May 2013
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Build Systems or Leaders?
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3 min read
Which is more important: the system or the leader? Since arriving at St. Paul’s, which is a pastoral-sized congregation*, I’ve figured out that much of the structure of the church is based on specific leaders doing specific tasks, rather than systems. I’m not sure how to feel about this. *[a pastoral-sized congregation is what many…
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Glazed Eyes
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1 min read
Why do they hate to think? That’s the take away I get from looking out from the pulpit and seeing glazed eyes. I can say with complete honesty that I’m not that used to it. But launching into the Trinity, by talking about orthodoxy and heresy–something that I believed would pique interest–seemed to have the…
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The Personal in the Trinity
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3 min read
a Homily for Trinity Sunday C Listen to the audio here Heresy A mentor of mine had a tongue-in-cheek name for today: “Heresy Sunday.” All over the world, preachers will unintentionally slip into speaking things about GOD that are not “orthodox.” I am certain that you know these words if you are not necessarily comfortable…
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I am so over your sensitive ego
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2 min read
You know I’m not a dick, right? I have listened to your concerns. We have talked things over. I’ve even come up with ways to accommodate you. I’ve done my part. And having had your concerns heard, talking things over, and been accommodated, you have one small part to play. To quit whining. I don’t…
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The Day I Turned Old
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1 min read
I’ve put off the visit for too long they tell me. I don’t have a good reason just money and time and perfection or procrastination. She asks me the usual questions about diet and exercise whether I drink or smoke; this time I find the questions funny: Have you had a drink in the last…
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Not Gatekeepers, but Gateopeners
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3 min read
There, squirming in such a comfortable chair, made to feel prickly by the moment and its intensity and not the leather or the cushion, it is not my ass, but my brain that is jittery. As a priest, interviews are a whole different beast. This moment, as I recall was the most agonizing for what…