I’ve been having browser problems for the last couple of weeks. I haven’t been able to find videos that Episcopal News Service has been posting. The link works, but no video box comes up on the story page. When I asked the communications crew a couple of days ago, they basically said it was news to them and they’d see what they could find out. One of...
How’s your Lent been this year? Some people think you’re supposed to give up all frivolity, laughter, and joy, and just act depressed, because – you know – this is all about discipline. That really misses the point of Lent. Lent is meant to be a kind of spring training, a time to learn or remember the skills and habits of Christian living....
Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy was a priest of the Church of England who volunteered to serve as an army chaplain in the First World War. He was a notable and skilled poet, not unlike his predecessors George Herbert and John Donne, well rooted in the glory of God’s created order as well as the labors of a parish priest. His later poetry reflected his war experience and his deeply...
I had several robust conversations last week with the members of Executive Council, and with members of the churchwide staff, about Ashes to Go. Episcopalians from all across this Church talked about their experiences on Ash Wednesday of going out into the streets – to the train station or subway, on a bus to the airport (and on a cross-country flight), bearing ashes and...
Happy Anniversary to the oldest church in this diocese, and the second oldest in New York! For three centuries you’ve been a good example of what the collect prays for: “may your people shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory.” This body of people called Grace has helped start at least seven other congregations, you founded Jamaica Hospital, and you...
Several years ago, I visited a congregation in western Kentucky, where the teen-aged boys and girls gave me a T-shirt with their motto: Grace Church Acolytes – playing with fire since 1853. On Christmas morning at St. George’s Cathedral I met an 8-year-old doing the same thing – he was entrusted with carrying the gospel book. An older boy...
I bring you glad tidings of great joy! A child is born, a prince of peace who will establish justice, here and around this earth. He will be guide and counselor, a ruler to lead us in paths of peace, who will break down walls and make the path straight. The prophet promises a prince of peace who will burn all the combat boots and bloodied uniforms, stoking a fire to light the...
We grieve with the many families and friends touched by this shooting in Connecticut. We mourn the loss of lives so young and innocent. We grieve that the means of death are so readily available to people who lack the present capacity to find other ways of responding to their own anger and grief. We know that God’s heart is broken over this tragedy, and the tragedies that unfold each and...
Garrison Keillor is known for saying that nobody really wants to be around a prophet, and they don’t get invited to birthday parties. They’re just too challenging to have around in normal life. Would you invite John the baptizer to dinner with your boss? Guess who’s coming to dinner! Would you be hospitable, tell your guests to wear camel...
Be alert! To which kids often add… “the world needs more lerts.” The world does need more of us ready to respond to the image of God around us, to the inbreaking of God’s reign, to the neighbor in need of love in concrete forms. That word alert comes from Italian, and it means “to...