A Positively Poetic Priest

"May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength.  May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen." (BCP 460 For Health of Body and Soul) All of us who have had surgery or serious illness lately can share in the knowledge and wisdom of trying to listen to our bodies. Healing takes a while, much longer than most of us want to admit. In the mornings we wake up with grand ideas about what we would like to do, even if it is simply get out of bed or lay on the other side, but we must face the fact that that is not going to happen. Thankfully, our bodies do have their own wisdom about what is okay and what is not. Certainly for me, this time of physical brokenness reminds me of how long true healing does take. It takes three months for bones to be knit back together in a healthy body. It can take years for a broken...

Healing happened at the food pantry, without any doctors, nurses, or priests. Many came and were healed through the love and prayer they received. “I didn’t believe in miracles. And yet I had begun to believe in healing. I saw that you could be changed, opened to experiencing your life differently, made more whole, even as your body was falling apart. That you could be healed from fear by touch, even when you remained sick.” (231) When have you experienced healing?

One of the priests Sara Miles worked with at St. Gregory's was The Rev. Paul Fromberg. He explained part of his spiritual journey to becoming a priest like this: ""It was clear to me that a lot of suffering was chemical, not just psychological. I felt, as a talk psychotherapist, I'd be fooling people and not giving them what they needed. At the same time, I was beginning to believe that Word and sacrament might have something to do with healing."" (188) How do you find healing through Word and Sacrament?

21 August 2016 Proper 16C As you may have guessed, I am a lover of words. Today’s gospel passage shares with us the story of Jesus healing a woman and the fall out that comes from his actions. Healing, literally means to make whole. A perfect definition for what Jesus does for this woman in the synagogue. He makes her whole again.  Jesus healing this lady was a gift, a gift of compassion. Not sought for, not asked for. This woman never asked to be healed. There she is minding her own business in the synagogue and Jesus interferes with her life. Simply a gift out of the goodness of Jesus' heart. He saw her and felt for her and knew he could make her better.  Yet, this gift from Jesus was quite disturbing to the leader of the synagogue where it took place. Interestingly, the leader of the synagogue doesn't seem to be surprised that the woman is healed of a demon that has kept her bent over and away from God for 18 years. No. What surprises and bothers him is the ...

Eternal God, who has made us wholly who we are, help us to see clearly where we have strayed and guide us back to your path to eternal life, through your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Do you want to be made well? The gospel passage for the day is the story of Jesus healing a man who was sitting next to the pool of Beth-zatha, or Bethsaida as its also known as. The tradition about the pool was that it had healing properties when the water was stirred up and that the first person, or first few people in it would be healed. The tradition specifically states that an angel did the stirring up, mostly because the timing of the water's movements were said to be unpredictable. The pool was associated with one of the healing cults of the time and people who were ailing would go sit at the pool and wait for the water to be stirred up and tried to be the first in. Beth-zatha translates to house of mercy or grace. Troubled water was a sign of mercy/grace for the people who went ...

28 July 2015 Proper 8B O God, the foundation of the world rests in you; grant us a firm foundation in all our relationships, encourage our hope and faith in you, and wrap us in your familial love, through the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Last summer I attended my cousin’s wedding. Now my cousin has unfortunately been very sick off and on most of her life. She has had normal illnesses, cancer, and some uncommon ones, like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. About every six months, she ends up being hospitalized for something. During the wedding, during the exchange of vows, her very soon to be husband started giggling. “For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, giggle… to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death.” When he started giggling, we all started giggling. Someday we all hope that he will know what life with my cousin is like when she is healthy.  Good, loving relationships are healing. There is healing in relat...

"The Almighty Lord, who is a strong tower to all who put their trust in him, to whom all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth bow and obey: Be now and evermore your defense, and make you know and feel that the only Name under heaven given for health and salvation is the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen." (BOS) “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” A very curious statement. Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, a leader among the Pharisees. They are having a discussion about who Jesus is, because Nicodemus knows that no one could do the things that Jesus is doing without being from God, but he cannot quite believe that Jesus is from God. Jesus is trying to help him understand and uses the scriptural story from Numbers to illustrate. The way to make the parallel between the story from Numbers and Jesus’ own story goes like this: The people’s relationship ...