Sunday, July 8, 2018 | Reflections
Psalm 123 A few weeks ago I went to Jerusalem. It wasn’t a pilgrimage, exactly. I went to see friends. But, I thought I’d see some of the sites while I was there. It’s Jerusalem, after all. On my first day, I walked to the Old City, through...
Saturday, July 7, 2018 | Reflections
Spem in alium nunquam habui praeter in te Deus Israel qui irasceris, et propitius eris et omnia peccata hominum in tribulatione dimittis. Domine Deus creator caeli et terrae respice humilitatem nostram. I have never put my hope in any other but you, God of...
Friday, July 6, 2018 | Reflections
Daily Office Readings for Friday, July 6, 2018: AM Psalm 140, 142; PM Psalm 141, 143:1-11(12) Num. 24:1-13; Rom. 8:12-17; Matt. 22:15-22 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.”...
Thursday, July 5, 2018 | Reflections
Matthew 22:1-14 When I was younger, I would really give myself a hard time for doing anything wrong or foolish. I wanted to get it right all the time, and I would beat myself up mercilessly when I didn’t. I wanted to belong. I wanted to be loved. And I...
Wednesday, July 4, 2018 | Reflections
Psalm 130 Many of us have had quite a rough last few months. We hear every day a constant barrage of bad news. School shootings. Cruelties, both great and casual, that are visited upon the most vulnerable among us. Beloved friends getting devastating diagnoses,...
Tuesday, July 3, 2018 | Reflections
The energy filled the air. Some nerves too. Some uncertainty. Some wondering. A group of high schoolers and leaders were packing the vans to leave for a week-long gathering. Many churches take part in service trips, camps, gatherings, and other ways to engage in faith...
Monday, July 2, 2018 | Reflections
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you;...
Sunday, July 1, 2018 | Reflections
Mark 5:21-43 The title of my essay last week was We Don’t Need Another Hero, and in this morning’s lectionary readings Jesus went around the Sea of Galilee healing people like a superhero. On the surface, it seems like I need to make a retraction....
Saturday, June 30, 2018 | Reflections
It’s always interesting to read back things that you’ve written in a diary or a blog or just on a piece of paper somewhere that you run across and it starts to make you think. It seems that subjects seem to have a span of time in which they are talked...
Friday, June 29, 2018 | Reflections
The idea I took away from my Sunday school days, was the idea the saints Peter and Paul were very much like brothers. The fought like cats and dogs about the fundamentals of the nascent Christian faith but both passionately believed in what they were building. That...
Thursday, June 28, 2018 | Reflections
Matthew 20:17-28 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but...
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 | Reflections
It is common wisdom that dogs think we are gods, while cats know that they are gods. However, it is my experience that cats possess uncommon wisdom, and therefore rarely underestimate our influence upon their lives. I think that, for the most part, my cats have faith...
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 | Reflections
June 21, 2008 -Day 19 Complete, 25 km “It’s normal.” For my friends along the Camino, Manuela and Paco, it’s normal to take an American they’ve only known for a few days and sit with her at the medic. It’s normal for them to be concerned and encourage me...
Monday, June 25, 2018 | Reflections
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (From the Third song of Isaiah, BCP 86) John the Baptizer, the cousin...
Sunday, June 24, 2018 | Reflections
I Samuel 17 There is a saying, often attributed to Oscar Wilde that goes like this: “Be yourself because everyone else is already taken.” Good advice, I think. And, I think it would have been good advice for just about everyone in today’s story too....
