Unexpectedly Alive

Friday, August 3, 2018

(“The Marys at Tomb”, mosaic in Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.  Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)   Daily Office Readings for Friday, August 3, 2018:   AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73 Judges 5:1-18; Acts 2:1-21; Matt. 28:1-10   After the...

The Sealed Tomb

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Matthew 27:55-66 Asked to share brief spiritual autobiographies, the people of my retreat opened their hearts to one another. They were generous both in telling their stories and in listening, permitting a deep vulnerability and authenticity to emerge. We were...

Forward Day By Day – August 2, 2018

Thursday, August 2, 2018

When a clearly mentally ill man visited my church, many of us were afraid to approach him. A woman named Verglea took his hand and brought him up to the communion rail. Verglea and others like her are the spiritual descendants of the women in today’s gospel. We should...

Forward Day By Day – August 1, 2018

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Oops…they did it again. The Israelites, whom God has hand-selected, seem to excel at screwing up. They do it again and again. Sound like any folks you know?This certainly sounds like me. I know I’ve disappointed my family on many occasions. I want to do what’s right...

A Narrative of Abundance: Mark 6:30-42

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Over half of my life I operated from a perspective of scarcity. During that time, according to my skewed perception, everyone was a competitor or a critic, always judging and potentially threatening, and nothing felt secure. It seemed just when I had something in...

Forward Day By Day – July 31, 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Several students in our campus ministry held signs proclaiming, “God Is Love, Not Fear” and “Give Love a Chance.” The students were there to face the fury of the fire-and-brimstone preacher who visits our campus several times a year. His usual spiel: “You’re wearing...

It’s VBS Season

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

You hear the letters VBS. I imagine thoughts and images immediately come to your mind. Perhaps you smile a bit and fondly remember your experiences with VBS. How as a kid you loved the stories and singing and being crazy for five days. How as a parent you loved...

Forward Day By Day – July 30, 2018

Monday, July 30, 2018

Whether it’s slavery or war or bullying in school or sexual harassment, no one likes to say, “I did it.” Embarrassed, we don’t want to own the fact that our actions—or lack thereof—might have created a situation in which people have been psychologically or physically...

William Wilberforce, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, and Anglican Mission

Monday, July 30, 2018

Today is the feast day of William Wilberforce, who probably will stay in the revised Lesser Feasts and Fast proposed by the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, who will probably not. Both are called...

Forward Day By Day – July 29, 2018

Sunday, July 29, 2018

“I doubt that.” Those were hardly the words I expected to hear. Having told the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand with what I thought was great skill, I had envisioned this table of five-year olds beaming at me in wonder, marveling at the miracle I had just...

The Basket Ceremony

Sunday, July 29, 2018

2 Kings 4:42-44   I’ll tell you a secret: I believe in miracles.   It’s true. I’m a believer. It’s not that I believe that Jesus walked on water, it’s that I believe the power of God lifts us up out of a sea of chaos. I...

The Boys in the Band

Saturday, July 28, 2018

There is a line in one of my favorite British thriller series where a highly educated detective sergeant is listening to a distinguished professor of English literature at a very respectable college in Oxford. The professor is discussing some of the great poets of...

Forward Day By Day – July 28, 2018

Saturday, July 28, 2018

While it may not be poetic to think of existence in terms of a Venn diagram—that is, as circles on a blackboard—it might be instructive nonetheless. If God is A, then where is B, the circle that represents us? Some people might draw A as a big balloon hanging by...

The Book Written for Me

Friday, July 27, 2018

Because I am one of the many people who cannot read any of the ancient languages the books of the Old and New Testament are written in, I depend on the scholarship of others to translate those books into English. Translators work hard not just to capture the meaning...

Forward Day By Day – July 27, 2018

Friday, July 27, 2018

“So what happened?” the woman at the desk asked. “Where did you fall?” When I told her, she nodded her head knowingly. “A lot of people get tripped up there.” “There,” in this case, was the breakwater in Rockland, Maine, an almost mile-long jetty composed of massive...