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Someone in this house has just recovered from a fever, has been lifted up, and is serving God. I don’t necessarily know who it is. Although… you may. The person recovered from the fever may even be you.
I know that it has been me. Lord knows I’ve had some debilitating fevers in my life: … Read the rest
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So it’s a week to be an Oregonian, no? I have to love it when our gas-pumping habits make the national news. On Thursday I woke up to the Washington Post headline that read “I don’t even know HOW: Some Oregonians panic about the new self-service gas law.”
Great. The rest of the country already … Read the rest
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This morning’s lessons contain something like a sacred inventory of body parts: Feet. Arms. Hands. Flesh. In … Read the rest
Continue reading "The Word is Good" »Listen to Audio
Nothing will be impossible with God. This is what the angel Gabriel told the young Mary, echoing the message of 2nd Samuel when the Lord told the prophet Nathan that God would make a great house from the line of the simple shepherd now become king David. And Paul reiterates it in his own … Read the rest
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Today being Christ the King Sunday, and myself never having lived under the authority of an earthly king, I thought I’d better do some research into how my peers think about kings. So I did what contemporary people do, and turned to the Oracle of Mountain View—that being Google—for insight.
I figured that … Read the rest
Continue reading "Jesus & Jonathan Haidt" »
Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?
Sometime in the 12th century, this phrase, or something like unto it, was reputedly said by King Henry II to his courtiers. They interpreted it as a command to murder Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been challenging the king in matters of property and legal … Read the rest
Continue reading "Pride and Priestliness" »Am I losing my mind?
That’s what my friend Lisa asked recently. Now there’s no shortage of reasons why followers of Jesus might ask that question at this time of year. Mary Magdalene and Mary, were you losing your minds when you snuck off to see the tomb of one so shamefully executed? Or when an angel sent … Read the rest
Continue reading "Easter Community Guidelines" »
I don’t know about you, but I am ready for some light. You know the kind I mean: that shimmery spring sunlight that makes the burgeoning cherry blossoms and rhododendrons and trilliums glow, absent the relentless shadow of rainclouds. And then there’s the problem of mud. Even though Nathan preached last week that “giving up the need to be right … Read the rest
Some of you may know that one of the great privileges of my first year of service at Trinity is to shepherd our Catechesis class, which is a 20-week long immersion in the Christian and Episcopal traditions. And this past Wednesday and the coming one, we’re studying Holy Scripture: the Old and New Testaments. From a teacher’s perspective, … Read the rest
Continue reading "With Charity for All" »
This past week, almost 130 priests and deacons from the Diocese of California gathered at the Bishop’s Ranch to listen to, learn from and pray with our central sacred texts—the four canonical gospels—in ancient and fresh ways. Alexander John Shaia, a psychologist and scripture scholar who led this year’s clergy retreat, offered us a way … Read the rest
