The other day either during or after Annual Meeting, there was a conversation about last year’s Mardi Gras celebration. Kay mentioned it as well in her Warden’s corner.   The thrust of the conversation and Kay’s reflections was about how this was the last time that the church gathered together physically, socially before the pandemic hit. You can imagine, there is much talk in the church how “to do” Ash Wednesday this year and how Lent is going to be really hard this year. Last year, the pandemic was new, this year, it’s old.  Part of the looking back at history is to try to figure out how we deal with Ash Wednesday in these weird times. In terms of how did we do Ash Wednesday before, can history help in any way with the situation we are in? There is a small gift from the pandemic. I have learned more…

Today is the last Sunday after the Epiphany.  There will be other Sundays; well, I hope there will be, but they will be in Lent.  There is a variable number of Sundays after the Epiphany, depending on when Easter falls, and therefore when Ash Wednesday falls.  If you did not read my News of the Week entry this week, Ash Wednesday is February 17th, that’s this Wednesday.  It’s on a Wednesday this year. Today is also Valentine’s Day, which is an overly commercial sentimental holiday, monetized to make money for the card, candy, and restaurant industries, but it is also a celebration of Love. And if it ain’t about Love, then it ain’t about the Gospel. So besides being the Last Sunday after the Epiphany and Valentine’s Day, this Sunday is also known as Transfiguration Sunday, because on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Gospel is always a version…

The pandemic has gone on for quite some time now, and it continues to feel as if we are in some ways living in molasses.  Although many in the parish have now received at least one dose of the vaccine, we have a long way to go until possible herd immunity at perhaps 75% of the population with antibodies.  That is the experts best guess, to be revised as necessary. (And I’ll be frank, who knows when I might get my shot.  Fifty-five has never seemed, in some ways, sadly so young.)  Throughout this time, I have heard from parishioners and friends in periodic phases of grief and sadness.  There is a feeling of frustration and ennui, and grief of what feels like possibilities lost. In the face of this, I find that today’s scripture is helpful with surprisingly a lot to say.  The passage from Isaiah, from what is…

Do acts from Love, it’s how we know God, and how we know what we do is OF God.  If it’s not about love, then it’s not of God.  Now in the Gospel of Mark, we see the really, really fast paced love of Jesus Christ.  It is still the love of Christ, but the feeling of Mark’s Gospel is decidedly different. I find it edgier than all the other Gospels. More so in the Greek, this Gospel  is rapid fire, always on the move.  Mark’s favorite word seems to be “immediately.” He uses it a lot, the Greek word εὐθέως.   In English, sometimes that word is translated as “immediately” but other times it gets translated as “and then” or “now,” to break it up a bit.  You can imagine with every “immediately”, “and then” and “now” we see in English as a Greek εὐθέως , the narrative would just…

A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of insurrectionists invaded the Capitol and tried to subvert our democratic process. The sermon I delivered the following Sunday tried both to provide solace, but also to think together about how we live in our world and embrace our baptismal vows. This past Wednesday saw the inauguration of President Biden, and the more historic inauguration of the first woman, first African American, first South Asian American Vice President Kamala Harris.    I can say that many people in my social media feed shared that they   were crying tears of relief, tears of happiness, tears of joy.  The President’s address did not gloss over the problems that this country faces.  If anything, he named them clearly without anything close to a Polly-Anna. I personally like the way historian Heather Cox Richardson puts it, that there is a time for hope because we are…

The Bible has a way of commenting on itself. The first books of the Bible—particularly Genesis and Exodus– those that hold the creation myths, and where Israel becomes a nation as it escapes Egypt through parting seas— those two books have some wild stuff. In those books are many of the miracles and things that many people, even those who are professed Christians, may not believe, or believe only with caveats. And then, in the beginning of this story which is often referred to as the Call of Samuel, the text reads, “The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” As if to say, we know sometimes stuff with God is unbelievable or at least like Princess Bride, “Inconceivable.” I, for one, like this very honest approach. It feels really relatable to today’s events. Most days in our present time, dire as things seem,…