Tag: Sacraments

  • A Baptism in the Wilderness

    A Baptism in the Wilderness

    In Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, we see our own invitation to embody God’s love, share in the redeeming of the world, and the offering of hope in the middle of nowhere. If we recognize the invitation for what it is: our everything. an invitation to embody God’s love Easter 5B  | Acts 8:26-40,…

  • What Happens In the Eucharist?

    What Happens In the Eucharist?

    I have a sacramental view of faith. So I believe that it is about vibrant living. That what is behind the sacraments is that we live and breathe and have our being. And not so much magic priestly hands or enlightenment-fueled intellectualism. Both are total crap. What matters is that we’re in this together. I…

  • Let’s Talk About the Sacraments.

    Let’s Talk About the Sacraments.

    As much as the flavor of one’s faith is defined by the things they believe, it’s the practice of that faith that reveals. The tactile, experiential is where the proverbial rubber of faith hits the road of life. And hazarding to stretch the analogy beyond its tensile strength, the rubber of our faith is the way…

  • Is the church’s message really “we don’t love you”?

    Is the church’s message really “we don’t love you”?

    For us, the ultimate example of marriage is found in Romeo and Juliet, not Genesis. It comes from true, burning desire to not only have sex with a person, but to be with a person, commit to that person, sit alongside that person every single day. To partner and respect and give and share and live a life…

  • Shouldn’t sacraments be alike?

    Shouldn’t sacraments be alike?

    A Should’ve Asked Question When we bring new people into the faith, we often ask them to memorize a short phrase from the back of the Book of Common Prayer. A phrase that many of us can rattle off with little trouble. At least the first half of it, anyway. We sit, Prayer Books in hand…

  • Not the Sacraments, But the Sacramental

    Not the Sacraments, But the Sacramental

    A Fad That emerging church stuff is just a fad. the young priest said to me. This was right after I told him I had just come back from a conference. It was 2010 and a group of emergence Episcopalians sponsored a church planting conference called Episcopal Village. It was a clear nod to Emergent Village.…

  • What you don’t understand about Sacraments

    What you don’t understand about Sacraments

    The old argument goes children need to understand the sacrament before they receive it. I am still surprised to hear this. As a priest, I hear it from people of all sorts. When they do suggest such a thing to me, I simply ask them Even after they were baptized as infants? The look I…

  • The Messy History of the Sacraments in 6 Questions

    [This is the second of three posts about the sacraments. Check out the first and the third.] As we explored yesterday, our Sacraments, primarily Holy Eucharist and Holy Baptism, are a physical and spiritual means of receiving grace. Today, we’ll have a small taste of the messiness around the living out of the Sacraments. There is…