St Pauls on the Hill Ossining NY in Westchester

Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion located in Ossining NY in Westchester County

2 Pentecost (Proper 7)

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June 23, 2019, Charles D. Mayer I have always found this particular Sunday in the church year to be a very interesting one.  We have just concluded the six months of the year that are devoted to festivals:  Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.  And now we have entered the six months of Ordinary Time, devoted not to the high points of the story of Jesus and … [Read more...]

The Holy Spirit will teach you everything

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June 9, 2019, Day of Pentecost, Charles D. Mayer “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all I have said to you” (John 14:26).  In John’s Gospel, Jesus promises the Advocate – or Paraclete – to the disciples as the one who will continue to teach and guide them after Jesus returns to the Father (Jewish Annotated … [Read more...]

Sixth Sunday of Easter

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Charles D. Mayer, May 26, 2019 This morning’s Gospel is such a rich and fascinating one. Some of you were present for last Sunday’s visioning meeting, at which our facilitator Bill Cruse invited us to be in dialogue with this text as a part of exploring the histories of our two Ossining Episcopal parishes. Bill intended that work to set the stage for today’s reading of this same Gospel. So … [Read more...]

Mo. Cooper’s Good Friday Sermon

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You know - sometimes people ask why in Holy Week is the tone of our reflection so unrelentingly gloomy? Why does hope seem so scarce? Why don’t we relieve or punctuate the focus on loss with a bit more of the hope that we know waits for us at Easter?  In my experience, people who ask this are not stupid people - nor are they insensitive – neither are they helpless innocents who have never … [Read more...]

I call him religious who understands the suffering of others

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Mahatma Gandhi once said: “I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.” This morning we hear that section of ‘Luke’ where Jesus is told the news of the day. The crowd is abuzz. A group of Galileans has been murdered by Pilate’s men and not just anywhere...at the Temple. Now Jesus’s reaction to this news to me seems odd. He does not exclaim in horror - he does not condemn the … [Read more...]

Epiphany Day

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January 6, 2019 Good morning, and Happy New Year!  As I thought of wishing you a Happy New Year from the pulpit this morning, it occurred to me that our scripture readings for this great Epiphany Day, at the beginning of the new year, announce emphatically not a new year, but a new era in God’s journey with humanity.  In a couple of verses that I think deserve more attention than they … [Read more...]

Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down…

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Advent 1 Well, here we are at the beginning of Advent and of a new church year.  One of the many reasons that this Sunday is such an important and exciting one is because it is the Sunday, each year, in which we turn our attention to a new Gospel.  For the past year, Year B, we have been mostly in the Gospel of Mark.  Now, for the next year, Year C, we will be mostly in … [Read more...]

Mo. Cooper’s Sermon for November 11, 2018

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She opened by singing: “O say can you see by the dawn’s early light,What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets’ red glare,The bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the nightThat our flag was still there.O say does that star spangled banner … [Read more...]

Bishop’s Letter of Separation of Children from Parents

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BISHOP DIETSCHE'S LETTER ON THE SEPARATION OF CHILDREN FROM PARENTS My Dear Brothers and Sisters, "Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them u in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them (Mark 10:15-16) I pray that by the time this letter reaches you the hundreds and hundreds of children, including small … [Read more...]