Proper 19 — Year B — Mark 8:27-38 Ever since his baptism, Jesus’ world had simultaneously expanded and crumbled. It had all started so promising, with the Spirit descending like a dove, the voice from the heavens declaring him the Beloved Son. It was a public declaration of his identity he didn’t take lightly, despite the problems it would cause. See it didn’t take long for his parents and siblings to become deeply concerned with his behavior. They thought he... Read more
One of the unique blessings — or curses — of living in the Deep South is the ubiquity of certain phrases and clichés. For example, if you move to a new town in the South, it doesn’t take long before someone asks you where you are attending church. The assumption is that if you are living in the South, of course, you must be a Christian. And if you happen not to be, then clearly God has brought you south of the... Read more
Year B — Proper 18 — Mark 7:24-37 Jesus uttered an ethnic slur. To dismiss a desperate woman with a seriously sick child. In this week’s gospel text, in the Black Lives Matter era, I think we have to start with that disturbing and disorienting fact. Our immediate response likely is, “Of course not! Jesus couldn’t possibly have uttered a slur!” But Jesus’ exchange with the Syrophoenician woman seems to tell a different story. No matter what theological tap dance can avoid it: Jesus calls... Read more
Contrary to what conservative pundits would have you believe, Black Lives Matter is not a call to division. It’s actually a call for unity. Because the truth is, we aren’t united and haven’t been. Not since slavery. Not since lynchings. Not since Emmett Till. Not since Jim Crow. Not since the Drug War. Not since Rodney King. Not since Katrina. Not since Oscar Grant. Not since Trayvon. Not since Mike Brown, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland … Not since... Read more
I have asked and I have asked. I have begged, and I have pleaded. And yet my requests have gone unanswered. I have offered constant intercession to you — a plea to stop the violence, a plea for some kind of intervention to end the killing, the tragedy, and the senseless deaths. But the resounding silence in response is deafening, overwhelming and oppressive. There is always another death at the hands of other humans. The gun is always reloaded. More innocent blood will spilled.... Read more
With unprecedented intimacy and frequency, Americans are becoming witnesses to murder. With the videos of beheadings and the footage of Black people being murdered by police, we’ve begun watching real people die violently in real-time, often from the palm of our hands or from the screens in our laps. Most recently, we streamed the disturbing body camera footage of Sam Dubose’s murder on our phones. We watched video of Tamir Rice’s death, transforming untold scores of people surfing social media into... Read more
Like most folks, I do a lot of things while I’m doing a lot of other things. As primarily a stay-at-home dad right now, it often means that I make notes while I’m doing dishes, cleaning rooms, folding clothes, or ferrying kids to and from summer activities or camps. Typically, Apple’s speech-to-text software is pretty spot on. It gets most things right. But frustratingly — for an Episcopal priest — it tends to get one word unfailingly and hilariously wrong.... Read more
Christian persecution in the United States is real. It’s just not what you think. Christian persecution isn’t about having to offer birth control to women. It’s not about having to serve wedding cakes to gay and lesbian couples. Christian persecution isn’t even having people call you out when you spout homophobic, sexist, or racist opinions, veiled blasphemously as biblical. Real Christian persecution is having your church burned to the ground because black people worship there. Real Christian persecution is having your church graffitied hatefully because... Read more
Lectionary Year B — Proper 11 — Mark 6:30-34; 53-56 On Saturday, my youngest son and I spent an afternoon carefully stacking a half-dozen rocks that had been worn smooth and elliptical by the French Broad River that eddied around our knees. The swift river and its small pockets of whitewater drowned out the world around us as we built a small impromptu cairn together for his birthday. After we balanced the final stone, he sat on the large foundation rock rising... Read more
You might want to think twice this Fourth of July weekend before singing “God Bless America.” Since 9/11, this sentimental bit of civil religion has become a national anthem of its own and almost every politician loves to end their speeches with this benediction. But it has always struck me as an odd thing to do, to ask God to bless America. Do we really want that blessing? I mean, have you ever read what Jesus says it means to... Read more
Edges of Faith
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