My circle of experience, of friends, of imagination is little. I am one little person living on a little Island with little wealth or power. A regular person, little known or marked outside my household. Yet even I am not content with a LITTLE Christmas.
Read MoreI have never actually sat in a polling place to watch people coming in with my vote already safely cast. Young and old, various colors, skinny and chubby – and that was just the poll workers! We coastal dwellers are a varied lot! With everyone masked, forced to stay 6 feet apart, there was not much conversation among the voters.
Read MoreIn Jesus’s teachings, there are many descriptions of the Kingdom of God. It is like a magnificent pearl or a treasure found in the field. It is like leaving 99 sheep in the fold, then leaving to go find the 1 lost sheep. It is like a master forgiving the enormous debts of his slave. It is where Jesus goes to prepare a place for us. It is the place of light where God’s will reigns purely and without shadow or tears.
Read MoreWe are worshipping outside surrounded by God’s beautiful creations including birds and an awesome number of flying and crawling bugs! Some of you have dogs and cats waiting for you at home. With our Atlanta kids here with us, I have 2 cats and 4 dogs waiting at home.
Read MoreEvery time I read the Book of Jonah, I love it more! Now, I am not going to debate the “big fish” with you. Allegory or fact, whale or special creation for that moment, issues of gastric acids and oxygen –not my purpose. The lessons that the story of Jonah teaches us are the reason this book has remained in our Bible.
Read MoreThe authority and teaching of the Anglican community – us as Episcopalians, in particular – rests on three things: Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. Sometimes this is called the three-legged stool. Scripture, of course, is obvious. Reason reminds us that God gives us intellect and comprehension so that we can invite the Holy Spirit to help us discern the meaning of what we read.
Read MoreTheology matters because our theology describes how we understand God, how we expect God to show up in our lives, how we live as Christians in this time and place, and how we read Scripture. Our theology can place limits on the love and grace that we receive from God IF we do not believe that God’s love and mercy is endless and all encompassing.
Read MoreProphecies of doom and destruction against those who do not worship God and follow God’s laws are frequent and harsh. St. Paul writes in the Epistles that we should not let even the appearance of evil show up in our actions. St. Paul also cautions us against any activity that might cause another person to turn away from Jesus.
Read MoreJames was talking to a group of us over dinner and when heaven was mentioned, he looked at his beloved wife and said: Marilyn is in the choir. She knows nothing about heaven because she leaves class 15 minutes early every Sunday. We all laughed knowing that heaven is often the destination of a lesson, not the main event. Today it is the main event.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, Kent and I ran away from home. We drove to the rural hinterlands of North Carolina pursuing adventure and a new setting. It was interesting to be out in farmland – acres of corn, beautifully green, ears beginning to mature. It was easy to forget that we were running from isolation and fear – until we got out of the car and had to put on a face mask.
Read MoreJesus tells the parable about the farmer finding four types of soil: the hard-packed dirt of the walking path, the rocky shallow soil, the soil overgrown with weeds and sandspurs, and the good rich soil ready for seeds. No matter where we have lived, it is not hard to imagine any one of those soil types. Let us think about these as descriptions of our hearts and minds.
Read MoreThe Concern of Scripture is always our relationship with God through Jesus Christ and our relationships with each other before God. Obedience and disobedience, sin and repentance, redemption and punishment – all of these are descriptions of healthy and un-healthy ways to relate to God and others. We pull out certain verses to support our concepts, our understanding of relationships as a way of describing the kinds of relationships we want.
Read MoreSt. Matthew tells of Jesus sending the 12 Apostles out on their first mission trip, not because they have learned everything they need to know, but because Jesus looks at the crowds around Him and feels their pain and their need. Jesus is clear in the instructions that He gives: Do not go to the Gentiles and stay out of Samaria. Go only to your fellow Jews.
Read MoreThe Disciples of Jesus had been sticking close to each other and to Jerusalem after the Resurrection. They were, of course, fearful of the Temple leaders and the Roman Guard, but Christ Jesus had also promised that they would receive the Spirit of God in Jerusalem if they could be patient. Jesus promised that the Spirit of God would give them power and would teach them what to do in His name.
Read MoreAs Christians we describe ourselves as an Easter people. That means we live in the redemption of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, already possessing eternal life from God through belief in Jesus Christ. We live in the assurance of God’s love and mercy, the fulfillment of God’s forgiveness, and the joy of reconciliation with God.
Read MoreA fascinating thing for me is the current public speculation and conversation and endless analysis around why people adopt particular beliefs. Television’s talking heads of all stripes are constantly jawing about why conspiracy theories flourish. Why historical events are dismissed as imaginary. Why learning the facts may not change our opinions.
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