A Prayer for Sound Government, from The Book of Common Prayer, pp. 821-2. O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth. Lord, keep this nation under your care. To the President […]
Anglican
This was my reflection for Eucharist Wednesday morning (14 December 2016) at St. B’s. The Gospel reading for morning prayer was Mark 1:1-7. They are familiar words to anyone who has ever been to a Christmas service, citing Mal. 3:1 and Isa. 40:3. Mark 1:1 The beginning of the good news of […]
This morning I will be celebrating at a nearby parish and was going over my sermon notes. Today is Proper 8, the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost. The thrust of my sermon is the cost of following Christ, of taking up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). As I was reviewing my […]
Compline has always been to me the most gentle and consoling of the offices. I can never, however, escape the knowledge that, as they prepared to take him on the helicopter, I prayed with Mack our simple nightly prayer. “Now we lay you down to sleep and pray the Lord […]
A couple of months ago I met with a retiring pastor, just to get caught up with one another. At one point as he was talking about wanting to help develop and form new ministers he said one of the simplest and perhaps most profound statements about being a pastor […]
The benediction from this mornings Morning Prayer ends with this passage, “May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NRSV: 13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that […]
Today is All Souls’ Day, not celebrated by most Protestants, but as my wife noted this morning, when you have lost someone very close and dear you begin to view such things differently. I still do not believe in Purgatory and recognize that much of the traditions of All Souls or […]
The following is my sermon from this past Sunday. As you can see in the first paragraph, I am somewhat apologetic about the fact that I cannot read and reflect on our current readings without thinking of Mack and our loss. Then again, I realized that this is precisely what […]
A link of Facebook (sorry, I don’t remember who posted it) took me to “Running Heads” blog. I was not familiar with it before, but this post was about baptism and it and the comments resonated with something I have long maintained. Modern American Evangelicalism has an odd intellectualism that […]
October 20, 2018 – I should thank the “ex-Christian” who recently linked to this post in her example of Bishop Nathan Baxter’s “hurting heart” as an example of “a virtue-signaling phrase.” If you are new, welcome! This is my personal blog. I am a scholar of ancient Hebrew and Jewish […]