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A Sermon Preached at St. Thomas Anglican Church, Gibsonia, PA August 3, 2025 Readings for Pentecost 8: Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11; Colossians 3:5-17; Luke 12:13-21 And I will say to my soul,…

NOTE: I preached this meditation on Sunday, July 4, 2021 at my local church in Pittsburgh. It is now available in my recent book: Millennial People, Boomer Priest: My Year…

Twice in the past six months, prominent Anglican theologians have written articles questioning the formularies of Global South entities: Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GFSA). Both…

Note: The following article appeared in The Anglican Way 2.3 (2023), Used with permission. In a recent online article, three prominent North American Anglican theologians ask whether the “Reset” announced…

Observing from across the Atlantic as the “Living in Love and Faith” process slouches toward its predetermined destination – the authorization of same-sex blessings (and later marriage) – I happened…

I preached this sermon at Trinity School for Ministry on September 28, 1988. For a subsequent sermon, see “All Things Visible and Invisible.” Lessons for the DayRevelation 12Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 You…

I began this essay one day after the announcement of the “Kigali Commitment,” the communiqué of the fourth Global Anglican Future Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. Many Anglicans are rejoicing in…

A Plenary Address to the GAFCON IV Assembly18 April 2023The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion! This is my fourth GAFCON. You…

by the Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll For an onlne Commentary on the Fourteen Theses, see here. For a downloadable PDF, see here. I was glad when they said to me,…

Note: the following five meditations on George Herbert’s sonnet “Prayer,” with commentary by  Dennis Lennon, Turning the Diamond, were first posted during Lent 2020. I have compiled them serially in…

Text and Commentary by the Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll For a downloadable PDF copy of this essay, click here. For the Fourteen Theses alone, see here. I was glad when…

It may be fairly said that 2 Timothy 3:16 — “all Scripture is inspired by God” — is the mother of all proof-texts because it brings to legitimate birth the…

TOWARD REVIVING, REFORMING, AND REORDERING THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION By the Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll Introduction to Theses 6-10 The second group of theses – “The Gafcon Response” – sketches the…

The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll I have been reading postings from respected theologians in the Church of England arguing that the addition of “clause (g)” to the General Synod Resolution…

I happen to like three-way light bulbs. They make it possible to have background light for casual conversations and bright light for reading at night. Unfortunately the bulbs and sockets…

Shakespeare’s heroine Portia, decked in judicial robes, is acclaimed "a Daniel come to judgment.” Will Amy Coney Barrett be an Esther come to judgment?

The following sermons were preached at Redeemer Anglican Church, North Boroughs, PA, as preparation for members of the congregation who were to be baptized, confirmed, and received, as the bishop…

Places in the Heart, it seems to me, is not only about forgiven sinners but about a reconciling community, the dawning of the kingdom of heaven.

This is a classic comedy by a great cast of actors on a timeless theme.

AN APPEAL TO THE BISHOPS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA More than a hundred days have passed since the fateful Bostock v. Clayton County decision by the U.S.…

I would wish to have a crisper definition of systemic racism. It seems to me that systemic implies an established system of laws and institutions. Apartheid in South Africa was…

Throughout the month of September, “Lift Up Hearts, Gafcon!” will offer a series of devotions on the subject of “Marriage According to the Book of Common Prayer” by the Rev.…

    Welcome to Wed Talks! We have produced 24 short “talks” based on the service of Holy Matrimony from the Anglican Church in North America (known also as ACNA).…

Welcome to Stephen’s Witness blog! Fifteen years ago, I began to archive some of my writings as “Stephen’s Witness.” Then two years ago, I set up “Contending Anglican” as a…

On Easter morning, a grieving but credulous Mary Magdalene saw two Angels seated in the tomb, where the body of Jesus had lain (John 20:12). I conclude my meditations with…

This year we are following the gallant sacrifices which many are making to stem the coronavirus, an enemy to our physical health. Holy Week recalls to us that an earlier…

The second week of meditations on George Herbert's gem of a poem on Prayer.

I’ll utter another prophecy: the time will come when the 1986 definition will be restored and the transformed definition will be as ludicrous as the Emperor’s New Clothes. How many…

I have had an interest for many years in video as perhaps our age’s most creative medium. My taste, I confess, is rather eclectic, sometimes downright weird. Over the years…

The Archbishops’ apology presages a future time when bubbly babble about inclusivity and diversity will not suffice and will be replaced by the grim gruel of political correctness.

This year I participated in the midnight and morning Christmas services at our parish church. I read the Gospel from St. Luke at the first service and heard a sermon…

I would plead with you, especially those who are leaders in both entities: sit down patiently to explain yourselves to each other and to the rest of us during this…

Preface: A Reply to the Global South Anglicans In a recent “Anglican Perspectives” video, Canon Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council announces an “historic” development: the publication of a…

In September 2019, Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, shared some reflections with clergy and laity in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles on the state of the Anglican…

On the last Sunday in June 1999, I preached a sermon at the chapel of Uganda Christian University. My wife Peggy and I were on an exploratory trip, our first…

My goal in this essay is to make a case from Scripture for traditional language for man and for understanding how men and women, each in a particular way, are…

Dear Online Friends, I gave up “contending” for Lent, but it struck me as appropriate during Holy Week not to take up the sword but to “enter with joy upon…

I want you to imagine two men, one standing on the top of the city wall, a Pharisee, a follower of the Scriptures and God’s Law. Another man stands below…

“Finished!” I preached this meditation on Good Friday 1973 in my first parish. We are told that just before Jesus died, he uttered a loud cry. The Gospels are not…

Yes, the third word - “Woman, behold, your son!” … “Behold, your mother!” is indeed a mundane word. From the Cross, Jesus provided for his mother’s future needs. But in…

Sermon Preached at Uganda Christian University Easter Sunday 8 April 2012 Today marks the end of the 40-day Lenten season and the beginning of the Easter Season, which runs for…

The Empty Tomb stands at the head of the Easter season as a remembrance that the Resurrection life – Jesus’ and ours – can be entered only by the gate…

One of our family’s favorite Christmas activities is reading Barbara Robinson’s wonderful story, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It tells of how some ragamuffin children called the Herdmans invaded a…

Note: I was invited to give the annual public lecture, sponsored by Uganda Christian University and its Africa Policy Centre, on the topic “Secularism on the March: The Abolition of…

No, “invisible things” are real entities that can never be seen by our mere human senses. The first Soviet astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, followed shortly by the Anglican bishop John Robinson,…

Imagine yourself standing in front of one of those huge old tapestries that one sees hanging in a cathedral.[1] You immediately notice the intricate weaving into rich patterns of themes…

By the Rt. Rev. John H. Rodgers, Jr. Note from the Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll: On November 23, 2022, my colleague and dear friend John Rodgers died at age 92.…

This Statement was authorized by the Council of African Provinces in Africa (CAPA). Its drafters are the Most Rev. Nicholas Dike Okoh, Bishop of Asaba and Archbishop of the ecclesiastical…

I recently bought a paperback copy of The DaVinci Code in the airport at the beginning of a long trip. I found the first half of the book (230 pages to be…

NOTE: I wrote this essay in 1998 just prior to the Lambeth Conference and it was published in a booklet titled The Handwriting on the Wall: A Plea to the…

This essay is a revised version of a paper read at the “Anglican Life and Witness” conference in Dallas, Texas, on September 23, 1997. It also appears in Transformation (Winter…