Today is the first day of Lent 2013. Another season of repentance and returning to the Lord has come. And with that comes ashes. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The priest says this as the sign of the cross is made out of ashes on the forehead of those who desire to receive. I went to Tulsa University Campus this morning to offer Ashes to Go. This small liturgical movement started a couple of years ago in different places around the country. The main idea: bring this practice out to the people. I like... Continue reading

Today is the first day of Lent 2013. �Another season of repentance and returning to the Lord has come. �And with that comes ashes. �Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. �The priest says this as the sign of the cross is made out of ashes on the forehead of those who desire to receive. �I went to Tulsa University Campus this morning to offer Ashes to Go. �This small liturgical movement started a couple of years ago in different places around the country. �The main idea: �bring this practice out to the people. � I... Continue reading

Today is the first day of Lent 2013. Another season of repentance and returning to the Lord has come. And with that comes ashes. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. The priest says this as the sign of the cross is made out of ashes on the forehead of those who desire to receive. I went to Tulsa University Campus this morning to offer Ashes to Go. This small liturgical movement started a couple of years ago in different places around the country. The main idea: bring this practice out to the people. I like... Continue reading

This morning it is foggy in Silverhill, AL. The mist seems to reach from the ground up. I love mornings like this. All around us is the seen and unseen, the common and the mysterious. It reminds me of our walk in life with God. Sometimes our understanding and sense of God is so clear. We get it. God is walking with us, answering our prayers, ordering our world. I am not saying that God isn't doing this all the time. However, there are those periods in our relationship with God when it seems like God is more like that... Continue reading

"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." -Jesus Jesus and his disciples wanted a break. Just time enough to eat their lunch. So, they pull away and go to a deserted place. This did not work out so well for them. The people who wanted to see and hear Jesus figured out where they were going and got there ahead of them. So much for lunch! I think this happened to Jesus and the disciples on a regular basis. The people were starving for spiritual food and they knew that Jesus was the source... Continue reading

Israel said, "Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die." Genesis 45:28 Israel, otherwise know as Jacob, had been in mourning for years. He had thought his son Joseph was dead. If you remember the story, Jacob had a lot of children. He also had four wives and his favorite wife had only one son. (Later on, she had another.) Her son was Jacob's favorite. Joseph was a dreamer of dreams. He was different and his older brothers resented him. The resented him so much that they sold him into slavery in... Continue reading

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and... Continue reading

Jesus called his disciples and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Mark 10:42-45 This might be the first example of a truly countercultural movement... Continue reading

Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil. Joel 2:13 It was the habit of those religious types in the Old Testament when caught in their own wrong doing or on behalf of others, to do an outward showing of remorse. They would tear their clothes, put on sackcloth, place ashes on the heads. The actually rending was forceful - tearing a garment into pieces. The problem lay in the fact that the remorse was not inward... Continue reading

God the King of saints, you strengthened your servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Today we remember Perpetua and her companions who were put to death in Carthage... Continue reading

"Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." -Jesus What makes a family unique? Heritage. Heritage are those things which are inherited from the past. Each of us comes from a family that is a legacy of cultural heritage. Most of the population of the United States has inherited practices from a multitude of cultures. My family is English, Swedish and German. I love creamed herring and warm beer. Here in Oklahoma just about everyone has Native American blood in their veins. We may inherit practices, languages, appearance, and food preferences from our family of... Continue reading

Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat began to be swamped by the waves. Yet Jesus kept sleeping. Matthew 8:24 It is not yet spring, yet there have been outbreaks of severe storms across the midwest. Tornados cutting paths across Kansas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida. There are towns that have been completely wiped out, people dislocated and lives lost. Often, storms in life pop up like tornados. They are unexpected, poorly timed, and leave us devastated. Could be a tornado, fire or flood. Could be cancer or other illness. Could be death... Continue reading

Psalm 103:1-5 1 Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. It is good to be reminded not only to praise God, but to call to mind all the things that God has done for us that are worthy of... Continue reading

We had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. - 1Thessalonians 2:2b Wikipedia's definition of courage: Courage (also bravery, boldness, fearlessness, mettle, fortitude, or intrepidity) is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. Courage is acting in spite of fear. "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death, while "moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement. When the early church began spreading the Good News of the Kingdom... Continue reading

"The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come." -Jesus, Mark 4:26-29 This seems like a rather hands off approach to building up the Kingdom of God. Just go out, scatter the seed, and leave it alone until... Continue reading

O Lord, who hast mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit. Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore Thee, a heart to delight in Thee, to follow and enjoy Thee, for Christ's sake, Amen St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 339-397) We all want things around us to change - our finances, our work, our material needs, those who are in positions of authority. We also want others around us to change. We want... Continue reading

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,because he has anointed meto bring good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to the captivesand recovery of sight to the blind,to let the oppressed go free,to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Isaiah 61:1Quoted by Jesus Luke 4:18 Jesus proclaims to the people in the Temple after reading that portion of Isaiah, that this scripture is fulfilled this day. Jesus is the one annointed by God with the Holy Spirit to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, restore sight to the blind,... Continue reading

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9 The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship Now peacemaking is a divine work. For peace means reconciliation, and God is the author of peace and of reconciliation. … It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the particular blessing which attaches to... Continue reading

'I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent... Continue reading

Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phillipians 4:8 Bad news sells. Top stories for Tulsa on Feb. 23 included the man arrested for starting fires, the death of a homecoming queen, and a man accused of threatening to blow up DHS with a Ryder Truck. None of the headlines offered any good news. Why? Would we rather hear of tragedy, so that our lives look good in comparison? Are we uninterested... Continue reading

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-18 Habakkuk is one of the 12 books of prophets in the Old Testament scripture. Less is known about this writer than any other Old Testament writer. He lived in the 7th century before Jesus. The book is a conversation between the prophet and... Continue reading

It is the start of another season of Lent. I don't remember a time when I didn't participate in Lent. It is part of me and of my family's DNA. For those of us who grew up with these traditions, it is often with astonishment when we hear anyone say, "Lent? I never heard of it." For those of you who are reading this and have never journeyed toward Easter following a season of fasting, I hope you will take the opportunity this year. Today is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of the church's penitential season. Ash... Continue reading

The house is peaceful. The boys are away with their Dad getting haircuts. The dog and cats are sleeping. There is jazz playing quietly. This should be a time of relaxing for me. Instead, it is an emotional rollercoaster - I am putting away the outward signs of Christmas. The tree came down already - ornaments packed and stacked. Tree dissassembled and squashed back into the box in the garage. Now it is time for the rest to be put away - the snowglobes, the glittery mantle tree and tall yulebuck, the nativities and gold painted pinecones. I find myself... Continue reading

Some days bring more than their share of sadness. Today I officiated at the funeral of a young man, 18 years old, shot to death by a family member. I didn't know the young man and I barely knew the family. They belong to a different Episcopal church that does not currently have a priest. But, this young man was known to many in the community. The church was full of family and friends. It was also full of a enormous range of emotion. I think there is a special wisdom in the Great Litany of the Episcopal Church when... Continue reading

We are standing on holy ground. And I know that there are angels all around. There are many places on this earth that feel holy to me, where God seems somehow closer. These places are sometimes called "thin places" where the veil between this world and that greater reality of the presence of God seems transparent. It is as if you could just about touch the edge of heaven. I feel this way often in sacred places of worship - places where people have sang and prayed and worshipped God with all of their heart. I feel this too during... Continue reading