A Positively Poetic Priest

How far can you journey at the moment? With everything on lock-down, we may be talking your biggest journey today is the one from the bed to the couch. Or perhaps you have gotten out for a drive or a walk in the fresh air.  I've been trying to get outside for a run, walk, or bike ride everyday, which is easier some days than others.  Lent can be a hard time and sometimes we forget we are on a journey especially since  most of us aren't journeying anywhere right now. We are staying at home. But even at home, we are on a journey. In my house, I sometimes forget where things are because it so big, and when I walk into the rooms I don't use very often,  its a whole journey of rediscovery! I find things I forgot I had. But even at home, we are on a journey. The season of Lent is always a journey. A journey through repentance, confession, reconciliation, renewal. A journey with God of self-discovery through our Lenten ...

I started this year's season of Lent on Ash Wednesday in my sermon  talking about the wisdom in a cup of tea,  or rather, the wisdom in an empty cup of tea.  Since Ash Wednesday,  when I had a cold, until today,  I pretty much have had a cup of tea everyday.  Throat Coat, ginger tea, peppermint tea, I'm an herbal tea girl, I cannot have caffeine. My cold has gotten better, but there is something comforting in having a cup of coffee or tea.  And right now, we all need a little extra comfort in our lives. For some reason,  I always seem to have a different favorite mug for a season and use it everyday for that season, and then move on to another mug.  This spring is this lime green one I picked up for free at a thrift store.  Do you have a mug or cup of something with you this morning?  Is it empty? Full? Somewhere in between? If I were to imagine my mug's life it would look like this:  one of...

Look up! (point up) My number one pet peeve about action and horror movies is that when people go into a room,  concerned about the enemy jumping them,  they never look up. And so many times that is where the people are hiding, on the ceiling or up above the door or whatever.  We don't look up.  I've heard that Bishop Sean, when he was here,  never noticed that the ceiling in the priest's office is sparkly. Apparently, he never looked up. When you go outside at night, do you ever look up  and stay a moment in awe and wonder.  Stars by day and stars by night,  God provides us light. Beyond our physical world,  Even in the darkness of our own minds,  we have a tendency to look down. I see this psycho-somatically,  when people are upset and troubled,  they are always looking down.  At the ground.  While there are plenty of marvelous things on the ground, that's not u...

When I was at Clergy Conference this past week, Archdeacon Gail Winslow was talking about a week-long fast he did years ago with Father Adam Trambley. I have read about people doing week long fasts, typically with week long silent retreats, it seems like a bit crazy.  To not eat or talk for a whole week? One on its own seems bad enough. But Archdeacon Gail said that it wasn't too bad, eventually your body moves past the hunger pains and into detoxification mode. The problem then, he said, is that you stink. All the gunk your body has stored up inside of you gets thrown out and he said he felt like he needed to shower every couple of hours. I myself have never fasted that long. I did the 30-hour famine as a teenager. One year for Lent, I fasted on Wednesday and Fridays. But the idea of a week long fast and cleaning out the body is interesting. We do tend to store up, both inside of us and around us, junk we think we need or wish we could us...

"The wisdom in a teacup abounds,  all you have to do is hold each cup with mindfulness." I read this saying in a British novel once, and it comes back to me occasionally. It reminds me of those Zen master stories where someone comes seeking wisdom from a Zen master and starts rattling on about everything they have tried or learned  and what troubles they are seeing in the world, all while the master pours tea. As they ramble on, the master continues pouring tea,  overflowing the cup and letting it go on the ground. Obviously the point is sometimes we are too full  to be able to be filled with wisdom. I thought of this again when I was reading through the lessons for today. In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians he writes, ( 2 Cor. 6:10 NRSV) "We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;  as unknown, and yet are well known;  as dying, and see-- we are alive;  as punished, and yet not killed;  as ...

In 2010 a man named Robert decided to step out of his comfort zone and try something new. He signed up with the National Mentoring Partnership to become a youth mentor. He was quickly partnered with a youth named Demetrius. Since then,  Robert and Demetrius have done a little bit of everything together.  As they tell the story, "From a first-time fishing trip in earlier years,  to touring college campuses,  the duo continues to find ways to connect and grow.  Robert has remained a consistent fixture in the life of his mentee,  providing guidance and consistency in Demetrius’ life.  But the impact goes both ways,  with Robert noting that his relationship with Demetrius  has helped him grow and gain insight into how young people view the world.  In the spring of 2015, Demetrius graduated high school  and received acceptance letters from three community colleges and two universities.  When they...