The Toddler Evening Office
We started a pattern of family prayer back in Advent. Each night after dinner, I’d lead the family in prayer. Oliver (23 months) would listen(-ish) and join in the amens and Rosemary (~4) would chime in with the responses — “Hear our Prayer” — and lead the Lord’s Prayer. Having established a habit of prayer after dinner, I wanted to keep it moving forward even after the Advent calendars were empty and the wreath was put away. Read more...
His Word has Made it So
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 (RSV) In this room alone, how many sermons have we heard on this passage? Dozens? Maybe even hundreds? And, yet, these words are impactful each time. Why? There are two main reasons, I think. The first is guilt. The second is hope. For many people, their hearts sink at hearing this passage. They remember times they were called by Christ, but did not listen. Read more...
Review: Basis Bibel Auslese
Back in October I launched a German-language worship service in Nashville, Tennessee. In the lead-up to launching St. Mang, I knew I’d need to focus on my German to get back to the point where I could write a sermon in German each month. I immediately switched to German for my morning prayers using the 1984 Luther translation. Though there is a lot I like about Luther’s translation in German, it is not a great entry point into theological/ecclesial German. Read more...
Eine königliche Familie
Jesus war geboren in Bethlehem zur Zeit des Königs Herodes. In Judäa gab es nur ein König. Aus der Sicht die jüdische Bevölkerung, Herodes war ein Verräter. Herodes hat - in Name des Römisches Reich - sein eigenes Volk erobert. Der war Vasallenkönig unter Kaiser. Als Vasallenkönig, verlangt Herodes Steuer für Rom auf die Leute. Verräter, Steuereinnehmer, Knecht unter Kaiser. Herodes war kein David. Er wusste es und sein Volk wussten es auch. Read more...
Jederzeit Bereit Sein
In mein Haus ist es kein Geheimnis dass ich kein Fan von den säkularen Weihnachten bin. Ich bin außerhalb der Kirche erwachsen. Als ich ein Kind war, liebte ich die Weihnachten. Die Musik. Die schönen Farben. Nostalgie für eine „bessere Zeit.“ Die Ideen von Freude, Familie, und Frieden. Und, natürlich, die Geschenke. Aber dann, antwortete ich den Anruf Jesu. Die Weihnachten, kam ich zu verstehen, war nicht nur eine Erinnerung von einem netten Mann der schönen Sprüche ausgegeben hat und eine gute Lebensweise ausgeführt hat. Read more...
Advent: Always be Ready
In my home it is no secret that I am no fan of secular Christmas. I was raised outside the Church. When I was a kid, I loved Christmas. The music. The beautiful colors. Nostalgia for a “better time.” The idea of joy, family, and peace. And, naturally, presents. But, then, I answered the call of Jesus. Christmas, I came to understand, was not just a remembrance of a nice man that gave out pretty sayings and showed an examplary way of life. Read more...
Advent Family Prayer
For the last several years, I’ve been trying to find a short and simple Advent liturgy to do each night around the advent-wreath. The family form of Evening Prayer from the 2019 Prayer Book is good, but it is still a little long for my very young children and still requires me to find short readings for each night. I wanted a resource that was short and simple for my young family, but still retained the character of the daily offices. Read more...
Use Localtime in Debian Slim
Sometimes you need to run cron or other applications in your Debian container that rely on the system running in localtime. In Debian 9, switching to localtime wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. With Debian 10, however, you can switch your container to another timezone with just a few commands. First you need to install tzdata. RUN apt-get install tzdata -y Then you need to make a link between the timezone you want to move to in /usr/share/zoneinfo and /etc/localtime. Read more...
Migrate from Bash to Z Shell (On macOS)
In macOS Catalina, Apple is switching the default shell to Z Shell from Bash. Even if you haven’t upgraded to Catalina yet, getting used to Zsh is a good idea and pretty simple to do. 1. Install Latest Z Shell First, install the latest verison of Z Shell from Hombrew. Since you’re going down the path of learning an alternate shell, you might as well keep on the newest version instead of just taking whatever Apple gives you. Read more...
Allerheiligen: Geeignet mit Christi
Heute feiern wir das Fest, Allerheiligen. Heute pausen wir und nachdenken über unsere christlichen Voreltern; Muttern, Vätern, Omas, Opas, Brüdern, Schwestern, Freunde, usw. „Niemand ist eine Insel,“ sagte der Englischer Priester Pater John Donne. Keiner von uns ist selbstgemacht. Die Gemeinden unsere Erziehung haben uns stark beeinflusst. Heute, aber, reden wir nicht nur über die Vergangenheit. Wir reden um die Jetzt. Was für Leute sind wir? Was für eine Gemeinde bewohnen wir? Read more...
God Calls Me
I am called to preach the Gospel and faithfully administer the sacraments under the apostolic authority of a bishop of Christ’s Holy Church because God saved a Mormon boy from the pits of despair and freed him from the chains of the law. This God, in securely calling me his own, redirected my heart to serve his one, holy, Catholic Church and to share the truly Good News of unmerited free grace to others lost in darkness. Read more...
The Common Life of God's Friends — Luke 14:1; 7-14
Audio This week’s Gospel lesson finds us at a fancy Sunday dinner party with Jesus. In the verses omitted from our reading, Jesus meets a sick man on his way to dinner. In an interaction all too common in Jesus' ministry, Jesus heals the man only to find himself again debating whether that was an appropriate thing to do on the sabbath or not. Sitting down at dinner, the drama of healing a man on the sabbath is fresh on Jesus' mind. Read more...
Instantpot Hardboiled Eggs
- Place eggs on steam rack.
- Add 1 cup of water to the pot.
- Set Instantpot to cook on high pressure for five minutes.
- Allow Instantpot to naturally decompress for five minutes.
- Immediately place eggs in cool water to stop cooking.
- Peel eggs and enjoy.
Metaphysical Table of Communion with God and the Saints
The Book of Revelation — or more traditionally the Apocalypse of St. John (better highlighting the genre of apocalypse Fr. Justin spoke about last week) — is a brilliant book to be reading during the season of Easter. Moderns tend to read St. John’s Apocalypse primarily as a prophecy about the “end times.” They aren’t wrong, but to read Revelation and leave with only an urgency to be ready for Christ’s return is to miss the point. Read more...
Logs in the River of Discourse
A feminist tried to fail me out of divinity school. The last two weeks of divinity school turned out much differently than I expected. For my last semester I was required to take a course to fulfill a credit in the topic of gender and sexuality. There was only one course that fulfilled that requirement that would fit into my schedule with another required course, ethics. I spent my last semester as one of two men in a course exploring the intersections of theology and psychology for women. Read more...
