June 16, 2021

In The Pretenders 1986 hit Don’t Get Me Wrong, Chrissie Hynde sings “I come and go like fashion / I might be great tomorrow / but hopeless yesterday.” She’s got a good bead on human nature. Can’t you relate? One day you are on the top of the world and the next day the bottom has fallen out. 

I come and go like fashion. I got married in 1986. I’m afraid to say that our wedding pictures captured my haircut; it was at least approaching mullet status. Not full blown, but still, well, embarrassing. Hopeless yesterday!

The psalmist proclaims, “But You remain the same, your years will never end.” (Psalm 102:27) What doesn’t change about God? His mercy, His forgiveness, and His all-embracing love for us – the fickle hearted.

“O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 21 – BCP)

June 15, 2021

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:9)

God does new things. The shopworn grooves of your life are nothing to Him, nor are the ruts that feel like cavernous walls around you. See, I am doing a new thing! God is totally capable of discontinuity. New beginnings, new chapters, new adventures. 

God is like a merrymaking holiday guide, leading you into green pastures, and a teeming glen behind a mountain that no one else knew was there. Look! The picnic is already laid out!  He is a magician who pulls rabbits out of His hat and has cards you can’t even imagine up His sleeve. 

Do not underestimate what God can and will do, and do not give up on His mischief making goodness! Did you already forget about Easter Morning?

“O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Good Friday Liturgy – BCP p. 280)

June 14, 2021

“The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in time of trouble.” (Psalm 9:9)

The Taproot, the True North, the One Trick Pony, the Mockingbird of the Old Old Story found yet again in the psalmist’s song. God is a refuge. When you are oppressed, when you are in trouble, God is you Turn To. 

What is so wonderous is that you can turn to Him no matter what you have done to deserve your trouble No questions asked. Just come unto me and I will give you rest.

“Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 18 – BCP)

June 10, 2021

“He used to go to the worst places, and go find the people who hated him, absolutely hated him. Who denied him, never even thought about saying his name. He went to go holla at them and give them the truth. And once they heard the truth they souls changed, and they couldn’t deny it.

That’s NBA Superstar Kevin Durant talking about Jesus. Truth has a way of taking root. Yes, we deny and defend and dismiss. (“You can’t handle the truth!”) But, when truth hits home our souls are changed. The truth handles us.

Jesus also said this: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32) The good thing for us is that the Truth (as Jesus calls Himself) always handles us with grace.

“Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen” (Proper 17 – BCP)

June 9, 2021

Recidivistic behavior is not breaking news. Or at least, it shouldn’t be. We sin because we are sinners. As we read in the 39 Articles (Anglicanism’s primary theological document) “this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated.”

Here’s the bible’s take: “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.” (1 John 1:8)

What to do about it? Repentance is always a good answer. And so too it forgiving others for who they are. And forgiving ourselves for who we are. When we do that, we are deep in the heart and character of God.

“O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 10 – BCP)

June 8, 2021

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

We had a glorious return to in person worship at Christ Church this past Sunday. 

The experience was at once deeply emotional and surprisingly normal. On the one hand, our 15-month hiatus felt like an eternity; on the other hand, it was a blink of an eye.

What is undeniably true is that worshipping in church together makes things “righter.” The collective voice is powerful. We are confessing our sin. We are professing our faith. We are on our knees receiving communion. We are singing “ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven” with one voice.

We need each other, don’t we? Especially on Sundays.

“Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For the Parish – BCP p. 817)

June 7, 2021

Here’s C.S. Lewis busting on navel gazing.  “The enjoyment and the contemplation of our inner activities are incompatible. You cannot hope and also think about hoping at the same moment; for in hope we look to hope’s object and we interrupt this by (so to speak) turning around to look at the hope itself.”

To wit, our hope is in God, not in hope. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

I hope you have a wonderful week!

“O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 5 – BCP)

June 1, 2021

Dear Friends -

The Almost Daily will be on a very short break and back in your inbox on Monday June 7th.

Happy June to all!

Paul

May 28, 2021

I have a small Italian Bialetti stovetop mocha coffee maker. You fill the bottom with water, pack in the Illy Intenso Mocha Dark Roast grounds in the top, screw the two pieces together, set the wonderous contraption on the stove ring, turn on the gas, wait for the gurgle, and then pour out your morning allotment of espresso paradise, all 4 oz of it. Yesterday, I heard the gurgle and poured out pale liquid. I had forgotten to put the coffee grounds in!

I’m guessing that you can relate. Sometimes we just fail to function properly. Sometimes these failures have dramatic – or tragic – consequences. Large or small, they are always reminders of our finitude, our precariousness. So comforting, then, to be reminded that our lives are held firmly in our Father’s hands.

The psalmist says, “My life is in your hands. Save me from my enemies and from those who are chasing me.  Show your kindness to me, your servant. Save me because of your love.” (Psalm 31:15-16)

O Love that will not let me go / I rest my weary soul in Thee.

“Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For Guidance – BCP p. 832)

May 27, 2021

Just one more from Jayber Crow, the titular character in Wendell Berry’s most excellent novel. 

“I have read the Gospels over the years (and) the belief has grown in me that Christ did not come to found an organized religion but came instead to found an unorganized one. He seems to have come to carry religion out of the temples into the fields and sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and banks of rivers, into the house of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness, toward the membership of all that is here.”

Don’t get me wrong; I’m excited to get back inside Christ Church for our worship services, but Jayber is spot on. Jesus says, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) And that life is for everybody everywhere.

“Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Collect for the Day of Pentecost – BCP)

May 26, 2021

Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn!) recently talked about his elderly father, who suffers from dementia. Viggo’s father has reverted back to his childhood Danish dialect. He talks about having lunch with people long dead. Viggo encourages caregivers to go with the conversation, rather than correct it.

For days, Viggo’s father talked about having left open the gate to the pig pen. Turns out that when he was a young boy during a time of real scarcity, he forgot to close the pig’s gate. The pigs got out and ravaged the garden, eating up the family food supply. He never admitted to it. Now all these years, before his death, Viggo’s dad wanted to confess his sin and clear his accounts.

Unconfessed secrets eat you alive. But they don’t have to. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) And to make matters even better for us, the One to whom we confess has already taken our sins away!

“Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.” (Confession of Sin – BCP p. 360)

May 25, 2021

Jane Kenyon, a poet who had a life long struggle with depression (and who converted to Christianity in mid-life) wrote a piercing poem called Having It Out with Melancholy. One stanza is called “SUGGESTION FROM A FRIEND”.  The suggestion? “You wouldn’t be so depressed / if you really believed in God.”

That friend would do well do shut his or her pie-hole and open up a bible. Jesus says, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Who knew that trials and sorrows live smack dab alongside of (not apart from) peace and taking heart?

“O merciful Father, who has taught us in your Holy Word that you do not willingly afflict or grieve us: Look with pity upon our sorrows. Remember us, O Lord, in mercy, nourish our souls with patience, comfort us with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon us, and give us peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For a Person in Trouble or Bereavement – BCP p. 831)

May 24, 2021

Holding forth on the leavening effects of aging, one of Wendall Berry’s country characters says, “Age has done more for my morals than Methodism ever did.”

As we will pray in our prayer today, we confess that – try as we might to live on the straight and narrow – our wills are unruly. Sometimes it takes the accrual of years and the natural diminishment of desire to drain the sap that rises from the tree of Good and Evil that is planted deep in our hearts.

In the end, aging isn’t enough to vanquish sin. Only Jesus does that for us. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.” (Romans 8:3) And we, both young and old, live in the blessed state of eternal forgiveness.

“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)

May 21,2021

This from Shakespeare’s 91st Sonnet:

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body's force;
Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill;
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;

We all look to put our identity in something: ancestry, merit, money, beauty, finery, and bling. That’s a fool’s errand and St. Paul knew it.  “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.” (Philippians 3:4-7)

The hamster wheel is exhausting anyway. Nice to have an excuse to opt out of all that, isn’t it?

“O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.” (Of the Incarnation – BCP p. 252)

May 20, 2021

A little humor from The Onion this morning on the cusp of the cicada arrival. “In response to the brood’s reemergence after lying dormant since 2004, several area insects reportedly said, “Wow, hope you had a nice 17 years off,” to a group of periodical cicadas Tuesday, expressing annoyance over being forced during the prolonged absence to torment humans on their own. “You certainly look refreshed—that was some break, huh?” a local mosquito told the cicadas as it called over some ticks, wasps, fire ants, and brown recluse spiders that sources confirmed worked twice as hard to inflict fear and disease upon humans while the cicadas “took their sweet, sweet time doing God knows what” beneath the ground.”

People – at least in our culture – are generally uncomfortable with people who don’t “produce.” Maybe you are uncomfortable with yourself when you don’t produce, preferring the human doing version of yourself over the human being.

God seems uniformly unconcerned with human production. You know the famous verse: “Cease striving and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) Looks like you can actually take your sweet time doing God knows what, after all.

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 12 – BCP)

May 19, 2021

The sheer volume and force of energy expended in the Spring is mind-boggling. Just thinking about plant and tree life alone. From bare forked branches to lush, luxurious, laden leaves in every imaginable shade of green. All at once, it seems.

If you are “languishing” (the coined term for the pandemic related ennui many/most people feel, despite all the blessings/silver linings/redemptive experiences embedded therein) then take heart that energy abounds all around you.

Along those lines, let’s go back to this week’s passage from St. Paul: “And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:27) Hope and comfort for the languishers! The Spirit is interceding for us, even and especially while we are stuck in neutral.

“O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon all who turn to you for help; for you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.” (Prayers of the People – BCP p. 395)

May 18, 2021

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:25)

Sometimes I’m reminded in the morning by the person I live with that the morning is for quiet, for easing into the day. It is not for me expounding on one subject after another. Verbal processors tend to be verbose at the wrong times.

Words I have in spades – and weaknesses too. Good thing that God helps us in our weakness. And even supplies the words that aren’t words, but sighs too deep for words. So much better, sometimes, to keep mum and experience God’s Spirit at work within you.

“O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; 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.” (Day of Pentecost -BCP)

May 17, 2021

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:22-27)

So much of life is waiting. What are you waiting for today? Some say that waiting is the hardest part. St. Paul says that we wait with both groaning and patience. 

The funny thing about patience or impatience is that neither is here nor there in relation to that for which we wait. We can’t make the thing come any earlier. So sometimes groaning feels good, sometimes we are given the peaceful gift of patience.

In the end, however, God will do what He will do when He will do it. And our job is to wait!

“O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.” (Seventh Sunday of Easter – BCP)

May 14, 2021

Here’s a touching passage from Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow, his novel about a longtime barber in Port William, Kentucky.

“Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led – make of that what you will.”

Here is what the Good Book says about that: “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

That’s a big relief to me!

“Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by your providence; and that we may joyfully serve you in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 3 – BCP p. 229)

May 13, 2021

Our dear friend Paul Zahl is fond of saying that all of the things we are so desperately attached to in this life – cherished clothes, picture of your wedding party, your grandfather’s writing desk, your collection of first edition Faulkner novels, etc. – will all be sold by your children at a garage sale. Or now via eBay or Craigslist. All of it.

Jesus says, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)

I love stuff. However, I love that our lives aren’t eternally bound to our stuff. You can’t take it with you, duh. And what is in store is where true riches are found.

“O God, the protector of all that who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 12 – BCP p. 231)