Wednesday, October 2, 2019 | Reflections
I recently bought some oranges that were just beautiful—plump and round and very orange. I couldn’t wait to get home to enjoy them. I sat down to eat one, really wanting to savor it. While I was peeling this orange, I realized it didn’t smell sweet. When I put it in...
Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | Reflections
Ask. Search. Knock. There have been several times in my life when I have been in need—a job, a recommendation letter, a place to stay, a meal, a kind word. When the need is dire, I gather myself and pray.I remember when I needed a job desperately. My son...
Monday, September 30, 2019 | Community Ministry, Reflections
by the Rev. Fred Devall, Rector, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Metairie All clergy are required to engage in some form of continuing education. Over the years I have been to several excellent conferences, leadership programs, and seminars, but none have been...
Monday, September 30, 2019 | Reflections
Being a Christian is a bit like being grounded at an airport during a storm: We never know when we’re leaving. Countless believers have been motivated by a sense that Jesus’ return is imminent, and yet here we still are two millennia later. We have a very different...
Sunday, September 29, 2019 | Reflections
Having enough money to cover bills and living expenses offers options and space to think about the needs of others. Too little money causes constant, wearing anxiety about how to meet basic needs like shelter and food, leaving little room for any other concerns....
Saturday, September 28, 2019 | Reflections
Scripture isn’t super clear or consistent about what lies on the other side of death, though Jesus explicitly promises both resurrection and judgment. I like to think that after we die and await resurrection, we reside in some manner in God’s memory. In this way, I...
Friday, September 27, 2019 | Reflections
Milk comes from mothers, honey comes from bees, and manna comes from heaven. But surely bread is the result of our own labor: the mixing, the kneading, the proving, the fire that needs to be built, wood or charcoal collected. And yet, Jesus reminds us in the prayer he...
Thursday, September 26, 2019 | Reflections
You can hear the fear and anger of the psalmist in these lines as they call upon God to wipe out the enemies of Israel. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, and yet who among us hasn’t wished for our enemies to have their comeuppance? Petty vengeance is ….(View...
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 | Reflections
The link between my father and me was like a glitchy phone line—important information was lost in static. Over time, that faulty line saw less and less use. His death left me feeling frustrated and angry. On retreat more than a year after his death, I sat….(View...
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 | Reflections
Bread is a simple food—flour, water, oil, yeast, a bit of sugar, time, and heat. Yeast—a living organism—eats the sugar and gives a gorgeous rise to a loaf of bread. Likewise, for us to rise, we must have the leaven of a living and lively faith. My l….(View this...
Monday, September 23, 2019 | Reflections
No matter how earnestly a person believes the world is flat, if that person keeps moving in the same direction, he or she will eventually arrive back where he or she started. Willful ignorance is always upended by truth—this is the nature of reality. I think sin works...
Sunday, September 22, 2019 | Reflections
One of my seminary classmates and I went on a pilgrimage to visit Marian shrines in the United States. We camped for a night along Lake Michigan. As we made our way to the beach, we followed a stream lined by tall trees that cast dark shadows against the brilliant...
Saturday, September 21, 2019 | Reflections
Once upon a time, two downtown churches in a large urban center each had a ministry with unhoused individuals. At the first church, participants were invited into a space that had been converted for this ministry. Church members and volunteers served food from behind...
Friday, September 20, 2019 | Reflections
On a fishing trip several years ago, I decided to cross a stream to retrieve a snagged lure. What had appeared a benevolent stream was a deceptively fast-running torrent—I feared my waders would be swamped. I knew if that happened, I would be pulled down and out to...
Thursday, September 19, 2019 | Reflections
The Beatitudes are some of Jesus’ most inspiring words, and they are recorded for us in Matthew and Luke. What Luke records [or writes] as merely “the poor,” Matthew adds the qualifier “in spirit.” Having encountered endemic poverty, I have come t….(View this...
