A Positively Poetic Priest

In 2010 a man named Robert decided to step out of his comfort zone and try something new. He signed up with the National Mentoring Partnership to become a youth mentor. He was quickly partnered with a youth named Demetrius. Since then,  Robert and Demetrius have done a little bit of everything together.  As they tell the story, "From a first-time fishing trip in earlier years,  to touring college campuses,  the duo continues to find ways to connect and grow.  Robert has remained a consistent fixture in the life of his mentee,  providing guidance and consistency in Demetrius’ life.  But the impact goes both ways,  with Robert noting that his relationship with Demetrius  has helped him grow and gain insight into how young people view the world.  In the spring of 2015, Demetrius graduated high school  and received acceptance letters from three community colleges and two universities.  When they...

Moses was not a man with a plan. Estranged first from his family of origin, then from his adopted family, he accidentally found a new life  sheep herding as part of his wife's family. We see him today (and I love this description) "beyond the wilderness" at Horeb, the mountain of God. We tend to think of the wilderness as  out there, and here Moses is wandering around beyond the wilderness. He is way out there. Now we tend to think of Moses as this great leader. He was. But before he was a great leader of the Israelites, he was  an adopted son who didn't speak so well, who murdered a man, and ran away from home. Thus how he ended up way out there. He was an outlaw in Egypt, estranged from both his family of origin and his adopted family. He was not a man with grand plans. He was not anyone's hero. He was herding sheep around, living day to day  beyond the wilderness. Yet, God comes to him, out th...

As a story, the story of the Transfiguration from Mark is a good one. There is symmetry. There is a mystery. There is tradition! There is confusion and terror and loss and excitement and love. And some extra special supernatural miracles. Everything you need for a good story. On one side of the scene,  we have Peter, James, and John. We all know Peter, James, and John. Peter, the classic tragic mess up clown, who always puts his foot into his mouth at just the wrong moment. But who, in the end, becomes the foundation of the church. James and John, the sons of Zeebedee, whose mother comes to Jesus because they, and she, wants them to be the highest ranking officials  after Jesus, one on his right and one on his left. Three men whose humanity  was very well known. On the other side of the scene, we have Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Which is interesting. The story sets them up as the prophets they are. Jesus...

Sometimes I think humanity has the shortest short term memory ever. Case and point: God is constantly turning over the way of the world: raising up leaders from messed-up sinners setting people free from different kinds of evil working miracles of love even through the stoniest hearted people who start welcoming former enemies into their lives... And every time it happens we are surprised by it. we are surprised by something that happens over and over and over again... So often God's something new... is actually really really old. This is part of the reason we share the stories of the Bible over and over and over again. Even the boring bits. The passage from Deuteronomy today shares the story of the transition from Moses as leader of the Israelites to Joshua, son of Nun. On the surface, it is not that interesting... kind of boring, maybe a little sad. God shows Moses the whole Promised Land, but God tells him he has to die first. So...