Ninth Bishop of Texas

What must we be freed from so that we may embrace God's invitation to draw closer to God and to one another?

Christmas Eve sermon for 2020 from Bishop Doyle: Christ comes to us no matter where we are, wherever our friends and family may be found; nothing on Earth can keep your savior away.

"Non-action in times such as these is not an option for a Christian ... we are invited by this prophecy to lighten the burdens of others." A sermon from Bishop Doyle at Trinity Episcopal Church, Marble Falls.

El sermón del obispo Doyle en St. James 'Austin, una iglesia históricamente negra que encarna la voz profética de Jesús: miremos al horizonte donde Dios se encuentra con nosotros, como lo han hecho generaciones antes.

Bishop Doyle's sermon at St. James' Austin, an historically Black church that embodies Jesus' prophetic voice: let us look to the horizon where God meets us, as generations have done before.

Jesus's kingdom is not run in a respectable way. It's an extravagant amount of grace, an extravagant and imprudent amount of hope. When we truly grasp God's generosity and extravagance for ourselves, which looks completely like mismanagement to the rest of the world, we will see that God is for people; and so the follower of Christ becomes for people too, sharing the extravagance of grace and merc...

As we remember in our all Saints Day celebration, the celebration of faithful departed, here is the love we proclaim in faith atthe grave side of our beloved sisters and brothers: the miracle of kinship. Sermon for Trinity Episcopal Church in Midtown, Houston, on All Saints' Sunday 2020. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://c...

Like Moses, we stand at the precipice of tomorrow. We are given opportunity to change - to work beyond our own individual flourishing, for the flourishing of others, for God's vision. For a history-making God. This sermon was originally preached for Emmanuel, Houston, on Exodus 3:1-15. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://cre...

A sermon about gut reactions, rooted in magical thinking - not so different from worshipping the marketplace gods in Paul's time. The truth is, the lesser stories are addictive and never enough. God answers you and bids you hear, and see - the age of the marketplace gods has come to an end. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http:...

Imagine: exiled in Babylon for 70 years. What does it mean to return? There are multiple generations who only have stories of Israel; there are many ideas and many unknowns. They know they must leave behind them Babylon; change is before them, a new thing. The new thing that God is doing. Today, we stand on a precipice; we are looking into a changed world. The new thing must come. I invite you to...

We have a good word for the weary world, for the sick, for those who seek to heal, to those who care, to those who sit with the dying. A good word to the fearful and anxious even in a time of pandemic, of physical isolation from one another- even in this time of the coronavirus. Audio from Bishop Doyle's Easter 2020 sermon. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://inco...

The cross is a banner on our darkest hills, signaling that the instrument of disgrace and death is now a beacon of hope - in the face of an unjust world filled with the vestiges of racism and white supremacy, truly filled with every kind of violence and suffering that we know. Jesus knows our suffering and comes as our shepherd. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https:/...

We cannot begin to dismantle the institutional violence, nor much of the world's evils, if we do not begin by re-embodying the Gospel. Let me be clear. We will go nowhere if we do not begin by understanding that bodies and their dignity are to be protected by the community and the nation. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://...

Malcolm Guite brings poetry to our understanding of current times. Take a moment to rest in this: what can we learn from poets of similar points in history? Listen for good humor, stirring readings, and Quarantine Quatrains. In this new series, Bishop Doyle interviews experts and asks big questions. Where are we going? What does it mean for the church? Review and subscribe - it will help others fi...

In this new series, Bishop Doyle interviews experts and asks big questions. Where are we going? What does it mean for the church? In this episode, Evan Smith of Texas Tribune fame shares his thoughts about lessons from 2020, election predictions, and more. Bishop Doyle asks: how do we form Christians to be good citizens, even amidst governmental chaos? Review and subscribe - it will help others fi...

When we walk miles and miles with God, we reclaim our kinship with God, from whose heart we were shaped. We can no longer divide the human community into "friends" and "others," and we discover rather quickly that there are no strangers or aliens in God's country. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licen...

What can we learn from the Devil? Jesus rejects all forms of dominion and power over one another than enrich individuals at the expense of the broader community. God rejects all religious, social, political power that demands total allegiance. And by this rejection, we are invited to reject such power as well - and entrust ourselves to God. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacL...

It's good to have an intro rock anthem. My new fave right now is Sarah McLaughlin's White Flag. Anthems buttress us whatever others might do, if we feel alone, outnumbered, and we need a little something to encourage us forward. But that is not what Ash Wednesday is about. We need to raise the white flag and be ready to put our hope in God. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacL...

We are often fooled into believing in different narratives. School, politics, Twitter, whatever. They buttress our own buffered selves, souls, and egos, reassuring us: "no, really, you are alone." The Gospel offers something very different. God beckons us into God's community - and invites us to imagine the grandeur of God and God's hope for us. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin...

No one can live perfectly - and that's the point. What we understand immediately is that we cannot possibly achieve these things without Jesus. Not a community that has escaped from the world, but a community that is engaged in remaking itself for the sake of the world. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org...

The church is not the sum of the people who call themselves Christian. The church is the sum of people who do these things: Find in the world Christ and to join God there, pointing God out, revealing and living the narrative where God is the primary character. Perform acts of service; intervene in the world. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Lic...

God as Christ Jesus literally enters the world and commands the fishermen to follow. When churches become escapes and spiritual temples separated from the world, buffered from the goings on outside their doors, they are all too easily silenced by the principalities and powers of the world. But Jesus will not let us go. Matthew 4:12-23 Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (h...

It's a radical notion in a world of unreality, with all manner of worldly opportunities to withdraw from each other: We are not spiritual beings having a human experience - no, we are humans made of spirit and flesh, and we are meant for one another. Music from https://filmmusic.io "Slow Burn" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)