A Positively Poetic Priest

pray for peace in the midst of conflict pray for clarity in the midst of chaos pray for charity in the midst of consumerism pray for kindness in the midst of terrorism pray Sweet Jesus when we cannot pray O Holy Spirit when we forget pray Creating Father through to our bones 5/30/17

"Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns." Exodus 20:8-10 The fourth commandment reminds us to rest. Rest!? You might think? Who has time to rest? In the American culture at this time, rest is not a priority. Rest is for the weak. And we are all the strong who can keep going forever! I hope you realize I'm being facetious. Rest is extremely important to our health and happiness as human beings. God created us to need and desire rest, in multiple ways. Not only do we require physical rest in sleep, but we also require mental and emotional rest in order to stay healthy. Many people experience stress and burn out because they do not allow themselves to rest enough. Being well rested allows us to work in our strengths and ...

Trinity Sunday tends to be a day for an opaque sermon. I acknowledge and claim that.  However, I have no plans on trying and failing to explain the Trinity to you today. God is one in three and I believe that. And many of you have sat through many confusing sermons on the subject. So today I am going to speak about a different confusing topic just to mix it up a little. I'm going to talk about the passage from Isaiah today and our struggle as sinners AND beloved children of God to speak out against evil in this world. This passage from Isaiah  is usually known as Isaiah's call story, though it is not the first passage from the book of Isaiah. However, what is actually happening in this passage is Isaiah getting spiritually ready to get involved in and fight the spiritual forces of wickedness  going on in the world around him. See, at the time Isaiah had this experience of God, the Northern Kingdom of Israel  and the So...

How can I praise your stability in the midst of high anxiety when the only truth to frame is that you won't leave me alone when despite my repeated warnings of stormy seas and high winds you row out determined to keep the world together when the only care despite the lashing rain of tears is that we remain forever stubborn as a rock they say stubborn as a rock I grin the grey cliff withstands the stormy sea until it falls into its arms (5/26/17)

Spiritual disciplines? What are those? A good question for anyone in the Christian faith and life. Many people, when they take a moment to think of spiritual disciples, think of things like prayer, bible reading or study, and going to church. While those are good spiritual disciplines, those are not the only ones out there. Far from it! In seminary one of my professors gave me a book which outlines 62 different spiritual disciplines: their practices, their functions, and their strengths and weaknesses. Sixty two different practices! That is a lot of different ways to connect to God! "Spiritual practices don't give us "spiritual brownie points" or help us "work the system" for a passing grade from God. They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word to us." (Spiritual Disciplines Handbook p. 19) Spiritual practices help us connect our desire for God in our lives with the work that God is doing in our lives...

I want you to take a look at your hand.  Right or left, it doesn't matter. Every day our hands do impressive amounts of work. They influence our experience of the world. Look at your fingers. You probably don't think about them often. They are very similar in nature to each other, yet each is different.  Each is unique from the others. Even our fingers have diversity! Each of our fingers have different purposes and gifts.  The fact that our thumbs are at an angle and move slightly differently than the other fingers... opposable thumbs!  What a gift our thumbs are in our daily lives! (Especially when you consider animals without opposable thumbs, we have all seen those internet memes.) We may look at our hands and think they are all the same.  In fact, we have diversity right in our hands. The word diversity really means a range of different things. Not that it has a range of different meanings, it quite literally means,...

we are sounds without words haunting melody it curls around the mind changing mood, imagination what I know as home became deeper sunk in memories subconscious amniotic fluid the voiceless cry of a lone viola stringing through the wind my heart provides accompaniment beneath (3/7/17)