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Gaslighting for Jesus
Much of my experience of befriending fundamentalists in college could best be described as gaslighting. I had to prove my ritual purity by hating the right people to get on a team I never asked to join. Something about fundamentalism itself encourages this view of relationships. Gaslighting for Jesus – or How to Make Friends…
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Ash Wednesday 2016
If you are in Terre Haute on Wednesday, I invite to join St. Stephen’s in inviting the community into the observance of a holy Lent. In the morning, we’ll impose ashes upon the foreheads of those rushing to class and work. We’ll move inside and give the same invitation to students at the volunteer fair…
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My 3 Words for 2016
Happy 2016! I’m trying something new. I’m kind of jazzed about it. I’ll pick 3 words for the year. Like a mantra. A vision. A course of action. A way of changing my life and maybe help me change the world. Do you want to give it a try? [bctt tweet=”What are your 3 words?” nofollow=”yes”]…
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The Real Reason a Church Needs an Obvious Purpose
So, mission statements aren’t perfect. Like many people, I believe they are kind of overrated. Particularly for churches. Most statements come out like: Love. Serve. Give. Doing our most for those with the least. Sharing the love of Christ given to us without regard for anything we might have done so that others may also…
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Why priests must learn to code
I’m generally not one to encourage business models in church: we’re generally saturated with them already. Or, more to the point, we apply them indiscriminately, with the idea that churches in general need to function more efficiently and take on a more corporate strategy. My own denomination, The Episcopal Church, did this with gusto in…
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Word obsessed
Lately, though, words have begun to mean even more to me. Not simply because I write, teach, and preach as a priest or as a sentry posted to defend orthodoxy from the heretics. [That’s all nonsense to me, by the way.] But because our faith keeps coming back to words. Simply words. Having words. Words…
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We are Witnesses
From the tomb to our lives Easter 3B | Luke 24:36b-48 The Physical Resurrection This moment we receive here in this third Sunday of Easter is another gospel treatment of the resurrection. At the vigil, we had Mark’s empty tomb, then on Sunday we had John’s empty tomb. Last week we had Jesus’s appearance to…
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Telling Stories – The Spirit, the Gospel, and Moving On (Pentecost)
a Homily for The Day of Pentecost Text: Acts 2:1-21 Into the Unknown There are those moments when we read scripture that, if you’re anything like me, you are saying “Yeah…I’m not sure I would’ve done that.” Last week, we read about how Jesus left the disciples, disappearing behind a cloud. The disciples went back…