Tom Murphy
@tommurphe.bsky.social
Episcopal priest in Baltimore suburbs / Jersey City forever / Baptismal Covenant / Poetry tommurphe.blogspot.com
"Hope is the opposite of desperation, it's not as comfortable as certainty, and it's much more certain than longing. Hope is always accompanied by the imagination, the will to see what our physical environment seems to deem impossible." - Jericho Brown, (b. 1976) #hope
“Attentiveness is the natural prayer of the soul.” - Nicolas Malebranche, (1638-1715)
"What else do we need? We're in an incredible adventure here with God." - Carolyn Forché, (b. 1950)
My sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost: "More than Enough"
More than Enough
More than Enough St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD August 2, 2026 Year A, Proper 13: The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost Isaiah 55:...
tommurphe.blogspot.com
“Love ought to show itself in deeds more than in words.” - Ignatius of Loyola, (1491-1556)
“In the calmness of the morning before the mind is heated and weary by the turmoil of the day, you have a season of unusual importance for communing with God and with yourself.” - William Wilberforce, (1759-1833)
“Action and contemplation are very close companions; they live together in one house on equal terms. Martha and Mary are sisters.” - Bernard of Clairvaux, (1090-1153)
"We should have learned / from the grass, humble in its abundance, offering food and shelter / wherever it spread. Instead, we stomped our feet like gods, / marveling at the life we made, imagining all of it / to be ours." - from "Species" by Tishani Doshi, (b. 1975)
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy before he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: (1/2)
My sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost: "Spiritual Spillages"
Spiritual Spillages
Spiritual Spillages St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills, MD July 26, 2026 Year A, Proper 12: The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 1 Kings...
tommurphe.blogspot.com
"But grief isn’t something we can schedule. It’s not reserved for certain days or times. Grief sneaks up on us in the smaller moments. Or, maybe it doesn’t sneak up on us at all, because it’s been with us all along. (1/2)
"First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others." - Thomas à Kempis, (c.1380-1471)
"So much of life is repetition, after all, isn't it? We perform the same actions again and again, day after day. This might sound mundane, but when repetition is reverent, it also forms rituals - repetitions which give our life meaning." - Maggie Smith, (b. 1977)
On the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene: "Here is a very Magdalen of bird weeping her music at the feet of day, who in a moment more will be interred and in his shroud of silver laid away. (1/3)
“The way to God lies through love of people.” - Maria Skobstova, (1891-1945)
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
The importance of storytellers: I love this paragraph by Darren Walker in his excellent op-ed, "Hollywood Needs to Listen to Gen Z" (New York Times, 7/18/26):
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; O Lord, be my helper. (Psalm 30:11)
"At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all this? And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this?" - Ilya Kaminsky, (b. 1977)
"Grief is praise, because it is the natural way love honors what it misses." - Martín Prechtel, (b. 1951)
“As summer persists, everything exaggerates” - Natalie J. Graham
“some rivers flow back toward the beginning” - Lucille Clifton, (1936-2010)
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1: 16-17)
"Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else. You are not to act in anger or nurse a grudge. Rid your heart of all deceit. (1/2)
"If you love something, you give it a lot of attention, and if you give something a lot of attention, you very often learn to love it. (1/2)
"If God is never done creating us, then we can never be done finding ourselves." - Matt Gaventa
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12)
