A Positively Poetic Priest

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 6 BCP 230) In thinking about foundations last week, I naturally thought about the Episcopal Church's foundations in scripture, tradition, and reason; the three legged stool attributed to Richard Hooker from his "Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie," despite never actually writing about a stool. However, scripture, tradition, and reason are the ways in which the Church holds fast to the foundation of God throughout the generations and centuries.  We live in a very fluid and rapid time of history. We eat fast food, we have instant conversation across millions of miles, we expect to pre-order and know things ahead of time. And sometimes in the midst of all this ...

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 28 BCP 236) The Collect for this coming Sunday has always been one of my favorites. Just the imagery of inwardly digesting the Scriptures is wonderful. But what hits me this year, in our crazy ongoing process of a year of concern and care, is the ongoing process of relationship with the Scriptures. We can't just listen to them or read them once, we also have to mark them, learn them, digest them. The only way we will hold on to the hope of everlasting life is by returning over and over again to the Scriptures.  We all need hope right now. With so much uncertainty in our lives, our gratitude and hope in God's promis...