April 14, 202

“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there.” That’s Hemingway on writing. (The same is true for preaching, BTW).

But it is also true for believing, for believers. It is normal to have doubts, even to be assailed by them from time to time. In these times, you can usually land on the one true sentence. Maybe that sentence is “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.” (1 John 4:16)

Prayer helps, too. 

“Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Fifth Sunday of Easter – BCP p. 225)

April 13, 2021

Dave Zahl’s excellent sermon from this past Sunday reminded us that we are all divided and multiple selves. One part of us is ready to carpe diem, while the other part is bored and tired of life and on some days just ready for the whole shooting match to be over.

The ancient Greek aphorism, “know thyself”, can be helpful on some days and a red herring on others, given the shifting sand of human personality. That’s why I find this word from St. John incredibly comforting. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

For now, it is enough to know that you are God’s child. And to know that there will come a day when your multiple and divided selves will become one, kneeling before your Savior.

“O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in the darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For Guidance – BCP p. 832)

April 12, 2021

John Huston, an atheist, was chosen to direct the 1979 film adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, the story of a troubled young man hoping to shuck off his fundamentalist upbringing by starting a church called The Church Without Christ. Like all O’Connor fiction, Wise Blood has its share of violence and morbidity. Huston was hoping to draw out a distinct nihilism. Yet, in the end, Wise Blood proved wiser than the director. Huston even said, “Jesus won.”

Jesus won. He won once for all by losing – losing His life for our sake. And when God raised Him from the dead, the victory was won for us all, even if your current circumstances don’t seem to reflect that truth. I love what Jesus says to us – “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

“We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Saturday in Easter Week – BCP)

April 9, 2021

Speaking about the woman who broke into a dinner party to adore Jesus – prostrate before Him, weeping on his feet from joy and relief and perhaps sorrow for sin, drying those tears with her hair, anointing His feet with oil, Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47)

Note what He doesn’t say: He who is loved little, loves little. Or He who is forgiven little, forgives little. Instead, Jesus makes a direct connection between forgiveness and love. When you truly understand the depth of God’s forgiveness for your rebellion and self-consumption, then you will truly be able to love others without artifice or second-thought.

The Collect for Friday in Easter Week implicitly draws that connection.

“Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Friday in Easter Week – BCP)

April 8, 2021

“We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 15:11)

Here’s the gospel. No matter how hard you work on your virtue or how overstuffed your bag of moral or ethical tricks is, no matter how woke you are or how churchgoing you are or how “spiritual” you are, you deserve, like the rest of everybody else, to be thrown in the eternal hoosegow. (AKA the slammer) 

But because of Good Friday and Easter Sunday – and only because of His death and resurrection – you have been given a Get Out Of Jail Free Card. Is it fair? Absolutely not. Is it the gospel? Absolutely!

“Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (For the Mission of the Church – BCP p. 816)

April 7, 2021

The Collect for Wednesday in Easter Week reminds us that God is at work. Right now, constantly, everywhere, all the time, in your life, in the lives of the people you care about, in the lives of the people you don’t care about. The majority of his work is hidden (Deus absconditus), which is precisely why we pray that God will “open the eyes of our faith.” 

The believing Lucy could see Aslan leading the way through the dark Narnian wood, while her brothers and sister could not. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) Sometimes, by the grace of God our faith turns to sight and we take peek behind God’s curtain.

So, let’s pray that prayer right now.

“O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Wednesday in Easter Week – BCP)

April 6, 2021

In the collect for Tuesday in Easter Week (today!), we pray that we might “abide” in Christ. What does it mean to abide in Christ? Jesus Himself says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

I love the complete and total dependency on God that Jesus asserts. Apart from me you can do…nothing!!!  Not a thing, that is. To abide in Christ is to swim around in His forgiveness, to lollygag in His love. You aren’t really doing much, you are just abiding.

“O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.” (Tuesday in Easter Week – BCP)

April 5, 2021

“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here.” (Mark 16:6)

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead means everything. In other words, everything depends on the empty tomb. Easter does more than redeem the unspeakable damage of Good Friday. That He is risen validates our atonement and secures our eternal life.

He is risen! That means everything right now. The little “d” deaths you are experiencing right now in your life have all been redeemed. Every single one of them. Not will be redeemed, but have already been redeemed. In light of Christ’s resurrection, all loss is only a portal to restoration beyond your wildest dreams.

I can say this with supreme confidence and assurance for one reason: He is risen!

“Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Collect for Easter – BCP)

April 2, 2021

In his poem East Coker, T.S. Eliot writes, “The dripping blood our only drink, / The bloody flesh our only food:  / In spite of which we like to think / That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood— / Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.”

We are not inherently sound. Otherwise, He would not have gone to the cross. But He did go to the cross. It is crucially (the word meaning “important” which is derived from Latin’s “crux” or cross) that you understand the personal significance of Good Friday. 

He died for you. For a moment, forget that He died for the sins of the world. Today, drink deeply of the dripping blood, poured out for you.

“Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Collect for Good Friday)

April 1, 2021

“I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26)

Today is Maundy Thursday. Have you ever found it odd that every time you take communion you are participating in a death? Or in Paul’s words from today’s reading, you “proclaim” death? 

Death is news. When a famous person dies, we see it on print and screen. When a not so famous person dies, we read about it in the obituary section. Jesus’ death is the biggest news of all, of course. His death equals your forgiveness, the world’s forgiveness. And as there is so much to forgive on both fronts, we proclaim that death every Sunday.

“Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Collect for Maundy Thursday)

March 31, 2021

Feeling weighed down? Does George Harrison’s “Give Me Love” bring a tear to your eye? “Give me love, give me love…give me hope, help me cope with this heavy load.”

You know you have experienced the presence of God when that weight is lifted from your shoulders.  According to the psalmist, that kind of help is there for you every day. “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” (Psalm 68:19)

This is what the gospel ALWAYS does – shifts the burden off your shoulders and onto the one who has born the all cares of the world.

“O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For Quiet Confidence – BCP p. 832)

March 30th, 2021

In the Game of Thrones world, a person on trial for a crime can demand a trial by combat. It was believed that the gods would execute justice through the duel. If the person on trial survived the combat, then clearly, he was innocent. What’s more, the prisoner had the right to name a champion to fight in his stead. 

Although the cosmology of Game of Thrones includes the old gods and the new, not to mention the Lord of Light, the trial by combat strikes a Christian cord – with a few differences. We definitely have a Champion to fight on our behalf. Yet, there is no question about our guilt or innocence – we are guilty. But, in the upside-down world of the gospel, our Champion loses the fight. He is the one who is killed. However, we still go free. 

This is what Holy Week is all about. The prophet says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53: 4-6)

“O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Tuesday in Holy Week – BCP p. 220)

March 29th, 2021

“Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Mark 11:8-10)

This brief mediation on Palm Sunday comes from our friend Lauren Winner. 

For Christians, the palm says that celebration today necessarily carries the knowledge that our celebrations are not final. Today’s palms are triumphant and hopeful—yet, not too many months from now, I will burn them, and I will press their ashes into my parishioners’ flesh. So the palms are victory and lament, triumph and mortality, at once.

And they are recursive: the story they tell doesn’t end on Ash Wednesday. The very cruciform rubbing of ashen crosses on worshippers’ foreheads itself points to the oily forehead cross received at baptism, which is to say, they point again to hope. In time, lament won’t be needful, and only celebration and victory remain. But for the present, this vegetal Sunday perfectly speaks both.

“Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Palm Sunday – BCP p. 270)

March 26th, 2021

The first time I flew into the bowl that is the Jackson Hole airport, I stepped off the plane, took in the magnanimous mountains, and just started laughing! It reminded me of the Monty Python chapel scene – the chaplain intoning “Let us praise God…. Oh, Lord, you are so big, so absolutely huge! Gosh, we’re all really impressed down here, I can tell you.”

In fact, I was really impressed down here I can tell you. It is such a liberating gift to be reminded that you are not the center of it all. To be relieved of one’s presumed self-importance is the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s not about you.

And yet, the crazy thing is that God loves you so tenderly, so individually. Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:30-31)

“O God, who hast made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and didst send thy blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after thee and find thee; bring the nations into thy fold; pour out thy Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of thy Kingdom; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Collect for Mission – BCP p. 58)

March 24th, 2021

I love what Thomas Jefferson said about Patrick Henry’s oratory skills. “His eloquence was peculiar, if indeed it should be called eloquence; for it was impressive and sublime, beyond what can be imagined. Although it was difficult when he had spoken to tell what he had said, yet, while he was speaking, it always seemed directly to the point. When he had spoken in opposition to my opinion, had produced a great effect, and I myself had been highly delighted and moved, I have asked myself when he ceased: ‘What the devil has he said?’ I could never answer the inquiry.” Ha!

In contradistinction to the man who said “give me liberty or give me death” at St. John’s church in Richmond, the apostle Paul said, “When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

What does the hymn say? “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

“Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 8 – BCP p. 230)

March 23rd, 2021

In his famous psalm King David cries out, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, 
and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me. Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.” (Psalm 51:11-13)

David voices the universal intra-human conflict: the desire to be good at war with our confounded and unabating propensity to do bad. Scripture talks about this in different ways – old Adam v new Adam, flesh v spirit, – but it boils down to the same old thing. We just can’t make it on our own.

That’s why this psalm/prayer is a daily favorite of mine! Speaking of great prayers, this week’s collect for the 5th Sunday in Lent is brilliant.

“Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Fifth Sunday in Lent – BCP p. 219)

March 22nd, 2021

Spring is officially here! Here’s a quote from Mark Twain on the subject. “It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” The nearing of the end of the pandemic only amplifies that “you want it so!” feeling.

The pattern written into God’s universe is one of demise and renewal, death and resurrection. Every renewal/resurrection moment you experience now is a harbinger, a foretaste, a kind of promissory note of the World Without End. As St. Paul says, “To Him be the glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus unto all generations, world without end. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:21)

Deep in each heart is an ache for that World. Spring brings that ache a little closer to the surface.

“O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (A Collect for the Renewal of Life – BCP p. 99)

March 19th, 2021

Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain is filled with the same difficult (impossible?) moral injunctions as the Sermon on the Mount: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. This is a beautiful version of life in which the power structures are all turned upside down and the only competition is who can abdicate their rights more fully or expeditiously.

How I wish this impulse sprung from this particular heart, but it just doesn’t. The opposite does. I am therefore relieved to find this gem buried in the middle of Jesus’ sermon: “The Most High is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” (Luke 6:35)

Nice to be included in God’s kindness! And yet, we can still pray for God’s Spirit to move our hearts towards others – even and especially those others who are difficult.

“Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (A Collect for Fridays – BCP p. 56)

March 18th, 2021

There is a true story about an incident that happened at a guest lodge in Texas. A guest wanted to chill a bottle of wine, so he tied a rope to it and lowered it from his window into the river below. When he returned to his room a little later, he pulled his bottle up to find it empty with a note inside that said “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”

The full King James version of that verse comes from the book of Job, who after he had lost everything said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)

Blessed be the name of the Lord. On Him we are completely dependent. Come what may, we can be sure it comes from His hand.

“Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of this life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (A Collect for Guidance – BCP p. 100)

March 17th, 2021

St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the death day of the 16 year old boy who was kidnapped from England by raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland. He spent 6 years as a shepherd there and, in his own words, “found God.” He went back to England, got ordained as a priest, then returned to Ireland to spread the Good News of the Gospel.

The counterintuitive ways of God are evident in St. Patrick’s story. It is in returning to, rather than avoiding, the places of difficulty and sorrow that we find healing and joy. When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, God was at work for good. As he told his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20)

Hear, Hear! Put on your green and raise a glass today to the mysterious ways of God!

“Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle to the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that way that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Collect for Patrick of Ireland)