Welcome - Bishop Matthew Cowden

Welcome to the official site for The Right Reverend Matthew Davis Cowden, Bishop of West Virginia. Here you’ll find out a little more about me. Some personal, biographical, some of my favorite links, hobbies, and my trivial pursuits. I’ve had this page since the 1990’s and it’s gone through various iterations. In the early days of nascent website culture, it seemed like everyone was going to have a personal site in the future, as in the way we each have our own pocket cell phones with a personal number as well as a Facebook page or direct way of sharing our lives with some version of the public. A personal site like this one of my own name is as much a hub for contact, further information about me, reading some my materials that usually end up further down a news feed on social media, and pictures. Welcome to my little bit of real estate on the internet. +mdc

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The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia

2 days ago

Advent Reflections 2025Friday in the Third Week of AdventDecember 19, 2025by Michael ScaglioneThree parts red, three parts white, and one part blue. That’s the official “recipe” for the rose color used for Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent. This week we take a break from the penitential purple to bring joy to the Season of Advent (don’t come for me, blue parishes. We can discuss the historicity of “Sarum blue” another time). In a season of dramatic endings and new beginnings, we get readings of healing, fulfillment, and joy.Last week, we heard the rise of John the Baptist and the infamous “brood of vipers” catcall. This week, we hear from him in prison, reaching out to ask his cousin, “are you the one who is to come?” Jesus’s answer to him and subsequent address to the crowd are all about fulfilled prophecy: “This is how I’ve fulfilled prophecy. This is how John fulfills prophecy.” This is our joy, in this “Little Lent” that precedes the celebration of Christ’s birth.We spend this week, about halfway through our waiting and watching for Christ’s birth, rejoicing in what that birth means. Just as John’s anxieties were quieted, know that we don’t need “to wait for another.” That’s the benefit of hindsight; we get to see the fulfillment and not live in the worry of “if”.So, rejoice! Break out the rose clothes! Sorrow and sighing shall flee away! Live in the joy of knowing who has come. We don’t need to wait for another. … See MoreSee Less

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The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia

3 days ago

Advent Reflections 2025Thursday in the Third Week of AdventDecember 18, 2025by the Rev. Paul Castelli, OCSThe Magnificat and our Gospel reading share something in common: the transformation of the world and the reversal of fortunes.We see these transformations, these healings, in Jesus’ response to John’s disciples: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised." Transformation. Healing. Reversal of (mis)fortunes. The Magnificat expresses a similar reversal of fortunes:"He has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty."Here lies the snare set by the world, the flesh, and the devil: It’s easy for us to look at these and think about anyone other than ourselves. We read about the blind receiving sight, thinking only of the physically blind, ignoring our own spiritual blindness and our need for the restoration of spiritual sight. We read about the proud being scattered and the mighty cast down, and we rejoice because we turn a blind eye to our own pride and self-importance. Advent is a penitential season, albeit of a somewhat different quality than Lent. It is a time for us to reflect, repent, and prepare for the glorious appearing of Christ, our savior and judge. Our readings invite us to ask: Which of my fortunes ought to be reversed for the good of my soul and of the world? Where do I most need healing and restoration in my spiritual life? How do I need to continue to be transformed by the Holy Spirit?Salvation is an ongoing process. St. Paul says:"As we work together with him, we entreat you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, 'At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.' Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)Each day is the day of your salvation and of mine. Each interaction we have with another is the time of our salvation. Each moment is an acceptable time for God to save us, even when it means knocking us down a peg. … See MoreSee Less

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The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia

4 days ago

Advent Reflections 2025Wednesday in the Third Week of AdventDecember 17, 2025by Nora EdingerIn this week’s Advent readings – a treasure trove whose prevailing theme is God moving us from weakness to strength – is an interesting opportunity for His people. In Isaiah 35, God invites us to be involved in His program, to work alongside Him in strengthening the weak hands and feeble knees of those in our midst.The feeble knee part is something I know well. For most of my life, I’ve had to coddle mine. Long hours on my feet at Sandscrest recently took this weak point to a new low, however. The pain was such that I required physical therapy lest I need to declare, “I literally can’t.”The therapist did in the natural what God is asking us to do in the spiritual. He led the way to strength. The pain stopped. I’m no Olympian, but my knees are no longer feeble. I could leap if I wanted to – and I might.Jesus is coming back! That’s surely cause for leaping. And cause for us getting in line with this directive. Let’s be like Jesus, grabbing a panicking Peter by the hand and pulling him out of the sea. Let’s be like Peter, pulling a fellow Israelite up from the dust and into strength.Whatever the cause of feebleness, God’s got deliverance for that. Let’s be a part of His plan of strong redemption so that many, many will leap with holy joy at His return. … See MoreSee Less

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The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia

5 days ago

Advent Reflections 2025Tuesday in the Third Week of AdventDecember 16, 2025by the Rev. Canon Chad SlaterThere’s something about Mary…As a people who (sometimes) like to claim to be both catholic and protestant, Episcopalians all too often have a squeamish reaction to the Blessed Virgin. I really don’t get the reluctance toward honoring this special woman. Even Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant revolution, said of Mary, “She is the highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ . . . She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough.”The Blessed Virgin Mary’s words of the Magnificat are a powerful foreshadowing by the woman who should be called Jesus’ first Disciple. It’s a powerful statement—revolutionary, really—about how God loves and cares for humanity. It’s the same theme that Jesus preaches over and over again in his earthly ministry—the humble are raised up, the proud are torn down. It’s compassion, a fresh start, for those who need it. It’s love for those who can’t love themselves. It’s hope for those in the darkest night.What Mary proclaims when the Angel Gabriel informs her she will be with child, and this child shall be Emmanuel, is simply that which is in her heart. It’s the same feeling in our heart when we truly believe in the love and compassion of God. What she expresses is simply a statement of fact. She doesn’t ask, as John the Baptist does, “Is this what we’ve been waiting for?” She knows it is. She is the first human being to know—to really know—that the Kingdom of God has come near. Her lips are the first human lips to proclaim the good news.So, “Thank you, Mary.” Thank you for your witness, for your ministry in raising up the savior of the world in the way only a mother could do. Thank you for your proclamation and willingness to serve God.Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and in the hour of our death. Amen. … See MoreSee Less

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The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia

6 days ago

Advent Reflections 2025Monday in the Third Week of AdventDecember 15, 2025by the Rev. Eric MillerThe Third Week of Advent is upon us, beginning with yesterday's “Stir Up Sunday,’’ as our Anglican siblings often refer to it from the Opening Collect: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us…” Stir up YOUR power… We need this timely reminder for God to stir up God’s power.So often, for so many, we get mixed up and think life is about our own power getting stirred up within us to accomplish wondrous deeds. As followers of the Risen Christ, our gift is to call upon God’s power to be stirred up, not our own.In the Season of Advent, we prepare our hearts and minds to recall that God’s power lay in the complete vulnerability of an infant in Palestine. Mercy, that is powerlessness.And so this week, the Third Week of Advent, we come to the altar seeking Christ’s power of integrity, authenticity, and vulnerability to be stirred up among us, that God’s bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us.What might God’s power being stirred up among you today bring about in new and vulnerable ways?c … See MoreSee Less

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