I have announced and asked for prayers in too many places for me to pretend it is still a secret, at least a secret from anyone to whom It would matter. I am actively exploring the possibility of leaving my church of the last dozen or so years for another, yet to be discovered. And I hate the process. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Church
Church Shopping – and why I hate it!
Thoughts on the beginning of Advent; “O Come O Come Emmanuel!”
O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel;
that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny.
From depths of Hell Thy people save, and give them victory o’er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times did’st give the Law, in cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
My favorite song of this season, Advent, and one I am full ready to proclaim this this year. I need the awareness of Emmanuel (“God with us”) now, as proclaimed in the third verse, to
“Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death dark shadows put to flight.” Continue reading
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The Widow’s Mite: another view
One of the things I like about the branch of the Church into which God has placed me is the use of a defined Lectionary, or schedule of scripture readings to be used throughout the year. One of the reasons I like this is that it is another way of removing the preacher from the throne, while leaving him in the pulpit: His (and her) task is to explain, expound and apply the Bible, not to cherry-pick the verses that fit his particular slant. But, like anything derived by humans to keep us out of trouble, “the rules” sometimes provide their own slant on the text. I believe that this may have happened the last two Sundays. Continue reading
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Book Review: “Unabashedly Episcopalian” by Andy Doyle
Well, I just finished my weekend reading, a new little book
entitled
“Unabashedly Episcopalian”
written by the Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle,
9th Bishop of the Diocese of Texas (Episcopal)
Before a review, something of a disclaimer:
First, Bp. Doyle is my bishop.
Those who know me well will know what an amazing statement that is.
Continue reading
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On the Redeemer and the Exodus, through Psalm 105 (with thanks to Lisa Tenney)
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
The beginning of Psalm 105
This morning, the daily reading app (at YouVersion.com, of which I am quite fond, btw) on my phone served to me Psalm 105 which starts with this marvelous call to praise God.
I read it in the context of reading a post from another long-time member of Houston’s Church of the Redeemer (Episcopal) Lisa Tenney. Her thoughts were a joy to hear; and as I began to read this Psalm of praise and exhortation to praise God for His mighty acts, I could not help but put the two together.
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A Visiting Preacher, Esau, and looking forward to Romans
This morning, we had a guest preacher, the Rev. John Newton, Canon for Life-Long Spiritual Formation for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. He preached mainly from the Epistle reading for the day, from first chapter of Ephesians. He started in what I thought was headed for a standard corporate-church theme of God’s blessings (“we need to realize that God has already blessed us, yadda, yadda, yadda …”) Yes, he went there, and I can’t totally fault him for that; he has an excuse in that the point is correct.
But then he went somewhere more interesting. Continue reading
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On Questions and Mirrors, Truth and Images
“Would it possible to be tempted, in such a way that we miss God’s desire for us, by being part of a church that is almost perfect?”
As an answer to the question, I will suggest that part of the reason for the story of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament is to answer a related question. It is one I have sometimes heard from skeptics. It goes something like this:
“If God is real, why doesn’t he just “show up” and prove himself? Then people would believe in him! Instead, all we get are some writings in a book (and those kind of hard to understand), and the word of people like you who tell us just to ‘have faith and trust him.’
I’m sorry, but if he is real, and expects to be acknowledged, he needs to say so, directly. Then we would all see the truth, and could all believe. Until then…”
I think there is some merit to the question. Continue reading
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Thinking about Dirt
Over the last several weeks I have run into what is often called “The Parable of the Sower” from the Gospel According to Mark (It’s also in Matthew and Luke, but this month, it always seemed to come up in Mark). If you ever had any exposure at all to stories from the Bible, you probably remember this one; on its simplest level, it tells of a man sowing seed, somewhat randomly. The seed falls on four different kinds of dirt, and the story explores what happens to that seed in each. The link to the story is here: Mark 4:2-9. But what does it all mean? And why did Jesus say it that way at all? Well, as our good fortune would have it, Jesus’ followers asked those questions too, and He told them. We can read it right there in Mark. No need for fancy interpretation, “…move along, nothing to see here, it’s all been explained….”
However some of us can’t leave well enough alone. Here’s my addition… Continue reading
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“…to love what you command and desire what you promise…”
“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.”
Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979
For those not familiar with the use of collects, I’ll get back to that in a moment, but for now, let me just say that this prayer, little altered from its earliest known form in the late fifth century is one of my favorites.
Here’s why.========================= Continue reading
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The Cleansing of the Temple: The Gospel According to John, Chapter 2:13-17
Paul Zahl wrote once that the Holy Spirit interacting with mortal man is very analogous to the interaction between living magma and the environment at the surface.
Magma, (Lava when it gets to the surface of the Earth) is about as close to an irresistible force as can be found in nature as humans experience it; it devours or melts all in its path. The only thing that can contain it is the interaction itself. The same interaction inevitably cools the lava, so that it becomes as the other rock, and even a dam or plug against a fresh outpouring.
The Temple was to be the place where man could look to God. Continue reading
Filed under Bible, Christianity, Church, Gospel According to John, Theology
Random Musings 