuart Higginbotham     Almost twenty years ago, while in undergrad, I had the opportunity to travel to Belize with a group of Chemistry and Biology majors to study the tropical reefs off the coast of Ambergris Caye.  It was an incredible experience, to... Continue Reading →

So that our eyes look forward   What does it mean to be present in all of this, around us and within? To be present, surrounded by so much we cannot control, yet called on to pay attention to it. The wind blows where it will. Which wind?  How will we know when we lick... Continue Reading →