What Camp taught me about Rules, the Great Commandment, and Priorities

July 20, 2013.Reading time 7 minutes.

There are few universal rules, especially at Camp. A person is running. Running can lead to falling—especially in a world of unpaved paths, gravel, roots, large rocks, and done in an often ungainly body. So we don’t run. Except when we do (some games and activities, and in the case of emergencies). So we can’t […]

Junior Middler Camp 2013

June 27, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

This is the week I get to simultaneously wear my Priest hat and my Camp Director hat! In large part because I’ve been the priest for this week of camp for 5 years now, I really wanted to maintain that connection with the kids who usually come to JM1. Our Junior Middler Camps are for […]

Alleluias, joyous and wilted

April 26, 2013.Reading time 5 minutes.

Somewhere around the 4th or 5th week of Easter, I find myself remembering my friend, classmate, and colleague the Rev Cody Unterseher. I think about Cody not because the anniversary of his death is around this time of the year (April 25). I remember Cody because of what happened on Facebook in 2010. Cody and […]

Cotton Candy Dreams

March 8, 2013.Reading time 3 minutes.

I remember being not that little and watching the concession-person at the carnival magically spin the cotton candy into a fluffy pink ball to carry as we went home. Well, at least as we started home. I don’t think the cotton candy ever made it all the way home. Once I started eating my ball […]

Going Meta: Reviewing Sermon Reviews, part 3

February 1, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

Part Three: Other Preachers It’s hard to avoid this being a list of links. But I’ve found some preachers I enjoy and certainly would have appreciated something like this existing at several different points in my life. So, here are the sites on my sermon list: Mostly Weekly My Sermons, audio Bishop Rickel, Diocese of […]

A #CCAB outcome

November 16, 2012.Reading time 2 minutes.

As Episcopal denizens of Twitter already know, this past week was the organizational meeting of the CCAB’s. I attended as a new member of the Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Formation and Education. As it often does, the appropriate role of social media was a topic for all of the assembled CCAB’s. There were a […]

Sermon Review: Proper 13, Ephesians, Baptism, and Eucharist

August 7, 2012.Reading time 2 minutes.

Sermon Review Link: Proper 13 8-5-12 Summary of what I was saying and why: Ephesians 4 starts with a great section on Christian unity. Which is really difficult and we never quite achieve, but we keep practicing. A lot more than you may think. Especially through our baptism and Eucharist. Theology: Baptismal and Eucharistic theology […]

Sermon Review: Proper 12, David, Bathsheba, and sex

August 1, 2012.Reading time 2 minutes.

Sermon Review Proper 12 6-29-12 Listen to the sermon here Summary of what I was saying: David and Bathsheba have sex. Adulterous sex or possibly rape (the text is unclear about motivations). This leads to pregnancy, murder, and marriage. Both text and Jewish tradition are fairly silent about D&B’s motivations. Good News: The story is […]

A Church where the Preaching is Damn Good Every Time

July 31, 2012.Reading time 2 minutes.

A few weeks ago I was at the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church. I had a great time. This is not the wrap-up post. Lots of other people have done that and done it well. One of the many things I did while I was at GC was spend time with the loose […]

Millennials: The End isn’t Coming (short of Jesus’s return)

July 25, 2012.Reading time 5 minutes.

First, the Church isn’t about to end, be it with a whimper or a bang. We are the inheritors of a tradition that has survived the Ascension of Jesus, outward persecutions, inward persecutions (those heresy debates with permanent conclusions), the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and more. All of this changed the Church. The 21st century and […]