You should know I had an entirely different sermon written for today, but yesterday I really struggled to know what to say right now. The original words I had crafted so carefully, with quotes by Meister Eckhart that weaved with the encounter between Abraham and the strangers at the Oakes...
Last week, Stuart mentioned that we had tried to compose a prayer that captured the wide range of hurt and frustration we felt in the light of current events in our country. And, then, we remembered “A Prayer for the Whole Human Family,” that exquisite intercession from the Book of...
Last week, I made my first pastoral visit in two months. Two months. I had to get special permission from the bishop to go and visit Ann Beadling in the nursing home wing of Lanier Village. Yes, I had to get permission to go visit both because of the risk...
“Then, the disciples asked him, ‘Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’” I get it. Giving sound to the deaf and sight to the blind; resuscitating the dead, and being resurrected from hell — all excellent moments, or, as the text says, “many convincing truths.”...
When we were looking for a new house early last year, we worked with a realtor and gave him a random mixture of qualities and items that we were looking for. I wanted a fireplace, Lisa wanted it not to have many repair issues, we knew we were getting cats,...
I have never really spent much time around sheep, so it is hard for me to really “get into” the Gospel texts about sheep and shepherding. We had plenty of livestock around us as children back in Arkansas, but no sheep. We even had one family take on raising emus,...
In the name of the Risen Lord we meditate his word, our hearts are open and our minds receptive! Blessed be God forever!! Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!! Few days ago, I saw a meme in social media that has the devil and God...
Imagine it, if you can: everyone began that day just as they always had, finding their way to the market, checking in with their family and friends, trying their best to maintain the “normalcy” of their lives with the strain of existence pressing on their shoulders. The hearts of many...
I may have told you all this story from my childhood, so forgive me, but I want to look at a slightly different angle of the experience. Late one Christmas Eve, when I must have been around eight or nine, I snuck out of my bedroom to watch TV in...
Today’s appointed texts are all about vision: who can see, who cannot see, who is healed of sight, who can’t believe that sight has been gained. They are deeply human stories on one hand, and they are stories of the power of God’s grace an another. We begin with Samuel...