A Positively Poetic Priest

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (All Saint's Day BCP 245) It is a good time of year for knitting. The days and nights are cooler, making us all desire warm, comfy, cozy things. Knitting is not only creative, it creates something warm and comfy as well. However, if you think about knitting from the perspective of the yarn, it is a strange twisting and entangling process through which the whole, the end goal, cannot be seen.  The Collect for this coming Sunday starts by acknowledging that God has knit all of us together in community in Christ. As the people being knit together, we are like the yarn,...

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 25 BCP 235) Every prayer we pray is in some ways dangerous. Prayer always changes the world. Prayer changes the pray-er, the pray-ee, and the situation, even if we do not realize it. In that way, every time we pray, we are changing the world. For those fighting for the status quo, all our prayers are dangerous. This coming Sunday we will pray for God to increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity. These are especially dangerous gifts in the power structure of the world, because every act of faith, hope, or charity changes the world and realigns its trajectory towards God's justice. Attached to the newsletter today you will find a PDF of a novena, a set of prayers for nine days, leading up to Elect...

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 24 BCP 235) One good thing that national and global disasters do is draw our attention away from our own little corner of community. Especially in this day and age, we have a tendency to focus only on our own situations and our own personal community. We forget the great wide world of creation and all the things going on other places, including all the other people striving for a good life.  When we start looking beyond our own backyards, we can see the wondrous miracle of diversity throughout the world. People live in so many different ways, work in so many different environments, and prioritize different aspects of life. Usually when w...

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23 BCP 234) I wrote the other day on Facebook that life the last six months has been like running in the dark. For most of us, going for a run is always a challenge, but attempting to run in the dark, either early in the morning as I do or late at night, has its own particular challenges. The biggest challenge is that it is hard to see where you're going and if the ground is safe and even. Running in the dark can feel very treacherous, and many of us have had such feelings about our lives right now. Moving forward each day is treacherous. We don't know what is coming and we don't know where the ground is.  Thankfully, in the Collect for this coming Sunday, we pray for God's grace to always precede and follow us. Basically, we are asking fo...