A Positively Poetic Priest

Integrity has been a word with a lot of meaning for me in the last two decades. Trying to keep my integrity has made me struggle with some of the shadow parts of my personality. As an Enneagram Three, I do have some strong desires around ambition, being in the spotlight, and being loved. However, these are only problems when they come out in unhealthy ways. When I am true to myself these aspects of my personality can be very useful. When I am well grounded, my ambitions become not for myself, but for the causes I am a part of and so forth. In starting to read Karen Walrond's The Lightmaker's Manifesto and starting to do some of the exercises, I have remembered my core values which I keep coming back to.  (Seminarians tend to have to do a lot of these kinds of exercises as they prepare for ministry for the long haul. One needs to know what is driving oneself and the tools in your box in order to have a long healthy ministry. I am sure this won't be the last time I do these e...

"A rule for life is a simple statement of the regular rhythms we choose in order to present our bodies to God as our "spiritual act of worship" (Romans 12:1). Each rule, or rhythm, is a way we partner with God for the transformation only he can bring." (p. 36 Spiritual Disciplines Handbook) Many of us have heard of the Rule of Saint Benedict or the Franciscan Rule of Life. These Rules were written by monks for monks as a way of structuring and ordering the common life of the monastery. However, having a rule of life goes all the way back to the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." The earliest followers of Jesus thought that every Christian should follow these four ways of living: learning the teachings, being a part of the community, sharing in Communion, and praying together. Ever since then, Christians have been developing th...

Proper 22 B 4 October 2015 Eternal God, heavenly Father, we are grateful for all the gifts you have given us, even when those gifts are seen as weakness, for in you weakness is turned to strength and darkness is turned to light, with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.  One of my coping mechanisms when I feel overwhelmed is to clear off a wide flat surface, my dining room table for instance, and put down all the things I feel overwhelmed about on it. I write sticky notes of what my worries are and I put them on the table as well. I spread everything out so that I can see it and find ways to move forward. As I was thinking about this morning, I got a little overwhelmed. So, I want you to envision a clean table with me.  First, today is St. Francis of Assisi day and later we will be blessing the pets of the parish. We will put a little statute of St. Francis on our table. Second, today is part of our stewardship campaign. Put that pledge card on the table. Third, to...