A Positively Poetic Priest

This coming Sunday is Rally Day! The Sunday in which we kick off our program year at St. John's and Grace. This year we start the program off with a Community Service Project; we will be making Care Packages for the Homeless. The list of items we need is below. We start off the year remembering Jesus' service to those in his community and his care for all those around him. We follow in his footsteps and we offer our gifts and services to those in need in our community. In doing this community service project, we also allow the members of Grace Lutheran to participate in the national Lutheran "God's work. Our hands." day this Sunday. In Jesus God promises to be with us always and to help us in times of need. However, sometimes we have to be the hands which do God's work. St. Teresa of Avila wrote, Christ Has No Body Christ has no body but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours, Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, Your...

12/14 "As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."  - John 17:21b-23 In the 17th chapter of the gospel according to John, Jesus earnestly prays for his followers. In his long prayer to God, he covers many subjects, but one of the most prevalent ones is that he wishes that his followers will live together in unity. He asks God to bind together all his followers so that they will be one as he and the Father are one. Unfortunately, Church history shows that Jesus' prayer has been desperately needed. Those of us who call ourselves Jesus' followers have seen fit to separate and divide ourselves in so many ways throughout the centuries. However, ...

At St. John’s this year, we have been focusing on the theme of community for Lent. We have been reflecting on community in the newsletter each week, we have been learning about the agreement that makes it possible for St. John’s and Grace to be together in community during our Wednesday night program, and we have been studying some of the theological questions which have brought together the Church community throughout the centuries. While Lent is a time of many different spiritual practices, there is one pretty popular one that focuses on this theme of community, especially the communion of all the saints. Lent Madness is a Lenten spiritual devotion that seeks to inspire and educate people about the communion of saints through humor and competition. Based on a tournament style, single elimination bracket system, those who take part in the community of Lent Madness gradually learn about different saints throughout the season of Lent and eventually chose one saint from the year’s ...

7 August 2016 A number of years ago, my father really got into Martin guitars. The Martin guitar factory is fairly close to where my parents live and my father used to love to visit the factory, go on the tour, and hang out in their guitar shop. They are very nice guitars and can be quite expensive. He had all the brochures for trying to figure out which model he wanted. But he knew money was an issue, so he set his mind on a simple classic dreadnought design. However what we all knew was that he really wanted an Eric Clapton model of East Indian rosewood with herringbone trim. On Christmas morning that year we all could see the wrapped guitar shaped present under the tree and we all got excited for my father. He slowly unwrapped the case and we were all gathered around. He opened it up and peered inside. And then all of a sudden he shut the case quickly, set the case down, and walked out of the room! He was so surprised and shocked by the fact that inside the case was not the le...