A Positively Poetic Priest

I brought a special box with me today! Although, y'all have already heard Jesus' parable and I don't know... its not an easy parable to take out of the box. (though this parable is bursting out of this box...) In case you need to hear this up front, this sermon is not about answers. It is about questions. Here it comes. This box is the color of gold. Parables are even more valuable than gold. This box also looks like a present. Parables are presents. They were given to us before we were born and they are ours, even if we don't know what they mean. This box looks old. Parables are old. This box is closed. Parables sometimes seem closed to us. We need to keep coming back to them to see if they will open. Let's look inside. We have a king,  (crown) we have invitations (invitation card) we have a wedding banquet, (plastic food) we have servants/slaves (towel) we have people (wooden people figures) we have wedding clothes (wedding clothes) we have a man with no wedding c...

"Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back."  Many times the greatest threat of curiosity is the possibility that we might change, change our minds, change our habits, change our behaviors.  I am an Episcopalian priest; which for anyone who knows anything about Episcopalians, knows that absolutely means I know a fair amount about the way ritual and routine, habits and proscribed ways of doing things affect, support, enable and disable people in their lives. I see the cause and effects on a daily basis. Part of my job is also reminding people to be curious. Curious about God, about themselves, about their neighbors, about the world around us. Because yes, curiosity may change us, it may change us for the better.   When it comes to the hard stuff in our lives, getting curious is so important, and so hard to do. I know it usually takes me a few minutes of venting, pitying, crying, trashing, whatever it takes to get beyond the initial feelings, in my jou...

The use of personal candles in the church always evokes a child-like wonder response in me. The way the fire lights up our faces  and the way we get quiet and all the special prayers. Christmas, the Great Easter Vigil, Candlemas,  there are not a large number of services in which we use personal candles, so they add a touch of special right away. The child-like wonder aspect of our relationship with God is so important and its one we tend to lose in the middle of our lives. Children are blessed with the ability to wonder, and it seems to return as one gets older in life,  spending more time in quiet and reflection, but the middle years - so full of hustle and bustle and too many concerns, we complete overwhelm the child inside of us losing our ability to feel wonder, and in doing so, lose some of our wonder at God. At least, that can happen. There are ways to retain and practice losing oneself in awe and wonder most of which requ...

With the sounds of crying from the other room I gaze in wonder at the city lights  At what does Orion point his deadly bow Casting my imagination in any other direction Than admit my unhealthy obsession I dream of you in spare moments Wondering who occupies your brain space And with slight awkward feeling wonder In whose brain my life is fictionalized Considering the psychology of circles and triangles You aren't the only one trying to be healthy Trying not to be afraid of love It's a human condition: messiness Riding tandem with doubt and loneliness But we are born intrepid, we carry on