A Positively Poetic Priest

Do you know the feeling of planting something? The hopeful feeling of wanting something to grow the slightly scary feeling of knowing that you don't have total control over what is going to happen the awe inspiring feeling of knowing you don't actually know exactly how growth happens? Planting is fraught with emotion. Between last Sunday's sermon and this Sunday's Gospel passage, I found myself compelled to reach out to Grow It Green here in Morristown and spend an afternoon at their Urban Farm. If you don't know Grow It Green, they are a local non-profit farm, managing the community gardens on Early Street, the partner greenhouse at St. Elizabeth's, and the Urban Farm on Hazel Street behind the Lafayette Learning Center preschool. Their mission is "to promote community health through urban agriculture, discovery-based learning and equitable food access. Grow It Green Morristown creates sustainable farms and gardens, and educates communities on healthy eati...

You are sitting on the dark rocky shoreline of the Galilee, some of you standing in the edge of the water, not really watching the little children playing in the water, but definitely watching the small, rocking, wooden fishing boat, pulling the hair from your faces as the wind carries Jesus' voice to you as he teaches about the kingdom of heaven. Interestingly, no one asked Jesus what the kingdom of heaven is like. Jesus has a burning desire to talk about it though, because talk about it he does. At length. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are phrases used more than ninety times in the New Testament. We have a number of parables which talk about the kingdom of heaven, but we do not have record of anyone asking the question. But because Jesus tells us without anyone having asked, I assume its important. Why do we need to know about the kingdom of heaven? It seems that God cares about us, and in doing so, wants to share with us what home is rea...