A Positively Poetic Priest

I started this year's season of Lent on Ash Wednesday in my sermon  talking about the wisdom in a cup of tea,  or rather, the wisdom in an empty cup of tea.  Since Ash Wednesday,  when I had a cold, until today,  I pretty much have had a cup of tea everyday.  Throat Coat, ginger tea, peppermint tea, I'm an herbal tea girl, I cannot have caffeine. My cold has gotten better, but there is something comforting in having a cup of coffee or tea.  And right now, we all need a little extra comfort in our lives. For some reason,  I always seem to have a different favorite mug for a season and use it everyday for that season, and then move on to another mug.  This spring is this lime green one I picked up for free at a thrift store.  Do you have a mug or cup of something with you this morning?  Is it empty? Full? Somewhere in between? If I were to imagine my mug's life it would look like this:  one of...

"The wisdom in a teacup abounds,  all you have to do is hold each cup with mindfulness." I read this saying in a British novel once, and it comes back to me occasionally. It reminds me of those Zen master stories where someone comes seeking wisdom from a Zen master and starts rattling on about everything they have tried or learned  and what troubles they are seeing in the world, all while the master pours tea. As they ramble on, the master continues pouring tea,  overflowing the cup and letting it go on the ground. Obviously the point is sometimes we are too full  to be able to be filled with wisdom. I thought of this again when I was reading through the lessons for today. In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians he writes, ( 2 Cor. 6:10 NRSV) "We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;  as unknown, and yet are well known;  as dying, and see-- we are alive;  as punished, and yet not killed;  as ...