Philippians 3:4b-14 Who are you? Who are you? How do you define yourself? When I was a child, back in the ‘60s (and yes, I’m telling you my age now) we used to define ourselves by our ethnicity … who was Irish, who was Italian, who was French, who was English. And while we might have been nice about the terms we used to define ourselves, we certainly were not nice when it came to defining others. By the time I was 7, I think I knew every derogatory term out there. You name an ethnicity, and I knew the name. And I used it. Because that’s what we did in those … [Read more...]
Gospel-worthy
September 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Philippians 1:21-30 The House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church is meeting in Quito, Ecuador, this week. One hundred and sixteen bishops from the 109 dioceses spread out over 16 nations have gathered to pray, to learn … and to think … One thing they were asked to think about came from Don Compier, a liberation theologian who recounted to the bishops a recent conversation he had had. Compier told them that “he was recently asked by someone in another denomination: ‘If you care about the poor, why are you an Episcopalian? Aren’t you just interested … [Read more...]
You are invited to the dance … whatchya gonna do?
September 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The keynote address at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, College Park, Md., at their Homecoming Dinner, 10 September 2011. A story from the 2nd century after Christ, of two monks in the Egyptian desert: A disciple went to Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I am able, I keep my little rule, my little fast and my little prayer. I strive to cleanse my mind of all evils thoughts and my heart of all evil intents. Now, what more should I do?”Abba Joseph rose up and stretched his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He answered, “Why not be transformed … [Read more...]
Be transformed!
August 21, 2011 By 2 Comments
Romans 12:1-8 A few weeks ago, I read Katheryn Stockett’s beautiful novel, The Help, which came out a couple of years ago and just this month debuted as a movie. It’s a beautiful book, my friends, telling the story of women, white and black, in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963 and ’64, at the height of the civil rights movement. Despite the darkness of the story – and there was a lot of darkness at that time in the history of our country – it was so well told that when I finished, I simply … sighed … with satisfaction. And then I heard that the movie was coming out and … [Read more...]
Step away from the lawn mower …
July 18, 2011 By 1 Comment
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 More than half my life ago, after I graduated from junior college, I moved to Milwaukee to live with my brother and his family while I attended university. I hadn’t been there very long when the family went on vacation, leaving me in charge of the house, the dog, the yard and my sister-in-law’s vegetable and flower gardens. I have to admit, while my family was gone, I probably wasn’t the best caretaker there ever was. So on the day they were due back home , I worked diligently – and frantically. I cleaned the house, and then worked outside. I weeded, I … [Read more...]
Go. Baptize. Teach. Need I say more?
June 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Matthew 28:16-20 Well, folks, this is it. This is the day when we celebrate the Trinity, that seemingly impenetrable mystery of Three in One and One in Three, something about which thousands and thousands, no, millions of words have been written and which many will tell you is impossible to completely understand. But I have to tell you, if Jesus were here with us, he would probably be confused. Because for Jesus, the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is not a mystery, it’s not impenetrable, and it’s not his focus. You see, Jesus understood the Trinity because he was … [Read more...]
The little things …
May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
1 Peter 2:2-10 A couple of weeks ago, I went on a rather convoluted trip covering six states in 60 hours. This is what I do: I’m a missionary who travels constantly to preach and teach and witness. Halfway through my trip, I discovered that I somehow had managed to lose my Kindle. Y’all know what a Kindle is, right? It’s the Amazon e-reader that literally changed my life as a missionary. It kept me sane and kept me company when I was alone, a stranger in a strange land. I’m very partial to my Kindle. I have about 400 books on it, and it has traveled the world with me. … [Read more...]
In defense of seminaries
May 19, 2011 By 6 Comments
(Written for Episcopal Cafe) Tis the season for graduations, including those at seminaries across the United States. Within a matter of a few short weeks, Christian churches will be flooded with hundreds of new graduates, most newly ordained, to serve as ministers. It should be a time of great celebration … unless, of course, you read Jerry Bowyer on Forbes.com. According to Mr. Bowyer, all these graduations, all these newly ordained clergy, are not a matter of rejoicing but of sorrow. Mr. Bowyer claims, in columns published on April 20 and May 11, that seminary is, basically, a … [Read more...]
Risky business
May 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
John 10:1-10 It is odd, in the midst of Easter season, to be thrust back into the life and times of Jesus as he walks purposefully toward Jerusalem and his death, to hear again his words, not as the Risen Lord, but as the itinerant rabbi from Nazareth, castigating those in power, telling stories that no one can really understand. But this is where we are on this 4th Sunday of Easter. No resurrection story for us this day: Rather, a return to the teachings of Jesus, the teaching of the Good Shepherd, of Jesus being both the good shepherd and the gate to the sheepfold. Now, we could … [Read more...]
