One of the four focus points for the School for Christian Practice is "Practices of Prayer." By claiming this, we affirm the essential place of prayer in our life as followers of Jesus. Prayer lies at the heart of who we are, yet how we understand prayer is varied, complex--and...
This homily is #1 in our Lenten sermon series, Essentials of Prayer. What does it mean to pray? What is prayer? For something so ubiquitous, seemingly everywhere and so common in our lives, have we truly paused to reflect on just what we mean when we say “I am praying for you,”...
There may be two images that capture me as a young child. One is me tending the fire at the deer camp while others go hunting early in the morning. I didn’t want to hunt; I wanted to keep the fire going. It gave me time to be alone with...
“The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” In the religious tradition of my childhood, a common phrase was “The Lord told me”. For the most part, this became code for “what I am about to do or say will need explaining or defending...
As for today, this is a day when we focus our attention on baptism, as we read and reflect on Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River, and as we take a closer look at our own baptism. It is a fascinating day in our liturgical cycle that calls...
Today like the Magi, we come to worship the newborn King! Amen!!! In the Gospel today, we heard the story of wise individuals who saw the sign of the Good News to the world. They were able to understand that what was happening was big and life changing. They identify...