The Lent of Our Discontent

Lent 1B

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No. No more of this.

Lately I’ve been finding myself in a something like a state of chronic lament. Waking up, as I do, to a news feed filled with very public cases of domestic abuse and #metoo harassment , cruel deportations that divide families… and now yet another massacre of school children. I fear Read the rest

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Fever & Faith

feverEpiphany 5B

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Someone in this house has just recovered from a fever, has been lifted up, and is serving God. I don’t necessarily know who it is. Although… you may. The person recovered from the fever may even be you.

I know that it has been me. Lord knows I’ve had some debilitating fevers in my life: … Read the rest

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God’s Renewable Energy

Epiphany 1B

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So it’s a week to be an Oregonian, no? I have to love it when our gas-pumping habits make the national news. On Thursday I woke up to the Washington Post headline that read “I don’t even know HOW: Some Oregonians panic about the new self-service gas law.”

Great. The rest of the country already … Read the rest

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The Word is Good

Christmas Day

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  • How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger.
  • The Lord has bared his holy arm.
  • Let the rivers clap their hands.
  • He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty.
  • The Word became flesh.

This morning’s lessons contain something like a sacred inventory of body parts: Feet. Arms. Hands. Flesh. In … Read the rest

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Not-Impossible

Advent 4B

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Nothing will be impossible with God. This is what the angel Gabriel told the young Mary, echoing the message of 2nd Samuel when the Lord told the prophet Nathan that God would make a great house from the line of the simple shepherd now become king David. And Paul reiterates it in his own … Read the rest

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Jesus & Jonathan Haidt

pantocratorChrist the King 2017

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Today being Christ the King Sunday, and myself never having lived under the authority of an earthly king, I thought I’d better do some research into how my peers think about kings. So I did what contemporary people do, and turned to the Oracle of Mountain View—that being Google—for insight.

I figured that … Read the rest

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Pride and Priestliness

Proper 6A

prideWill no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?

Sometime in the 12th century, this phrase, or something like unto it, was reputedly said by King Henry II to his courtiers. They interpreted it as a command to murder Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been challenging the king in matters of property and legal … Read the rest

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Easter Community Guidelines

hashtagsEaster Vigil

Am I losing my mind?

That’s what my friend Lisa asked recently. Now there’s no shortage of reasons why followers of Jesus might ask that question at this time of year. Mary Magdalene and Mary, were you losing your minds when you snuck off to see the tomb of one so shamefully executed? Or when an angel sent … Read the rest

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Sight, Light and the Fight

light darkI don’t know about you, but I am ready for some light. You know the kind I mean: that shimmery spring sunlight that makes the burgeoning cherry blossoms and rhododendrons and trilliums glow, absent the relentless shadow of rainclouds. And then there’s the problem of mud. Even though Nathan preached last week that “giving up the need to be right … Read the rest

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With Charity for All

Epiphany 6Aabe lincoln

Some of you may know that one of the great privileges of my first year of service at Trinity is to shepherd our Catechesis class, which is a 20-week long immersion in the Christian and Episcopal traditions. And this past Wednesday and the coming one, we’re studying Holy Scripture: the Old and New Testaments. From a teacher’s perspective, … Read the rest

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