A Positively Poetic Priest

30 October 2016 Proper 26C What do you see when you look in the mirror?  I read a story once from a busy business woman in New York City, where on her way to work one day, she saw something unexpected. After she had entered her place of employment as usual, she went to catch an elevator up to her office floor. As she was walking up to the bank of elevators, she saw one was filling up and so she started running. Above the elevators was a line of mirrors and as she ran into the elevator, she caught a glimpse of someone she recognized as a friend but couldn’t place at the moment and she raised her hand to wave. After she was on the elevator on her way upstairs, she realized that the friend she had glimpsed in the mirror as she was running for elevator, was in fact herself. Her mind had recognized herself as a friend.  What do we see when we look in the mirror?  One thing I can tell you about living next door is that the Rectory has a lot of mirrors. There is a mirror right a...

23 October 2016 Proper 25C There are a lot of sayings out there about practice, especially in the realm of sports. "Practice, practice, practice." "If you don't practice, you don't deserve to win." "If you think practice is boring, try sitting on the bench." "Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong." "You play the way you practice." Then there are the longer ones written on gym posters and websites.  "Be patient, the results will speak for themselves." You have heard these kinds of sayings shouted out on sports fields, you have seen these sayings on tee shirts, you have said these things to yourself in the midst of challenges. These are normal parts of daily life, especially for anyone involved in any athletic endeavor. But I've never heard any of these applied to life in the church. Yet, there are many things that we do in the community of the church that re...

2 October 2016  Proper 22C  In 1927, the Belgian Catholic priest Georges Lemaitre proposed a theory about our universe  being always expanding, trying to answer and give reason to some strange observations in  astronomy and physics. Most of us know his theory these days as the big bang theory. In the big  bang theory, a small singularity explodes into a huge and vastly expanding universe.  This image, starting with something so small and creating something vast, is the same image that  Jesus invokes today with the parable of the mustard seed. It is such a good image for us to  understand when it comes to the work of God in this world. God always starts with something  small, something ordinary and turns it into something extraordinary. We are part of the larger  work of art, and yet, each of us is always a masterpiece of astounding value. We all started as  something so small, and from that tiny beginning, against all odds, we have ...

25 September 2016  Proper 21C  Please, stay calm. “Don’t let this story [from the gospel passage this morning] freak us  out about hell and damnation. It is not about the afterlife and its conditions. It is a  parable, a made up fictional story told to make a point, a point on how to live this life  here and now.” (PreachingTip.com)  If you were with us last week, you know that I talked about parables and how they  challenge, humor, and teach us. The parable in the gospel passage this morning  definitely continues that style of teaching. This parable is not as confusing as the one  about the corrupt manager that we heard last week, but “The story is left opened ended  because it points to us. We are opened ended. Remember parables are always about this  life. This story is asking us if we will come around and change our ways.” (PreachingTip.com)  So in what way is this parable asking us if we will change? In order to discern th...

18 September 2016  Proper 21C  There once was a turtle that lived near a hare. The hare made fun of the turtle for going  so slowly all the time. One day, the hare had a marvelous idea. He was going to  challenge the turtle to a race! Then he could really make fun of the turtle for losing.  There was no way the hare with all his speed wouldn't win! When the hare saw the turtle  the next day he challenged the turtle to a race and surprisingly the turtle accepted. They  set the agreed upon start and finish and got themselves ready. At the starting sound, off  they went along the path. The hare bounded ahead and soon became so far ahead he  couldn't even see the turtle behind him anymore. After a little while, he thought to  himself, I am so far ahead, I have time to take a little nap. I'll wake up and still have  plenty of time to finish. So he found a nice spot and sat down for a nap. The turtle  however, had been steadily walki...

11 September 2016  Proper 19C  Have you ever been walking or driving somewhere, but not really paying attention and ended up somewhere else? When I was a kid, my family went to the church multiple  times a week and more than a few times, when my mom's mind was busy and she wasn't paying attention, she would accidentally drive to the church instead of wherever she was  trying to go. Sometimes she would realize it before she got to the church and change  course, but sometimes we would pull into the church parking lot and us, the kids, the back seat drivers would ask, “why are we here?” and my mom would look around and say, “I wasn't paying attention.” We all wander off course sometimes.  Some of us have the wandering off tendency more than others. Sometimes we have good  reasons for wandering off. Sometimes we are looking for other things. Sometimes there  is no good reason, but we feel the need to do so and off we go. Metaphorically, when we  ...