Neighbor. In almost every context except for Church, this is a word none of us have trouble defining. Invariably, if you ask a child or any person on the street, they’ll define it as the people who live next door, or maybe the people on their street, in their neighborhood, or even their city or town. When we here of a “neighborhood” shop or bar or park we immediately know what it is and who we’ll find there.
Read more...Back in seminary, I took a class from a Jesuit priest on the sacraments. Unknown to me when I registered, this class was mostly intended for Ph.D. students. Of the fifteen or so people in the class, only three of us were M.Div. students. The class was amazing. The readings were hard, but the payoff was huge. I entered the class a High-Church Anglican who believed in the real presence and left and Anglo-Catholic who saw time and space open up around the Holy Table.
Read more...If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, nether will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.
Do we live as if Jesus really rose from the dead? Do we live as if Christ reigns? Do we live as if the Kingdom of God is already among us? These are the big questions of the “ordinary time” Sundays after Trinity.
You see, reading the Athanasian Creed once is not enough. It defines the boundaries of what we believe about God, but it is not sufficient for us to know God. We know God to be one God of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost not just because that is who is clearly presented to us in the pages of Scripture, but because the experience of the saints and teachers of the Church are further witnesses to this reality.
Read more...What does it mean to be a “doer of the word”?
On this, the fifth Sunday of easter, we are called by the Holy Church to reflect on how the resurrection of our Lord changes our lives. In light of the resurrection, how are we different? How have our lives changed? Do we live and act differently as Christians?
Right now, there is a small sort of revival going on in the Western Church. Across Europe and North America people are returning to the faith of their fathers. People are studying theology. People are studying Church history. People are coming to the same conclusions that have been held by the Church Catholic for centuries: apostolic bishops, liturgy, sacraments, tradition, and beauty. Great books are being written on philosophy, theology, and Christian virtue. Aquinas is being seriously engaged again. Baptisms are up. Heady Christian blogs and magazines are thriving. Great discussions on capitalism, the enlightenment, a sacramental world view, an open cosmos, and so much more are happening. It is truly and exciting time to be a priest. I love reading this stuff. I love the books. I love the book studies and the amazing questions and discussions I get to participate in. (Which, by the way, check out the symposium coming up on the 21st…)
Read more...“Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dust forgive the sins of all those who are penitent…” These have to be some of my favorite words. Not just in the prayer book, but in general. Those words are the heart of my ministry: reminding people that there is nothing that can bring them outside the love of God and that Jesus is able and willing to forgive all sin.
Read more...St. Joseph is an important saint in my life. I first knew him, as most do, as simply the adopted father of Jesus. Hardly mentioned, hardly thought about. He helps Mary and then Mary and Jesus in their travels and then quietly disappears from the gospel story. Later, in ministry in the jail and on the streets, I came to know him as St. Joseph Terror of Demons. Finally, in the last few years through my work at Christ our Anchor I’ve come to know him as St. Joseph the Worker.
Read more...
]
]
]
]
]