Reflection Four As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and... Read more
Jewish philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, argues that “forgiveness acts upon the past, somehow repeats the event, purifying it.” I haven’t finished reading through all that Levinas has to say about forgiveness. But from a Christian and – for that matter – a Jewish perspective, it can be argued that the purification he describes is possible only in God. It is God alone who holds the past. It is God alone who can heal the past. It is God alone who knows... Read more
In some ways, what has been even more troubling than the murder of UnitedHealthgroup’s CEO, Brian Thompson, has been the support that people have offered for his murderer. Citing the number of people who have theoretically died or suffered thanks to the decisions made by health insurance companies, the amount of money made by CEOs, and supposed injustices of one kind or another, an unsettling number of spectators to the whole tragedy have argued that Thompson’s murder was understandable, if... Read more
Reflection Two Friends, today I continue our Advent series at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN, entitled “Normal isn’t coming back. Jesus is.” Today’s focus is entitled, “Leaving behind ‘Left Behind’.” +++++ There is probably no language in the whole of Scripture that is more often misunderstood than apocalyptic – which is the technical term that applies to this reading from . It is language scattered across the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. It appears in the Book of Daniel. ... Read more
Reflection One “Normal isn’t coming back. Jesus is.” That’s the title of our Advent preaching series, and we are beginning it a week early because the theme of Christ the King fits well with it. In advance of launching this effort, I got two pieces of in-put. One was from the Rector. She told me, “Don’t use the word, “eschatology”. “But that’s what Advent is all about,” I complained. “The return of Christ is at the heart of biblical hope.” ... Read more
Gracious, loving God, we have been entrusted with a nation that honors its citizenry with freedom and responsibility. We are inheritors of a system that provides for the continued well being of that nation, through orderly elections and peaceful changes in leadership. In this conflicted time, when opinions run deep, remind us: that our democratic process is more important than the election any one individual, that no election can produce a result on which we can all agree, and... Read more
A recent article published by the Episcopal News Service, was entitled, “Amid talk of a churchwide ‘clergy shortage,’ dioceses experiment with local leadership models”. I tried to pull key sentences from this rather lengthy article that summarize the statistical trends in the church and the key sentences describing trends in theological education: On parishes and clergy: 1. The Episcopal Church still has nearly 7,000 congregations. The number of active Episcopal priests, on the other hand, has fallen over the past... Read more
In our series on Discovering a Eucharistic Spirituality, today’s article focuses on the declaration, “Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.” Barbara Mauer was the most formidable teacher that I had in high school. She taught literature, English, and Latin for thirty-two years. And I had her for a class that took us through the whole of the Iliad and the Odyssey. There was a time when I thought that if I heard another reference to “grey eyed Athena”... Read more
We are celebrating seven baptisms today! And you might think that this would be a good day to take a break from talking about the Eucharist and focus on baptism instead. That’s not surprising. For a lot of our brothers and sisters, baptism and the Eucharist seem to be completely unrelated. If you think about it, the dominant Protestant voice in the larger church has left a lot of people with the impression that the Christian spiritual pilgrimage looks like... Read more
One Sunday morning, the Pastor noticed little Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The plaque was covered with names and small American flags were mounted on either side of it. The seven-year old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the Pastor walked up, stood beside the boy, and said quietly, “Good morning, Alex.” “Good morning, Pastor.” replied the young man, still focused on the plaque. “Pastor McGhee,... Read more
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