St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Knoxville, Tenn. John 6:37-40 Go west. Make space. Lose nothing. Even before he was ordained as a deacon, Jim Parry did a rather rare thing. And he did it three times. He went west and helped start a new Episcopal parish church. Now when I say west, I do not mean West Memphis or western Kansas or South Dakota. I mean Northshore Drive and Cedar Bluff Road and Farragut–Ascension and Good Samaritan and St. Elizabeth’s. Jim

Dear friends in East Tennessee, When I retired from serving as your bishop, so many of you were so kind and gracious to give me a monetary gift. I initially told some folks I thought Kammy and I would take a trip to the island of Iona in Scotland – a holy place that’s long been on my list. I still hope to go there someday, but I decided something more active sounded better. The Camino to Santiago de Compostela

Bishop Brian is pleased to announce that Mary Embler will be joining our diocesan staff as Diocesan Administrator when Kirby Purjet retires in August. But you’ll be seeing Mary at the Diocesan House before then as she and Kirby will be working together as August approaches. Mary is a Knoxville native and has been a member of Good Samaritan in Knoxville for 36 years. She is a graduate of Tennessee Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in

“…Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these the kingdom of heaven belongs.” ~Matthew 19:14 (NRSV) This past Saturday evening, Susan and I attended a Vespers service at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Knoxville. We were there to celebrate the reopening of the main church, which was badly damaged in an April 2015 fire. The Vespers and rededication was led by Metropolitan Alexios, the Greek Orthodox bishop who oversees

On May 22nd, I stood along with about 20 other Episcopal deacons and priests near the banks of the Savannah River in the center of Savannah, Georgia. There was an embankment in front of us, and we were standing in front of four archways, which led into four unlit chambers – a little smaller than living rooms, that had been cut into the embankment. These chambers are known as the Cluskey Vaults, and their historical purpose in the nineteenth continues

Sermon Given at Church of the Ascension, Knoxville Seventh Sunday of Easter | June 2, 2019 Acts 16:16-34 John 17:20-26 This morning, quite deep into the season of Easter, we hear again a lesson from the Acts of Apostles. From the first day of Easter until the day of Pentecost, the Church invites us to read deeply from the Acts, to listen to the earliest stories of the infant Church. It might be wise, therefore, to pay attention to where

This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.  ~John 21:24-25 (NRSV) This past Sunday, many of us heard the gospel lesson from St. John’s Gospel where Jesus and Peter are reconciled over breakfast. Each

Sermon given on the 2nd Sunday of Easter St. John’s Cathedral, Knoxville | April 28, 2019 John 20:19-31 I would like to share a quote with you from the late British novelist and philosopher, Iris Murdoch. “Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of that reality.” The only reason that I know of Murdoch’s words is because of another writer, Zadie Smith. Zadie Smith is