A Positively Poetic Priest

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 13 BCP 232) I have loved living in St. John's Rectory the last five years. However, I am not always thrilled about having to clean it. Eight bedrooms, two staircases, three bathrooms, lots of spaces for dust and bugs and random stuff to collect and make a mess. Cleaning can be a specific process. Sometimes I forget this fact and dust after I have cleaned the floors and then realize I got dust all over the floors again. Cleaning takes time and energy and attention to the details. The wood floors need the wood floor cleaner, not the kitchen vinyl floor cleaner. Thankfully though, I do feel happier after everything is clean and neat and smelling fresh.  The Collect for this coming Sunday uses...

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 12 BCP 231) God is our protector. God protects us from evil in this world. However, God does not protect us from the consequences of our own mistakes, our own failures of justice or relationship. God will protect us from the real power of death, but God will not stop us from all the little deaths which lead us to greater life in Christ. God is our protector, and will always protect us from true evil, but God will not protect us from our own freedom of choice. God gave us free will as a gift after all! After the last few years learning ever more about the inequality of different people in our county, my understanding...

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 11 BCP 231) Franklin has a beautiful fountain. It is gracefully proportioned and placed in the center of a lovely park. It shows up in pictures for all types of personal celebrations: weddings, graduations, proms, family gatherings, Saturday morning playdates. It is always giving, that is, when it is turned on. The water flows from top to bottom and around again. Throwing out water no matter who is around. In the wind, it sprays the rich and the homeless. It is a focal point, not hidden, out and available for all.  Fountains are lovely images for metaphors. God, as the fountain of al...

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 10 BCP 231) We are not left to our own power. When we pray to God for guidance and we understand what we are called to do, we are not left to our own power to accomplish what God calls us to. God gives us the power to do what we have been called to do. God never leaves us hanging, knowing what to do without the power to do it. Sometimes we don't realize we have the power we need, but God will make it known at the right time.  In all the conflicts we get ourselves into as people and as a nation, we always have a choice in how to react and how to proceed. When we blow our options by responding with malicious intent, we often escalate situations we could h...

7/2/21 Our Heart's Devotion O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 9 BCP 230) "Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart..." The Collect for this coming Sunday reminds us that our full heart's devotion should rest in God. However, that is much much easier said than done. My heart can be fickle. Devoted to following God's will one moment and then solely focused on what I want the next. My heart can get caught up desiring attention and other's love at times, when I am called to devote myself to God's path instead. My heart fills up with envy or jealousy or hurt when it wanders away from being devoted to ...