The Bishop's Blog

Thoughts and reflections from Bishop John Harvey Taylor

Daily prayer: For protection

Daily prayer: For protection

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely...

Daily prayer: Proper 16

Daily prayer: Proper 16

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow...

On the road: Black Bear Diner

On the road: Black Bear Diner

I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah (name that song). But since my last visit to the truck stop in Tonopah, an hour out of Phoenix on the I-10, the Black Bear Diner has opened,...

On the road: Eusabio and the Hoover Dam

On the road: Eusabio and the Hoover Dam

In Willa Cather’s “Death Comes for the Archbishop,” published in 1927, Bishop Latour, patterned after the real-life first bishop of Santa Fe in the late 19th century, sets out through the Arizona...

Daily prayer: Six days on the road

Daily prayer: Six days on the road

Patient God, when in our daily lives we are tempted by shortcuts, help us remember that we will always experience more of your glorious creation taking the long way around. Through Jesus Christ our...

Daily prayer: The desert sky

Daily prayer: The desert sky

“The sky was as full of motion and change as the desert beneath it was monotonous and still — and there was so much sky, more than at sea, more than anywhere else in the world. The plain was there,...

Daily prayer: For vocation and ministry

Daily prayer: For vocation and ministry

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of...

On the road: Acoma Pueblo

On the road: Acoma Pueblo

The only cottonwood tree on old Acoma mesa was planted by the great-grandfather of our guide, who gave us permission to call him Gooby. The nickname is derived from his Acoma name, which he said...

Daily prayer: Jonathan Myrick Daniels

Daily prayer: Jonathan Myrick Daniels

O God of justice and compassion, you put down the proud and the mighty from their place, and lift up the poor and afflicted: We give you thanks for your faithful witness Jonathan Myrick Daniels,...

A letter to the Diocese of Los Angeles

A letter to the Diocese of Los Angeles

Isaiah writes this: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” [43:19]. Vocalizing the promise of our...

The Grand Canyon, petroglyphs and the empty tomb

The Grand Canyon, petroglyphs and the empty tomb

When my elder daughter, Valerie, was eleven, she and I hiked the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the Phantom Ranch at the bottom, where they used to serve your choice of...