November 30, 2022

It’s worth taking the extra time for some things. Like boiling enough water in the kettle to fill the teapot and then pour hot water into your mug to heat it up before you pour your tea. Then your mug of tea – even with a splash of cold milk – stays piping hot. A small, but meaningful gift to start your morning.

Marilyn Robinson said, "I have spent my life watching, not to see beyond the world, merely to see, great mystery, what is plainly before my eyes. I think the concept of transcendence is based on a misreading of creation. With all respect to heaven, the scene of the miracle is here, among us."  

There is truth in the author’s words. “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” (Numbers 14:21) Chalk one up for immanence!

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

November 29, 2022

“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12:13)

Here is what a church should be – a safe haven. That’s why the front doors are painted red. The red door is a referent to the lamb’s blood smeared on the door during Passover to protect one from the Angel of Death. You are safe inside that red door.

In Scotland, homeowners painted their doors red to signify that their mortgage had been paid off.  When you step inside the red door of a church you absolutely, positively, without any exceptions, must hear that Jesus Christ has paid your debt with his death on the cross. You are safe and you are free.

“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)

November 28, 2022

Here’s a bit of good news. “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. (Romans 13:12)

If ever you’ve been tossing and turning in the night, waiting for the break of day, you know what it means to be in the season of Advent. Although it’s always darkest before the dawn, the dawn is right around the corner.

Jesus is coming to undo all that was done wrong, and to do all that still needs doing. I can’t think of anything better to set one’s sights on than that.

“Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (First Sunday of Advent – BCP)

November 25, 2022

In the immortal words of Joe Walsh from his 1978 “Life’s Been Good” – “I can’t complain but sometimes I still do.”

Hope you were able to thank God for His gifts yesterday. Sometimes, though, we have to register our complaints to Him.  Not a problem for God; He can take all you’ve got and more.

The psalms are a master class in complaint to God.  “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.” (Psalm 69: 1-3)

Maybe your complaints are more entry level than the psalmist, but everybody’s got some. It’s best to be real with God.

“O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and 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.” (The Collect at the Prayers – BCP)

November 24, 2022

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." (1 Chronicles 16:34)

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Time to break out the 17th century classic, Now Thank We All Our God.

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And guard us through all ills in this world, till the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,
The Son, and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven—
The one eternal God, Whom earth and Heav’n adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Don’t be shy – sing it out! I pray that your day is infused with gratitude for all God has done for us.

“Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love. We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us. We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to lifea gain, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom. Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all
places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.” (A General Thanksgiving – BCP)

November 23, 2022

There are few problems in life with clear cut answers. What to do when someone criticizes you has, according to Jesus, a clear cut answer. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12)

Even if you are not being criticized on Jesus’ account, the response is always the same – no response. Hard to do, you say? Well, yes. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is a heck of a lot easier than defending yourself with wasted breath.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who settest the solitary in families: We commend to thy continual care the homes inwhich thy people dwell. Put far from them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vainglory, and the pride of life. Fill them with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness. Knit together in constant affection thosewho, in holy wedlock, have been made one flesh. Turn the
hearts of the parents to the children, and the hearts of the children to the parents; and so enkindle fervent charity amongus all, that we may evermore be kindly affectioned one to another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (For Families – BCP)

November 22, 2022

Here is T.S. Eliot on Huck Finn: “He sees the real world and does not judge it – he allows it to judge itself.”  What a thing to say. It is certainly rooted in Eliot’s Christianity; there is judgment, but we are not the ones to judge.

Reminds me of Jesus’ masterful parable about the wheat and the tares. A farmer plants wheat in his field. An enemy comes at night and sows tares. The farmer’s workers ask if they should weed out the tares. The farmer says this: “‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:29-30)

So, at the Thanksgiving table, maybe you can keep quiet about what you judge to be wrong about him, about her, about the world? Looks like God will take care of it in the end.

“Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications ofyour people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and theHoly Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – BCP)

November 21, 2020

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

This prophecy from Jeremiah is not only comforting, it is a harbinger of the New Covenant accomplished by the death and resurrection of Christ. This coming king will be called “The Lord is our righteousness.” This means that our righteousness before God has nothing to do with us, per se, and everything to do with the king named “our righteousness.”

As Pilgrim’s Progress author John Bunyan says, “One day, as I was passing through a field, suddenly I thought of a sentence, ‘your righteousness is in heaven,’ and with the eyes of faith, I saw Christ sitting at God’s right hand. And I suddenly realized — THERE is my righteousness. Now my chains fell off indeed! I felt delivered from slavery to guilt and fears. I went home rejoicing for the love and grace of God.”

Amen!

“Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought togetherunder his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 29 – BCP)

November 18, 2022

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7)

Our bottle of acetaminophen says it “contains acetaminophen.” Good to know what you are getting, even if it seems a little obvious. Sometimes in churches you don’t get what is advertised. They tell you that they are preaching the gospel, but then they lay down burdens on you. Usually, this is in the “application” part of the sermon.

Paul has some choice words for the people peddling a false gospel in Galatia. Whenever you hear about what you should do instead of hearing about what He has already done, you know there is something other than acetaminophen in the acetaminophen bottle, metaphorically speaking, of course.

“Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you havegiven us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 28 – BCP)

November 17, 2022

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:28-29)

On a 37- degree night in pouring rain, UVA students and community members packed into Christ Church to attend a special Evening Prayer service. We gathered as a worshiping community in the aftermath of the Sunday evening killing of 3 UVA football players. When we are unmoored, we need the comfort and stability and community of the church – and the message of the church - more than ever.

The words from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans rang out with power. God’s promise that nothing can separate us from His love never gets old because sometimes life – and death – will tempt us to feel forsaken.

But no. We are not forsaken. We are never forsaken. Because I am sure that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“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)

November 16, 2022

“On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand: / All other ground is sinking sand; / All other ground is sinking sand.”

Those are the words of the 19th century hymn “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less.” All other ground is sinking sand? Sounds a little glum, but the hymnist is just naming reality. Sometimes life feels like quicksand, sometimes slow erosion. Either way, any hope built on what is ephemeral is hope misplaced. As the psalmist says, “Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.” (Psalm 103:15)

Standing on Christ, however, we are secure, solid, unshakeable. Even death will not sink us.

“Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought togetherunder his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 29 – BCP)

November 15, 2022

“The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.” (Isaiah 65: 25)

That’s the end of the passage that we read in yesterday’s Almost Daily from Isaiah. Heartbreakingly appropriate in Charlottesville today. As I write (Monday morning), 3 are dead and 2 wounded by a student gunman on the UVA Grounds. Students are in lockdown.

Please pray for all involved. One of my prayers is the prayer of the psalmist: “How long, O Lord? How long?”

“Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen.” (For Peace – BCP)

November 14, 2022

“Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:22)

Just like the Gracious Father in the Prodigal Son parable, God answers even before we call out to Him. And even if we babble away, not really saying exactly what we mean, He hears us, gets us, understands us.

His door is wide open. And it feels really nice inside.

“Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you havegiven us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 28 – BCP)

November 7, 2022

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

The Almost Daily is on a week-long hiatus and will return to your inbox on Monday, November 14th.  As always, thanks for reading!

“Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn,and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you havegiven us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Proper 28 – BCP)

November 4, 2022

Now, before the time change in Central Virginia, the early mornings are inky black. So inky black that you wonder if the sun will ever rise.

“Yahweh, Yahweh / Always pain before a child is born / Yahweh, tell me now / Why the dark before the dawn?” (U2)

We may not get an answer from God about why whatever pain or darkness we are experiencing is happening. But we do know for certain that that the sun will rise. As the psalmist says, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)

“Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (A Collect for Grace – BCP)

November 3, 2022

‘Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” (Jeremiah 1:6-7)

You may not be young, like the prophet Jeremiah in this passage, but you are young at something. You are always crossing some kind of threshold beyond which you have no experience.

When inexperience necessarily demands dependence on God, then being a rookie is a very good thing. The God who beckons you across that threshold is the same God who will provide for you.

“Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works;through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Proper 23 – BCP)

November 2, 2022

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins reminds us that “the world is charged with the grandeur of God.”  This can be easy to forget in a world inundated with the media blitz of woe and disaster. Or the normal slog of sun up to sun down living.

Nonetheless, the world is charged with the grandeur of God. Paul’s encouragement to the believers in Philippi is an open invitation to range and roam the world for all its grandeur. From black holes to beetles to biochemistry. To plumb the disco anthems of 1977 to the wisdom of Greek mythology. You name it – somewhere in there will be the grandeur of God – excellent and praiseworthy.

Think about such things. What fun! What a relief!

“Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, andthe infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to knowyou more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (For Knowledge of God’s Creation – BCP)

November 1, 2022

"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27)

Happy All Saints’ Day. The lectionary text for today is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. It is so chosen because the “communion of saints” (aka the sinful people freely justified by Christ’s blood shed on the cross) adhere to a wildly countercultural way of living in this world. The fact that we don’t always do it very well doesn’t remove one jot or tittle from the power of the Christ’s words.

Love your enemies. What? Bless, rather than cancel, those who curse you? He can’t be serious. But He is. And was. So much so that He did all this for us on Good Friday.

“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)

October 31, 2022

“When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." (Luke 19: 5-7)

Yesterday’s lectionary text from Luke has everything to do with Halloween. Zacchaeus was an out in the open sinner (tax collector), while those who grumbled were sinners hiding behind the masks of self-righteousness.

Jesus wants to come trick or treating at Zacchaeus’ house. But no tricks with the grace of God. Only the treat of being loved despite ourselves.

Happy Halloween (and Reformation Day)!

“Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Fourth Sunday in Lent – BCP)

October 28, 2022

“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.” (1 Corinthians 4:3)

Here’s a line from Green Day’s “Basket Case” – “Sometimes I give myself the creeps / Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me / It all keeps adding up / I think I'm cracking up.”

Funny but true: sometimes I give myself the creeps. The fruit of the gospel is the gift of self-forgetfulness. That is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians. Theologian Oswald Bayer describes it this way.

“Those who are born anew are no longer entangled with themselves. They are solidly freed from this entanglement, from the self-reflection that always seeks what belongs to itself. This is not a deadening of self. It does not flee from thought and responsibility. No, it is the gift of self-forgetfulness. The passive righteousness of faith tells us: You do not concern yourself at all! In that God does what is decisive in us, we may live outside ourselves and solely in him. Thus, we are hidden from ourselves, and removed from the judgment of other or the judgment of ourselves about ourselves as a final judgment. “Who am I?” Such self-reflection never finds peace in itself.”

Amen! Who is God is the question that finds peace in itself.

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