A Positively Poetic Priest

We do all need more joy. It is one of the things we overlook too often. We focus on work and production and the numbers, and believe me, as a trained mathematician, I know how much we love to make the numbers look good! We want to cultivate our personas and our followings, we want to do good in the world, but none of these things happen without the foundation of joy underneath to keep going. God created us for joy. God didn't create us as problem-creating and problem-solving machines defined by our numbers. We are creations of immense joy, love, and grace.  One of the things I have been struggling with during my sabbatical time has been reclaiming my joy. I have finally come to terms with the fact that my joy dried up in the last two years. Even before the pandemic, a few work based events happened which totally sucked the oxygen out of me, keeping my light small and dim. While I was excited and joyful about getting married and that saved my creativity for continuing ministry throu...

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Thanksgiving Day BCP 246) I still have kale growing in my lettuce bed. After the last couple weeks of cold temperatures and a few frosts, I'm not sure how its still growing, but I am trying to enjoy the blessing of fresh grown kale from my garden. It reminds me that even though things can be harsh, there may still be blessings waiting for us. Through all the troubles and frustrations, there are still reasons to give thanks for this year. Certainly this year has been rough, hard, frustrating, and troublesome (or however you would like to phrase it, I have to be somewhat dipl...

"Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen." (First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord, BCP 214) As we move into the season after Epiphany, the seasonal emphasis of Jesus as a baby in Christmas changes to seeing Jesus start his ministry as a young man. We will hear the stories of Jesus starting his ministry, in starting to show the world who he really is. This coming Sunday we will hear the story of Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan River. In some ways this story is quite appropriate for the beginning of a New Year. Jesus starts out his new ministry, and we start a new year again. Both are the beginnings of journeys which will take us furthe...

Sara Miles was so surprised that most of her volunteers for the food pantry were not members of St. Gregory's. "Jeff wasn't surprised at all when I told him we now had twenty-three volunteers -- only two of them from St. Gregory's, and the rest people who'd come to get groceries. "Why not?" said my spiritual director. "It feels great to give stuff away. Look what it's done for you." He added, "And if you're poor, how often do you get to give? Here, you hand good food to two hundred and fifty people in an afternoon, and they're all smiling at you and saying 'Thanks.'"" (199)

In the last twenty or so years, psychologists and sociologists have been studying a new cure to depression issues: gratitude practices. Social scientists have been finding that if a person writes down a few specific things for which they are grateful for each day, they find their lives being more satisfying, fuller, and happier. In Christian tradition, we have a long history of giving thanks through worship and praise. Unfortunately in some senses over the years, the personal nature of the Eucharistic act of gratitude has been lost. People don't associate going to church with being thankful for other aspects of their lives. However, there are ways of bringing this association back and making gratitude a daily part of Christian life. Keeping a gratitude journal or jar, sharing gratitudes with other members of the congregation, and reviewing your gratitudes help cultivate a new attitude and make it easier to give thanks to God for all the gifts He has given us!

Sara Miles, in the face of resistance to her proposal that they start a food pantry at St. Gregory's, wrote the parish a letter. She wrote, "The first time I came to the Table at St. Gregory's, I was a hungry stranger. Each week since then, I've shown up -- undeserving and needy -- and each week, someone's hands have broken bread and brought me into communion. Because of how I've been welcomed and fed in the Eucharist, I see starting a food pantry at church not as an act of 'outreach' but one of gratitude. To feed others means acknowledging our own hunger and at the same time acknowledging the amazing abundance we're fed with by God." (116)

For all the unexpected light and unsought for quiet For all the unassuming joy unpronounced in coming For all the waiting eyes that see the symmetry in the lines For all the places where I am not who I expected to be For all the gentle background hums when we forget their importance and all the sirens of the day saying help is coming For all the longing desperation which keeps us seeking meaning For all the complications and attitudes bringing me back to why For all the irritations of this life reminding me how much I care For all the little deaths I die keeping me mindfully alive