This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home halfway back to committees and memos, halfway back to calls and appointments, halfway on to next Sunday,halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,half turned toward you, half rather not. From “Marked by Ashes” by Walter Brueggemann (click here to read the full poem) Dear Friends, […]

Dear Friends, This day – a gift from you. This is the second line in the poem, “Marked by Ashes” by Walter Brueggemann (click here to read it), the one we are revisiting and reflecting from week-to-week this Lent. This line follows the poem’s opening, an address to God as the “Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of […]

Dear Friends,A coworker and friend from my consulting days recently sent me this text:  On the way to church this morning…there is a Baptist church that has a message board out front. Usually, they are very funny. This morning’s laugh: “Some people should use a glue stick instead of Chapstick. Just a thought.” I laughed so […]

Dear Friends, Remember last Wednesday, 23 February when the high temperature of the day was 74 degrees? It was so good! Some places nearby got to 77 degrees! The warmth of that sun! A mere twenty-four hours later (24 hours!) the high temperature was 39 degrees. The shift from the season of Epiphany on Sunday to Ash […]

Beloved Epiphany friends– Only a little longer to wait, just three more days, and then it will be Christmas. We will celebrate the great gift our Heavenly Father has given us, his son, Jesus Christ. Your patience has been rewarded: the nativity of Jesus is upon us. The very idea of it stretches beyond our […]

Beloved Epiphany friends– Almost there, right? Ten more days until Christmas Day. Can you picture in your mind what that morning will be like? For those with children at home, it will be an early morning, with the little ones running to see what Santa has brought. For those of us who can only vaguely remember […]

Beloved Epiphany friends– What do you get when you get everything you want right this instant? No chance to feel the thrill of anticipation, and that’s a shame. Children might well be annoyed with having to wait for the presents they will receive. Someone who’s expecting that they will be asked to married may get […]

Beloved Epiphany friends– On Sunday, you’ll hear all about preparation from the children’s point of view, but I expect you’re not surprised that one of the ways we have exercised patience has revolved around the notion of preparation. For a while, when it was too risky to go out and go shopping, some folks had […]

Beloved Epiphany friends– We’ve had a lot of experience with needing patience over the past year and a half, haven’t we? I can recall the early days of the pandemic, when we expected that we’d definitely be back into our normal practices by Easter, 2020. And then it became evident that this would not happen, […]

Beloved Epiphany friends– I’m away on retreat this weekend. I’m at the Kanuga Retreat and Conference Center in the western hills of North Carolina, a rustic and beautiful place. I’m praying, writing icons, and writing sermons for Advent this week, and soaking in the restorative blessing of doing these things in silence and in conversation with […]