Faith, Grace, and Hope

On New Year’s Day 1773, in Olney, England, the pastor of St. Peter and St. Paul Parish led a prayer meeting to mark the new year. As was expected of clergy at the time, this pastor wrote hymns and verses for his congregation to help communicate the faith, lift their spirits, and continue the tradition of the church to praise God in song. Most of the songs and chants in his day had no set tune but would fit any number of tunes with a common meter or rhythm.  For this New Year’s Day, the parish pastor had written a set of verses he called “Faith’s Review and Expectation”. He felt that the occasion called for remembering all God had done and how God had delivered each person to the present. Reflection on the past and understanding the hand of God at work built the necessary trust in the Divine for the future. The pastor, one John Newton, began his hymn with a quotation from 1 Chronicles 17:16, Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Lord God, and what is m

Whenever we have a service with a lot of music, the combination of hymns, special music, and choir, someone always helpfully suggests that we could cut some of the verses of the hymns. “Why don’t we just sing the first and fourth verses?”, they might ask. This is a totally reasonable suggestion to which I, personally, have a completely unreasonable reaction.     When this is suggested, if the Holy Spirit has an arm around my shoulder and a hand over my mouth, I might smile and say, “We could do that.” If my self-control has left the building, I will say, “But all the verses together tell a story and we can’t miss the story!”    If there is a rare moment of calm and I am willing to share some of myself with you, I will tell you, “I want to sing all the verses because I am obsessed with third verses.”    First verses are important. They set the pace and tone of a song and tell you what is to come. Second verses keep that tune going. Final verses wrap up the message, bring the chords to r

Advent 3, Year C (Isaiah 35:10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11) I’ve spent the week thinking about jackals. Jackals, a member of the canine family, are found in south-eastern Europe, across parts of southern Asia, and throughout Africa.  These small dogs look like a cross between a fox and a coyote. They’re fairly lightweight but are still known as fiercely protective of their territory and opportunistic eaters of anything available. The black-backed jackal of Africa has developed alongside the big cats of that continent, as well as wild dogs and hyenas, so it has fairly earned a tough reputation.    When the Bible mentions jackals, it is not a favorable description. Jackals were particularly associated with lurking around burial caves or at the edges of battlefields. They were one of the first animals to move into abandoned regions, to make use of shelters for hiding, and to hunt for leftover scraps.    Job says, “I go about in sunless gloom; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help

On this holy day, when we are encouraged to be in awe of God- the 3-in-one and 1-in-3, I am going to engage in a double prerogative- the prerogative of the preacher to stray from the texts and the prerogative of the birthday celebrant to do what she wants. Explaining the scriptures is very important to me, and I also believe our testimonies are significant as well.  I cannot explain the how of the Trinity to you. The only answer to how is, “I don’t know.”  As for why, I can either say- God’s business is God’s business or I can tell you that God is bigger than our understanding, our comprehension, our imagination and can only be glimpsed- ever so fleetingly- through awe.  Yet, I believe in God and how God chooses to show God’s self. Theology, studying God, is only useful if it actually helps us in our daily lives. I want to share aspects of my testimony, my theology, and what I believe with you today. Here is my statement of faith for this Holy Trinity Sunday on the occasion of my 41st

Lent 4, Year B Joshua 5:9-12** This week I spent a few hours on the phone with two different companies, trying to use a credit I received from a flight that was cancelled in March 2020. These were frustrating hours, made more complicated by the grief they brought up in me. In early March 2020, I was supposed to go   to Texas to see some friends. We were going to laugh, run a 5K, go to the spa, and visit a pickle festival. Several of the friends are Episcopalian clergy. We began to wonder if we needed to cancel the trip when word of a new coronavirus, COVID-19, began to spread. And then a co-worker of one of the priests was found to have this illness, brought back from a clergy conference in another state. The trip was cancelled.     At the time, the airlines said too bad. Much later, they decided to issue credits for scheduled flights and, thus, I found myself trying to apply that credit this week to a future trip, only to get a run-around and to experience grief all over again. Grief

“Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations,      I will be exalted in the earth!” The  Lord  of hosts is with us;the God of Jacob is our fortress.  -Psalm 46:10-11   This year we are entering the season of Lent in a somewhat precarious global situation. While we can never be certain what is to come, the present circumstances capture our imaginations and inflame our anxieties in ways that can be overwhelming and emotionally charged. It is very important for our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being to set aside time to be still and remember God’s power and presence in this world.  I do not often give specific directives relative to Lenten practice. I typically offer general encouragements and reminders to reflect on the activities or absence of activities in your life that may cause you to feel separated from God. Rarely has anyone told me that chocolate genuinely has a negative effect on their spiritual life. Lenten discipline is not merely about doing