A Positively Poetic Priest

One thing that may be very helpful for when you go to a new church or learn about new allergies and want to remain an active part of your church will be a Cheat Sheet for those who are in charge of food preparation. I made up the following Sheet for my own use. It has been helpful and it has been put up on the bulletin board in the kitchen for reference.  Elizabeth's Gluten, Dairy, Oat, and Soy Free Diet Allows : Fruit (apples, oranges, pears, peaches, bananas, berries, avocados, grapes, grapefruit, pineapple, dates, figs, lemons, limes, melon, pomegranates, tomatoes, etc) Vegetables (asparagus, peas, beans, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, celery, corn, herbs, lettuce, mushrooms, peppers, okra, garlic, onion, potatoes, lentils, squash, spinach, etc) Meat (chicken, pork, bacon, ham, beef, lamb, duck, fish, shrimp, etc) Grains and Flours (Rice, Corn, Potato, Tapioca, Bean, Garfava, Sorghum, Quinoa, Millet, Buckwheat, Arrowroot, Amaranth, Teff, Montina, Flax, and Nut) Nu...

8 December 2013,  2 Advent Last week Mother Leyla tried to wake y’all up. Do you feel awake yet? She reminded us that we have work to do as followers of Christ and that Advent is a time to refocus, to return to our vision which keeps us going, to remember what Christ has done for us and what Christ has promised us. Advent is thus a season of waking up, anticipation, and preparation. One of the things we are preparing for is new life, the life we have already, but not yet fully. Christ is with us, but Christ is coming. We are currently living in one life, but we are preparing for the new life that awaits us, which we anticipate.  It is mutual waiting for new life to come. We live in a time full of tension.  Yes, no, yet, but not quite yet... Maybe?  Advent is doubly tense, since it tests our resolve to have Advent at all. We could just skip, quick and easy, from celebrating Christ the King to Christ the Incarnate God!  We live in between the secular year an...

Resurrection. Rebirth. Revitalization. Renewal. Regeneration. Restoration. Response. They all start with r-e, re. R-e is a Latin prefix, if you remember your high school language studies, you might remember that it means again or back. Adding re to a word gives a repetitive or returning feeling to the new word. And we see this at work in thinking about all those re- words. Even resurrection. Believing and participating in the resurrection implies a returning quality, being redeemed and returned to life, though this time life in God's kingdom. Luke's gospel gives us a window into an encounter in Jesus' life and it demands a response. The Sadducees bring what they think is a ridiculous question in their mind to Jesus, probably in order to poke fun at him. The Sadducees do not believe in any kind of resurrection, but the Pharisees do, so the Sadducees might be trying to see where Jesus lies in the religious politics of his day. It is almost like asking someone i...

Jeremiah proclaims that the day of the Lord is surely coming! Life will be different and everyone will be in relationship with God! His words are full of anticipation! Yet, that was twenty six hundred years ago. How long are we going to have to wait? The Bible tells us over and over again that the world is changing and that the world is going to change, that the kingdom of God is coming. Yet we wonder sometimes if it really will ever show up. Christian hope requires more than just faith, it requires Patience, Prayer, and Perseverance. Patience. Someone once said, “Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience.” 1 Jeremiah shares with us an exciting vision of the kingdom of God, but we have to have patience to believe in the vision while not seeing the evidence of its coming. The second letter to Timothy also speaks to the patience needed in waiting for the coming of the kingdom of God. We live in a culture which longs to have everyone’s needs and wants satisfied ins...

Last week or so ago, the parents of a bride whose wedding was called off gave the reception to 200 homeless people in Atlanta. 200 homeless women, men, and children were fed a banquet like none other through the teamwork of the mother and father of the bride and Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless, an international organization with deep roots in Georgia. What an amazing gift to be able to share, for both the bride-not-to-be and the homeless to be fed on that day. Her parents are wonderful examples of people changing the world through their vision and their action. Jeremiah and Baruch from our first lesson today also make wonderful role models of people who are faithful to their vision and in their actions, despite their situations. Jeremiah is imprisoned in a city under siege by a powerful foreign army. Things are not looking good for the fate of Jerusalem or Jeremiah. Yet, God gives him a vision of the future which does not end in destruction. Jeremiah is...

I have my phone up here with me today. I’m expecting a call from God shortly… Brinnnggg, Bringgggg, Brinnngggg Oh! Yes, here it is. Hello? Yes… uh huh… Yes, Lord, I can do that. Thank you! Have a nice day. Wouldn’t that be so nice, if God just called us up, told us what we should do, and then we could go on our way? Yea, but God doesn’t work that way. Jeremiah shares how God called him to a life of God’s service. Not exactly an easy phone call, a bit more awe inspiring and intimidating. Jeremiah is a small boy, with a large awesome God. Thankfully Jeremiah shares with us his discernment of his call to life in God, even his protest. Jeremiah protests by saying “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy,” even before he knows what God is calling him to do exactly. We do that sometimes, afraid of what might be coming, we protest before we even know what we are being called to do. Like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof whose calling was to be a faithful Jew in Ru...

Thursday September 19, 2013 Theodore of Tarsus Malachi 2:5-7 Psalm 71:18-23 2 Timothy 2:1-5, 10 Matthew 8:23-27 "True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of The Lord of hosts." Don't we all wish that such things could be said of all our priests, including someday all of us on the path to become priests? Don't we wish that all our priests were teachers of true wisdom, role models of integrity and uprightness, true messengers from God? I wish it was so. It is an ambitious goal. Instead, my life right now looks more like the lives of the disciples in the boat on that stormy day in Matthew's gospel. Afraid, covered in the mess of life, calling out for help from anyone, especially God. Thankfully, Jesus doe...

This sermon was given in August during a seminary orientation Eucharist on the feast day of Jeremy Taylor. “ Make us,” O God, “like your servant Jeremy Taylor, deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life.” I actually take enjoyment of sharing good news of death with you all during this first week here. Death was a fond friend of Jeremy Taylor’s, at least, his legacy of books, writings, and collections of prayers point to his ever searching want and wisdom to work towards a holy death in Christ. The collect of the day reminds us to be deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of our lives, I am sure many of you feel this uncertainty right now. Paul in Romans points to the reality that if we are living in Christ, then our death will be in Christ, Christ is ruler over both the dead and the living, we cannot stray away from God. The Gospel of John points beyond all human death to eternal life in Christ. He reminds us that God loves each of us, so much so that God w...