Tuesday, November 13, 2018 | Reflections
“What idols do you worship?” I asked during a Bible study. We had been talking about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. One of the folks in the study commented that there weren’t any idol worshipers left. I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and placed it on the table....
Monday, November 12, 2018 | Reflections
A parent once shared with me an edict from her child’s sports coach. The coach required attendance at practice every Sunday morning from March until the end of May. When the parent asked if this included Easter Sunday and Mother’s Day, the coach questioned this...
Sunday, November 11, 2018 | Reflections
“Taking care of number one” is the first rule of the zero-sum game. If someone else is gaining in success or power or control, then I must be losing. This sounds absolutely stupid when said out loud, and yet whole economic systems are built on the idea that resources...
Saturday, November 10, 2018 | Reflections
We like to judge more than we like to reconcile. From religion to politics, from education to immigration, we are usually far more interested in assigning blame than looking for healing. This is not a problem unique to our place in history—it seems to have been the...
Friday, November 9, 2018 | Reflections
What do I do when confronted with something I don’t understand? Do I flee or fight? Do I acquiesce or seek out understanding? Fleeing or fighting is easier than considering my other options. They require nothing of me other than to operate out of some primal...
Thursday, November 8, 2018 | Reflections
The woman sitting across from my desk asked, “What does sanctification mean? In the simplest of terms possible, please.” Normally this would not be a difficult question to answer, considering I’m a priest with a few decades of parish experience. What made this...
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | Reflections
In the waning years of this decade, wild fires have devastated communities from the Great Smoky Mountains in the East to the Cascades on the West Coast of the United States and many places in between. With the loss of life and property caused by these fires, it’s easy...
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 | Reflections
We are offered two ways to use the psalms in our daily lives of prayer. The psalms are listed in the Daily Office lectionary (and in the daily readings printed at the top of each reflection in Forward Day by Day). If you are attentive to this, you can make it through...
Monday, November 5, 2018 | Reflections
Roy never came to church. He was the town craftsman and a superb cabinetmaker. His mother was a cornerstone in the parish, but her son found communion with the Creator by working with his hands. Anytime the church needed something built, Roy was the one to see.My...
Sunday, November 4, 2018 | Reflections
The saints of God persevere in the face of adversity. The story of Ruth, begun in our Old Testament reading today, highlights this core characteristic.Ruth is a foreigner, and a wife taken in time of famine and exile. When her husband dies, Ruth’s mother-in-law,...
Saturday, November 3, 2018 | Reflections
Jesus is clear: where our treasure is, our heart will be also. I always seem to get these mixed up. If only I could get this…then that would happen. If only my intentions were right, then I could do better. As I reflect on the lives of the saints of Go….(View...
Friday, November 2, 2018 | Reflections
“You mean I’ll see my grandmother again someday?” The totally amazed child who spoke these words was preparing for baptism—along with her mother—and attending an after-school program hosted by my parish. The group had been discussing All Souls’ Day and life after...
Thursday, November 1, 2018 | Reflections
At times I have pictured the saints like superheroes. They may not have invisible jets or capes like Wonder Woman or Superman, but for me, saints are incredible and exotic. Occasionally I see glimpses of truth, like on a cold, wet, January day in 2014, when I gathered...
Wednesday, October 31, 2018 | Reflections
Several years ago, a friend and I had begun a discussion, which in turn became a debate and soon disintegrated into an argument. After several minutes of verbal attack, we all but dismantled a friendship of many years’ standing. I no longer recall the subject of our...
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | General Convention
Voters on Oct. 29 take advantage of early-voting stations set up in the “mural room” at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo: Lauren Reisman [Episcopal News Service] Episcopal congregations across the country are at the forefront of voter...
