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For Pentecost, wear more than red
In many of the Episcopal Churches of which I’ve been a part, there is a regular tradition of wearing red on Pentecost. Red, of course is the liturgical color of the day, but it also matches the fire images that accompany the day. Opportunities to red the place up and evoke the tongues of fire…
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How To Get the Most Out Of Church
Of course I love church. That goes without saying. But I don’t always love the church. I don’t always love the way we do church or the way we incarnate the church. It sometimes gets to me and drains me. Some of that is me. But a lot of it is the way we approach church as church members…
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What If the Church Believed in Eternal Life?
When Jesus speaks of eternal life, he isn’t talking about forever. Many of us learn this in seminary or when we read books about scripture. That this phrase Jesus uses*, “eternal life” doesn’t mean what we think it means. Or to be more precise, doesn’t communicate only the narrow understanding we take it for. The…
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Emergence Is Not a Fad
Using Words We have a communication problem in the church. About change, tradition, our existing culture. We struggle to understand each other when we talk about our liturgy and our patterns of worship and our expectations of leadership. We argue that we want our church to have a more engaged role in the community, but…
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What should marriage be?
A “Should’ve Asked Question” While the Supreme Court mulls about trying to figure out what to do with the Frequently asked question: What do we do with “gay marriage”? we are actually left with more pertinent questions. Digging into the politics and legal cases for and against “marriage equality” send us into a spiral of…
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Moving away from Anglo-Catholicism
I went to seminary to learn how to do church “right”. Seriously. That’s what I thought. I thought that going to seminary was about learning the methods, the practices. How to hold your hands and how to stand. One of my favorite moments from the end of the first year, when a few of us…
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Why Style is Not the Problem with Church
One of the easiest fights in church is over worship music. Everyone has an opinion and feels comfortable sharing it. Another is liturgical style: how we worship and the tools we use in our worship. For centuries we heard snide remarks that “smells and bells” in church was “papish” and “Roman”, spitting these claims like…
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6 Ways We Made This Easter Special
Every church with whom I’ve ever celebrated has made a lovely to-do about Holy Week and Easter. They all are different, which is part of the joy and excitement for me to celebrate in a new congregation. I am always excited to see how we do things here. This year was my favorite by far. Let me tell…