A Positively Poetic Priest

 "Love came down at Christmas Love all lovely, Love divine; Love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign" Christine Rossetti's poem is a lovely one. And the hymn is wonderful too. A lovely Christmas song for Advent. Christmas is actually not the first manifestation of divine love. Christmas is not even the first manifestation of divine love in a person. Adam was. However, divine love did come into being at Christmas as the baby Jesus. This is the love waited for something understandable and relatable and able to be proved, well, as long as you believe Jesus... God exists and is present. And yet. This is definitely not how we approach Christmas. My husband knows how difficult I am to watch Christmas movies with because any time a movie starts going into 'the true meaning of Christmas' and they don't talk about the salvation of the cosmos from sin and death through love manifest... which never happens, I will say, you're wrong! to the television...

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (The Annunciation BCP 240) Today is the feast of the Annunciation to Mary. This means two things: first, it is nine months until Christmas; and second, we celebrate Gabriel's visit to Mary and her acceptance of bearing the son of God right as we are on the cusp of commemorating the week long story of Holy Week, when that Son of God is seen as king, yet arrested, tried and crucified. The unfolding human drama never fails to be shocking.  This coming Sunday, we will indeed share the story of Jesus' cross and passion, recognizing that the mess of humanity can never stop the power of God. We will hear and read, share and proclaim a shocking story of violence, well-know...

Good Morning! I don't know about y'all but did you notice the timing of today? This morning, Gabriel announces to Mary that she will have the baby Jesus... and then when y'all come back tonight, only a few hours later There's baby Jesus! I have been told that time goes fast when you're getting ready for a baby, but that seems a little too fast! Mary and Gabriel These two figures are quite polar opposites. Here we have Mary, a lowly, poor, dirty fourteen ish year old girl whose bridal price was maybe a donkey or a few sheep a nobody in a nobody town and then we have Gabriel one of God's archangels in charge of legions of angels keeper of the trumpet which will blow to signify the end of times a mass of energy, power, and light thrown together by God's plan to save the world. It almost sounds like the start of a Hollywood movie. Keeping in line with their outrageous disparity Gabriel greets Mary, an...

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Fourth Sunday of Advent, BCP 212) "Please keep all hands and feet inside until the ride has come to a complete stop. Thank you." For many in the church, this Sunday is going to feel like a roller coaster of emotion and story. We start the day with the Fourth Sunday of Advent... which usually gives us another few days or week to prepare for Christmas. Yet, this year, its only a few hours after we hear the story of Mary learning she will have a baby does the baby appear on the scene, changing the world. The Annunciation, the story of Mary and Gabriel, does actually have its own feast day in the church, nine months before Christmas, on March 25th. However, most people only hear this story during Advent. I hope you will join ...

Lent 5C John 12:1-8 Eternal God, who brings us together in the midst of family and friends and those we love, grant us to take a deep breath and give to each other generously of our time and attention. Through your Son our Savior Jesus Christ who is your example for us. Amen. The gospel passage today is from the gospel of John. John’s gospel is so interesting because of the number of layers he has in his story. I’ve talked about this before, the multilevel drama of John. Always, the interplay of these levels adds depth and dimension to the story and so in order to see what is going on, we are going to take apart the passage for today, peel back the layers, to find the real focus of this story. This story has five major characters in it: John, Judas, Lazarus, Mary, and Jesus. We are going to look at each person, what role they play, and how they affect our view of what happens. We are going to start with John. John isn’t exactly in the story as a character, bu...