We can’t multitask and there’s a load of research that shows that when we try to we don’t end up with great results. And yet in our age of distraction, it is hard not to do it. We sit down to write, our phone buzzes with a new message, we look down, we skip a song on Spotify, we go back to writing–it can get complicated fast. Our brains are changing because of these habits and somehow I suspect its... Read more
Over at the Ekklesia Project’s blog I have a new post reflecting on the gospel reading for this first Sunday in Advent. Below is the start with the full text after the jump. Preparing for Disaster First Sunday of Advent, Year C (RCL) 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 We’ve become all too familiar with disasters and the whole genre of reporting them (is there a disaster TV cable channel yet?). The reporter, looking like some alien that dropped from the... Read more
It’s that time of year–the busy time and we haven’t even begun Advent. It is important that in these days of holiday rush, we remember to slow down, take stock and call Christ’s presence into the places we are. Today, go on a prayer walk. Walk through your neighborhood and pray over each house, the people inside, and ask that Christ be present with these people and this place throughout the advent season. Pray that God’s coming into the world... Read more
Last night Gail knocked on the door. She needed a ride, end of the month, no food and there was a church that could help. We offered her some of our food, but she said that she had some special needs and just needed a ride to the church. So off we went, on a rainy night through the streets of downtown Little Rock. The church she though could help didn’t have what she needed, so she suggested another church,... Read more
Not long ago I was on a road trip, travelling winding highways that passed through endless small towns. In many of these towns there was a sign, small but visible, with a shield, a cross, and the words: “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.” These signs would lead to a church with an open red door—a church that is a part of a tradition that from the reformation until now has sought to be a middle way, guided by the three... Read more
Today is the last feast day of the Christian year–the Solemnity of Christ the King. It is a fairly recent feast day, instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI who was worried about the increasing nationalism he saw creeping across the world. Instead of baptizing this flag waving, Pope Pius created a feast to remind us that Christ is King and his kingdom is our first allegiance. Coming out of an election season where so many treated their candidate as some savior, it... Read more
A year goes by before we know it. Time flies as they say and it seems to keep on rushing. We have to slow it down, open up space, enter into some other space where we can reflect and see what’s been happening. Now is the time to schedule that time. We are about to end one year and begin another. Advent for Christians is the reset of the calendar and a perfect season to schedule a retreat. Take a... Read more
Yesterday we feasted, we spent time with family, and now we rest. If we practice the traditional Friday fast of Christians, then we rest our bodies (if you haven’t started this practice today is an excellent day to start). But it is also a time to relax into the Thanksgivings that we celebrated yesterday which means that this is also a day not to jump immediately into the season of wants and desires. Gift giving is good and like anyone... Read more
Today is Thanksgiving and for many of us its a time for joy, for gathering with friends and family and giving thanks for the year that has passed, but for many this is also a time of loneliness and mourning. Today, as you are giving thanks, follow in the loving way of the one to whom you give it. Seek out those who are broken and be Christ’s love to them. Then you will be more than thankful, you will... Read more
With Thanksgiving we recognize that we live within an economy of gifts. We did not build this; we create within a whole network of dependencies and within a creation that God made both brilliant and good. And for all of our fallen efforts to make the world ugly, God keeps making the world beautiful. Our most basic dependence is upon the soil. Without its health and life, we would have no health and life. We are Adam from Adamah, Human... Read more
Word + Flesh
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In