A Positively Poetic Priest

https://rustbeltepiscopal.org/2018/10/22/a-greeting-from-presiding-bishop-curry/ Today and tomorrow myself, Deacon Dave Betz, Kaycee Reib, Jeanne Reib, and Kelly Bruckart will be heading to Niagara Falls for Diocesan Convention in collaboration with the Diocese of Western New York. This may be a historic moment for the two dioceses as DioWNY will be voting on whether to have our Bishop, Sean Rowe, as their bishop as well for the next five years. The understanding of the proposal for the two dioceses is collaboration during the next five years in order to build new creative and mission driven ministries to help both dioceses. If you haven’t already, take a moment in the next two days to look at the website Rust Belt Episcopal ( https://rustbeltepiscopal.org/ ) where you can find lot of information about what would change if the vote is yes and why we are looking into this possibility. Also, please keep us and all who travel to Niagara Falls this weekend in your pray...

a simple inquiry of jest sarcasm is at best taken seriously you've found the deepest secrets unlawfully held the flash of insight, nigh improbable is garnered at the end of every foresight who wrote the conclusion? wait for the revelation

In today's world, there are plenty of advertisements and commercials which try to tell us how to live our lives. If we don't drink Coca Cola, or use Lysol wipes, or get our cars checked at Auto Zone, then the commercials tell us that we are not living our best lives. Fortunately none of those things are true. Living our best lives has little to do with where we shop or who checks our cars, but with the wellness of our souls and bodies. Naturally, having a healthy and balanced life is not always easy. Jesus calls to us over and over again, through scriptures, other people, events in our lives, and what he calls us to is living a servant and selfless life. Thankfully, there are lots of supports in our community to help us all live the kind of lives Jesus calls us to. Currently, the Vestry is doing a book study on Brene Brown's book, Rising Strong. In this book one of the topics Brown discusses is what she calls Living BIG. It's a mnemonic for trying to live with ...

"May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength.  May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen." (BCP 460 For Health of Body and Soul) All of us who have had surgery or serious illness lately can share in the knowledge and wisdom of trying to listen to our bodies. Healing takes a while, much longer than most of us want to admit. In the mornings we wake up with grand ideas about what we would like to do, even if it is simply get out of bed or lay on the other side, but we must face the fact that that is not going to happen. Thankfully, our bodies do have their own wisdom about what is okay and what is not. Certainly for me, this time of physical brokenness reminds me of how long true healing does take. It takes three months for bones to be knit back together in a healthy body. It can take years for a broken...

Say Cheese! This coming Sunday is Social Media Sunday across the Episcopal Church, and in some other denominations. What is Social Media Sunday? It is a day for churches to highlight their gifts, members, and worship together by posting on social media websites to share the Good News of Christ with the world. Using the hashtag #sms18, churches all across the country will be sharing who they are with pictures, posts, and video. Here at St. John's and Grace, we have lots of gifts, members, and worship moments to share. We are going to participate in Social Media Sunday in a couple of ways. First, during the announcements time during both services, I will take a selfie of the congregation to post on our social media sites. Second, we are going to remind and encourage you to post on your social media sites about your time at St. John's or Grace and share your experience with others. Third, we are going to have a laptop in the Parish Hall open to our social media websites for ...

This always happens to me when I go on vacation. I get relaxed and restful and then I look back at what I normally do all in one day and I am amazed. How can I manage so much in one day!? Why do I fill up my life with so much busyness? Unfortunately, it is not an atypical way of living these days. Our American society puts such an emphasis on busyness and filling our time with activities, we sometimes forget why we do what we do. However, the why of what we do is very important. As I am on vacation, I always at some point reflect on my normal life. Why is my routine the way it is? Do I want to do all the things I have on my schedule? What can I let go of? How do I want to allow myself to rest in my normal life? As most of us have started back into the fall rush of activities and work, take a moment to reflect on your schedule, on your busyness. Why do you do each thing? Is there a purpose? Are there things on your schedule which are simply busyness? How could you let some of them go...

"The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord." – Psalm 24:1 We have many many possessions. We think we possess them. However, everything in the world belongs to God, and we are only stewards of them. We come into this world as we leave this world, with nothing except ourselves. We cannot change our eternal lives by storing up possessions. In reality, the more we have, the more we are possessed by our possessions. As we come into the season of our Stewardship campaign, it is good to reflect on how much God has given us and how much of what we have is a gift. In the Jewish tradition, the understanding of what we give back to God is very clearly spelled out. We are to give God, through the Temple, the first tenth of all our harvest, our income, and our gifts. Yet, when Jesus comes and teaches the people, he doesn't specify how much or what percentage we are to give. He teaches that we should share out of a thankful heart. For those...