Commemoration of Óscar Romero

Friday, March 23, 2018

It was a peaceful day in an area known for strife and murder. Inside the convent chapel, the priest elevated the host in the great moment of the mass. Suddenly a shot rang out and the priest slumped to the floor. The assassins quietly left the chapel and drove off,...

My Own Personal Holy Week

Friday, March 23, 2018

I am writing this week from my parent’s house on the Oregon Coast. I’ve been down helping my Dad care for my Mom for the past two weeks. This week she entered hospice care. Uncertainty is all around me. I am wondering if I am feeling like the disciples...

For God All Things are Possible

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Mark 10:17-31 Over the years my intimacy with God has grown by fits and starts.  There were periods when I didn’t pray at all.  At other times I drifted in and out, engaging with God for several days or weeks at a time, then forgetting.  But happily I have...

Fixing the Heart

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Almighty God, you alone can bring order to the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true...

A Note of thanks for all the Music Makers

Monday, March 19, 2018

The music draws me in. As I walk up the steps I hear the music playing. The music welcoming me with its melody. The sounds reminding me of churches past and the organ music that kept playing. The music that always keeps singing.   I give thanks for the hymns of...

Casting Out Demons for Lent

Sunday, March 18, 2018

  I have been discovering something about Lent which I had heretofore missed. It is a time when the demons get out. Demons? This is the twenty-first century, isn’t it, and the only people who believe in such entities are the ignorant, superstitious, and biblical...

Gum Up The Works

Saturday, March 17, 2018

John 12: 20-33   “What are you huffing about, McMillan?” It was one of my colleagues. Four of us had gone out to the lake for a much-needed, and well-deserved afternoon of relaxation. There is nothing lovelier than a bright blue lake in the middle of...

St. Patrick’s Breastplate

Friday, March 16, 2018

St. Patrick’s Day, a day when things turn green. People wear green T-shirts, eat green bagels, drink green beer, stuff themselves with corned beef and cabbage and potatoes, and in short, party. It doesn’t matter whether or not they are actually Irish, of Irish...

Discernment of gifts

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Daily Office Readings for March 16, 2018: AM Psalm 95 [for the Invitatory] 102; PM Psalm 107:1-32   Exod. 2:1-22; 1 Cor. 12:27-13:3; Mark 9:2-13   I have to admit, Paul’s Epistle speaks to me this week, possibly because Diamond, my new 9 month old lab mix puppy,...

Some Cross

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Mark 8:27—9:1 By U.S. standards I am not a wealthy person, but I have more freedom, safety and access to the resources I need than most people in the world.  I have clean water, enough fresh food, basic medical and dental care.  A computer, for heaven’s sake,...

Seventeen

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Seventeen. Seventeen bodies. Seventeen minutes. In some places, they will wait longer: twenty minutes; thirty; because seventeen is too young to die; because they have had to grow old before their time; because there are too many more bodies. Last week, the Episcopal...

God is in control

Monday, March 12, 2018

Sometimes you need the reminder that God’s in control. That this crazy, fear-inducing, 24-hour-news-cycle world we live in isn’t our only reality. That guns and violence and hatred aren’t the only ways our children will experience school. That people will be known for...

Food, Glorious Food

Sunday, March 11, 2018

  While we are firmly told it is not what we put in our mouths, but what comes out of it, most of us are answerable to God and our doctor. No [fill in the blank, and it can be a long list]. I was brought up on a lot of traditional British and European foods –...

Respect the Dignity

Saturday, March 10, 2018

I live in a small oasis town in Northern Saudi Arabia. On a clear day, from the roof of my building, I can clearly see the desert, it’s hilly dunes, and the never-ending sand. Well, I suppose it ends somewhere. This is an open country where you can see for miles...

Entanglements

Friday, March 9, 2018

I have recently taken up knitting again. I used to do it, probably 30 years ago or more, but I got away from it for some reason. In Arizona, all the sweaters, heavy shawls, afghans, and ponchos are seldom needed, but it’s a temptation to do handcrafts just for...