Loving the Children

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Loving someone else’s children may be one of the greatest gifts of the church.   You know those people.   The people who smile at your child whenever they see them. Those people who ask about your child and what they like to do and how they’re sleeping....

Transfiguration and the Word

Monday, August 6, 2018

What a blessed treasury of riches. It is the feast of the Transfiguration. If it were not, the daily Gospel reading is from John starting at Chapter 1, Verse 1. “In the beginning was the Word.”  And the summary of all the Christology needed for salvation, all the rest...

Remember When…

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 If you’ve spent five minutes on Facebook you’ve probably seen a meme that begins with, “Remember when…” or maybe it was, “Are you old enough to remember when…” and then it goes on to extol the virtues of something or another, often execrating young...

Moneychanging

Saturday, August 4, 2018

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests* had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘You must say, “His...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Betraying Jesus

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Matthew 26:69-75   I feel a kinship with Peter. He was a man with a passionate heart, an impetuousness that led him to say the wrong thing and ask the foolish question more often than not. I do that. I think I know what’s right, and I blurt it out. If I...

Praise to the Creating God

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Yesterday morning, I rose early, and took my prayer book and Bible out into the fields, meadows, and woods that surround the cabin where I am staying for a mini-retreat, as a busy month draws to a close. This summer has brought even more changes and challenges than...

Communion of Saints

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

You know how sometimes certain things happen, over and over again, and it seems to be more than just coincidence? Like sometimes a favorite song comes on and reminds you to call someone that needs some extra love. Or you see a loved one’s favorite bird at your bird...