A Positively Poetic Priest

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 8 BCP 230) If you've ever read through Paul's seminal letter to the Romans, you'll know he put his mind to work writing it. Paul uses every trick and device of reason and scripture to appeal to the new Christians living in Rome. He uses his great reasoning skills to bring to fruit some of the best theology we have from the Bible. He outlines faith in Christ and begins the Church's understanding of Christology, he outlines justification by faith and God's work of salvation through Christ.  Paul didn't have tradition or the Church to fall back on when he started writing his letters...

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7 BCP 230) "Tradition! Tradition!" One of my favorite musicals is Fiddler on the Roof. Set in the first decade of the 20th century in Russia, the musical follows Tevye and his family (5 daughters!) as they change with the times and eventually are evicted from their town for being Jewish. At the beginning of the story, Tevye and the village have been following the Jewish customs and traditions they have known for generations. As the story unfollows, gradually these traditions and customs are faced, some with understanding and some with... well, stubbornness.  As we have been faced with changing times and customs, many of our older traditions have had to be looked at. We have h...

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 6 BCP 230) In thinking about foundations last week, I naturally thought about the Episcopal Church's foundations in scripture, tradition, and reason; the three legged stool attributed to Richard Hooker from his "Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie," despite never actually writing about a stool. However, scripture, tradition, and reason are the ways in which the Church holds fast to the foundation of God throughout the generations and centuries.  We live in a very fluid and rapid time of history. We eat fast food, we have instant conversation across millions of miles, we expect to pre-order and know things ahead of time. And sometimes in the midst of all this ...

O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 5  BCP 229) Even as self-labeled Christians, it can sometimes be easy to forget that our foundation is in God. Thankfully, every time we engage in prayer or Church services or spiritual practices or Bible study, we are given another reminder that God is the foundation of our identity. The Collect for this coming Sunday states this straight away: "O God, from whom all good proceeds." All which is good in this universe, including us, start with God. With God as our foundation, the slings and arrows of this world are a bit easier to bear. We have already been known as "good" by our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. We don't have to worry if we are 'good enough', we have been claimed by G...