Maria Gwyn McDowell

  • Why I write for WIT: Collaborative Public Theology Matters

    I joined WIT in 2013 after writing as an Eastern Orthodox feminist for many years on my personal blog, DeiProfundis. I applied for two related reasons. First, in Eastern Orthodoxy, silence and isolation was a tool to quell dissent. Second,… Continue reading

    Why I write for WIT: Collaborative Public Theology Matters

  • Fear and Resurrection: “The Fear of the Jews” and its Aftermath

    A sermon for Easter 2C, “Thomas Sunday,” on Acts 5:27-32 and John 20:19-31. Preached at St. Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon. Continue reading

  • Here we are again, or, Why I Venerate the Cross

    It isn’t the cross and the blood that is redemptive. It what the cross reveals about God in which we take joy. So, we will repeat the refrain of the first Anthem, we “praise and glorify your holy resurrection; for… Continue reading

    Here we are again, or, Why I Venerate the Cross

  • Being Seen

    Which is all really just to say this: covering over an icon is like covering the face and eyes of your best friend, of a wise elder, of a comforting confessor, of a partner on the journey. We must see,… Continue reading

    Being Seen

  • Seeing Power: White Supremacy or Jesus

    But the language of hate is so incomplete. Because what’s happening is that the powers that be — and in the United States, the powers that be are white supremacist and anti-black — the powers that be are rising up… Continue reading

    Seeing Power: White Supremacy or Jesus

  • The Glory of Being Fully Human

    Sunday of the Transfiguration, August 5, 2018 at St. Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon. The book: I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. Continue reading

    The Glory of Being Fully Human

  • Outrage: To whom are we responsible?

    I simply do not have the luxury of shocked liberal outrage over the choice of the U.S. government to interpret our law in such a way that terrorizes families because this is simply the long, historical reality of the people… Continue reading

    Outrage: To whom are we responsible?

  • When a Chest is a Coffin

    I noticed it as I rounded the corner to unlock the front door of the church. A white box next to the stop sign across the street. I gave it no second thought. A half an hour later, I was… Continue reading

    When a Chest is a Coffin

  • There is No End to God’s Beginnings

    Christmas Day — December 25th, 2017 — the Rev. Maria McDowell from St. Michael and All Angels, Portland, Oregon on Vimeo. Image: Nativity Contemporary Icon by Lyuba Yatskiv (Ukraine) Continue reading

    There is No End to God’s Beginnings