A Positively Poetic Priest

God of the Word, you are the tent God, pulling up stake to be wherever we roam. It is time for us to see who dwells in our midst, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen (preachingtip.com) One of my favorite movies growing up was the Lion King. I hope you've seen this children's classic. It's a movie that if you have kids, you cannot just watch once. At least ten years after the Lion King came out, Disney made the Lion King 1 1/2, a different kind of sequel. The movie starts with Timon and Pumbaa, the comic sidekicks, in a theater watching the Lion King. Timon starts to fast forward the movie and Pumbaa protests.  Pumbaa: Uhh, Timon, what are you doing? Timon: I'm fast forwarding to the part where we come in. Pumbaa: But you can't go out of order. Timon: Au contraire, my porcine pal. I've got the remote. Pumbaa: But everyone's gonna get confused. Pumbaa: We gotta go...

Christmas Day 2014 Eternal God, who sent your Word into this world to share your love and peace, Grant us grateful hearts and passionate souls that we may share your good news and word, through your holy and everlasting name. Amen.  You know the sensation, the fumbling in the dark, using only your fingers to feel for the familiar forms... the scraping noise... the moment the match lights up with the beginnings of fire... the haste to light the candle well and fully before the match is consumed and as your fingers feel the heat of combustion creeping closer. Bringing forth light in this world. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." The fascination in the scriptures with the dichotomy of light and dark has a profound influence on our theology. Through metaphor, imagery, and explanation, we use light and dark to make sense of the inner spiritual realms as well as the world around us. We still light candles in church, even though they are not ou...

Lord God, who created the wilderness, help us to listen to your calling, and follow in your paths, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen​ Advent. I've gotten a lot of questions from the students at the school about what Advent is. I've tried to explain to them that advent is a time of preparation, a time of reconciliation, of repentence. They don't always understand these words. They ask me, why do we have to prepare for Jesus? We need time to prepare, just like coming relatives. With one boy, I asked him if he has to do anything before his relatives come over, he told me, clean my room. I asked him if he had any cousins he didn't like, and what happened when they were coming over, he said, yea, I hide my toys. I asked him, what do you do when your best friend is coming over, he grinned widely and with enthusiasm said, I get out my cars. I couldn't help but grin along. So what do you think ...