A Positively Poetic Priest

I have had a reputation in my life for not sleeping. As a small child, I didn't sleep through the night and frequently kept my parents awake. As a kid at camp, not being a good sleeper, everyone thought that I just didn't sleep. Even through college and seminary, my friends joked that I must not be human because they had never seen me sleep. I have a hard time sleeping through noise, and people make a lot of noise. My husband continues this line of joking still today though he has managed to catch me asleep, though not often, because he falls asleep faster than I do and he can sleep through almost anything. In the Gospel passage this morning, we hear another parable from Jesus. And this one leaves us with a lot more questions instead of answers. In the stories and teachings before this parable in the arc of story from Matthew Jesus is on this theme of staying awake. Of course, we get to the parable of the bridesmaids and see all of them promptly fall asleep. Thankfully, I don...

 At the end of a ecumenical trip to Sweden in 2016, Pope Francis offered six new Beatitudes: ""Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart. "Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness. "Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover him. "Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home. "Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others. "Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians." "All these are messengers of God's mercy and tenderness," Pope Francis said.  "Surely they will receive from him their merited reward." The Beatitudes are so well known that even people in secular situations will occasionally use the format to offer their own blessings or to make their own poetic commentar...

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...

This isn't a scientific book about aging. It isn't a book about how to age well or what you should do as you are aging. It is a book about aging into who you want to be.  It is a book about looking into the mirror and seeing the smile on your face and light in your eyes. Karen Walrond guides us on the journey she took leading up to her year of aging anniversaries and milestones. She explains how she took the time and space in her life to reflect on what it means to age, to acknowledge and combat internalized ageism, and to figure out who she wanted to be as she grew older. She shares some research, tips, tricks, and lessons learned from professionals and elders in her life. As in her previous books, her conversational writing style, easy prose, and gift of storytelling makes this an interesting and engaging read. She offers thoughtful challenges to the 'normal' ways we think about age and what it means to grow older.  Karen Walrond doesn't take the reader on this jo...

 (sit down please in sign language) While I was in college a couple of my friends took American Sign Language to fulfill their humanities requirement. As in studying any language, they delighted in learning new words and culture. In particular, they greatly enjoyed one practice their teacher suggested for remembering vocabulary and learning how to put words together: sign singing. Singing in sign language relies heavily on expressive face and hand movement in order to differentiate it from regular speech. Quickly all of their ASL study sessions became in essence sign karaoke. They would get together and sing in ASL. It was a sight to behold. They were all sign singing the same songs together but they were also all very individualistic in their expressive style. In the passage from Philippians we heard this morning, we hear an interruption of Paul in his own writing. "At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow... every tongue confess him, King of Glory now..." This part of the...

'I saw a woman in the mirror in the lobby out of the corner of my eye and I registered her as a friend. It was only when I stopped to wave did I realize I was seeing myself.' I don't know where I heard this story,  but as someone who has struggled with self-love, it was a very attractive story. Could I have ever accidentally mistake myself for a friend? I hoped it could be true.  I spent years working on rebuilding my self love. Part of that was reclaiming how I looked, the clothes I wore, the way I did my hair, the feel of my body.   Do I have a great sense of fashion now?  No. Am I happier about what I wear and why and how I look?  Yes.  Am I always happy with those things?  No.  But I agree with Karen Williams.  We all look our best when we are excited and passionate about what we are doing.  When the inner joy shines forth so brightly that nothing else matters.  That is radiance. #RadiantRebellion

I love food.  The tastes, the smells, the experience of eating.  I even like gardening and the creation of food. The cooking and baking processes of making individual items into marvelous meals.  My digestive system has a much more complicated relationship with food. There are many things my digestive system overreacts to or feels the need to attack.  Over the years of trying to figure out what my digestive system will tolerate I've had to change my focus on eating for wellness  and learn to create the things I like with the ingredients my body also likes. Its not an immediate change in mindset. It takes time and energy and reminders. Because eating is such a communal experience, it has also taken community adjustment. Finding family and friends who will support my journey and focus on wellness.  I have found that my focus on wellness has been a little bit contagious.  As others have supported me in focusing on digestive wellness, others have been insp...