A Love of Other: Common Union in Christ
Last weekend, we heard from the Gospel according to John and the call narratives for some of the disciples. In particular, we heard the story about Philip and Nathaniel as they are called into Jesus’s mission and ministry, and while Philip and Nathaniel are connected to one another (as my mother sometimes says, “They are related by blood!”), we can still sense that there is some difference between the two of them. Anyone who has a sibling or has children…
Reconciliation: A Holy Rite, A Political Practice
Over the last week or so, I have found myself pondering the nature of reconciliation and what it might have to offer to us as we continue to navigate tumultuous waters in our common life as people living in the United States of America. I say it in that way because we are in a time in which all the lives of all people living inside the borders of our country right now are being impacted. We are, in some…
The Water of Baptism
Dear Friends in Christ, I write to you today after an extraordinary 24 hours in our nation. We have witnessed outrageous behavior, and we have witnessed how a few used violence inside the halls of our government – of our nation’s capital – and have threatened the fabric of our nation as a democracy that practices the peaceful transition of power. The images from yesterday are raw and disturbing images. They are images that I never thought I would see…
Praying Advent…even now
It happens every single year. Without fail, Advent is moving on along and BOOM! Just like that, it is a week before Christmas. Suddenly, there is not enough time for just about anything. From Christmas shopping to writing sermons to preparing Christmas bulletins to finding enough time to spend time with God in prayer, it seems like everything is being crowded out by all the other things on the to-do list whilst also being the source of the crowding out…
A Circular Path
Last night, Church of the Epiphany’s Courageous Ground Task Force hosted the first of its Advent formation opportunities called Preparing to Become Beloved Community. The conversation last night focused on the telling of difficult truth and how it is difficult both to receive/hear a difficult truth and the difficulty in sharing a difficult truth. To do either of those in a way that is filled with God’s love asks us to prayerfully reflect on the truth that needs to be…
Eucharistia
Eucharistia. It is a Greek word that we use every single week when we gather for worship, and it means thanksgiving or thankfulness. We normally use it as a proper noun to refer to our worship in The Episcopal Church – The Holy Eucharist. When we gather as a body, we come together to give thanks to God for all the things that God has gifted to us, and we give thanks through time-honored rituals and practices that invite us…
Worship Update: Moving to Outside Worship
For many months now, we have been in the midst of a time in which there has been a single constant for us as a congregation: change. The pandemic has pushed us to become a nimble parish that is able to respond to the changing environment as it relates to the spread of COVID-19 in our local community. Early on in the pandemic, we had to learn how to do church completely online, and we had to learn how to…
Discipleship in Motion
Last weekend, the Parish Council convened for its quarterly meeting to share the ongoings of ministries within each of the councils and to listen to each other. It was a gathering that was like many others that we have had over the last several months: in the comfort of our own homes and on the computer in the familiar Hollywood Squares style of Zoom. Since shifting to online meetings for worship, fellowship, and mission last March, it is amazing how…
Community in Otherness
Yesterday, I had the great fortune of being part of a small group conversation with some other clergy folks in our local area. In our conversation, we were exploring the question of what the role of our institutions (churches, temples, etc) is in the current context of the United States and, perhaps more importantly, in the current context of the state of Arizona. We were attempting to discern the role that each of us has to play within our respective…
Finding Hope in Exile
As I sit down to write this week’s reflection, I am struck by one overwhelming feeling: exhaustion. The year that we are in has been and continues to be a year that has offered little in the way of rejuvenation. It has been a year of continuous challenges, and it has been a year in which we have had to do things so very differently. On top of all of that, we find ourselves inside a moment of further uncertainty…
Created to Love and to Be Loved
This week, we approach the celebration of All Saints’ Day, which helpfully lands on a Sunday this year! (According to the Book of Common Prayer, All Saints’ is to always be celebrated on its appointed date; a parish may also celebrate it on the Sunday after November 1 if it so chooses.) On Sunday, we will gather in our church – in the less than perfect ways being dictated by COVID-19 – to re-member who we are as the body…
A Mission of Reconciliation and Healing
Last weekend, our diocese met in its annual convention, and we considered the mission plan for the diocese, creating a new relationship with the Diocese of Western Mexico, and a change to the constitution of our diocese that clarifies who are considered clergy on the Standing Committee. We listened to a keynote address on human impact within creation and hosted conversations on ways forward that extend out from our faith in Christ Jesus. In all of the topics that were…
