A Foolish Life of Weakness

Noted author and researcher Brené Brown has a lot to say about vulnerability, weakness, and strength. In her now famous TED talk from 2014, she lays out what she had discovered in her research around shame and guilt, and more importantly the power of vulnerability. The first time I watched this video, it hit meContinue reading “A Foolish Life of Weakness”

Psalm 73: How Can God Know?

The psalm set for this evening is the one direct before the psalm set for last night. Sometimes I wonder what logic there is in the arrangement of the Daily Office, but this one seem clear. Whereas last night’s psalm, Psalm 74 sits in the uncomfortable reality that God’s absence is deeply felt, and neverContinue reading “Psalm 73: How Can God Know?”

Psalm 51: You Desire Truth

Throughout the our lives, people of faith pray a variety of prayers; some are big, some are small, some are easy, some are difficult, and some ask things of God or of ourselves that if we fully understood, we wouldn’t dare ask because there is no way to be unchanged by them. This evening’s psalm,Continue reading “Psalm 51: You Desire Truth”

Psalm 42: Deep Calls to Deep

One of the best things about the psalms and how they speak to us today is how to lament. A lament holds us in the uncomfortable space of disappointment and frustration, and most Christians aren’t too good at staying in this space. The way in which our church calendar moves we have time build inContinue reading “Psalm 42: Deep Calls to Deep”

Psalm 35: O Lord, do not be silent!

Many times bravery and danger are two sides of the coin. This evening’s psalm is both. Psalm 35 is a desperate plea from someone so excluded that he, in a prayer to God, paints the scenario with war-like imagery. At first it could be tempting to see this as actual war, as a psalm fromContinue reading “Psalm 35: O Lord, do not be silent!”

Psalm 37:19-40: Their Steps Do Not Slip

One of the more helpful ways to understand trauma is to acknowledge that experiencing a trauma is not the end of its effect. Those who undergo traumatic events cannot fully process the happening in the moment, and perhaps not even until much later in their life, depending on the trauma. Shelley Rambo puts this beautifullyContinue reading “Psalm 37:19-40: Their Steps Do Not Slip”

The Grace of God

A sermon delivered to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY on Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018 on 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 and Matthew 6:1-6,16-20. It is often noted that there is a brilliant paradox of reading Jesus’ warning in the sermon on the mount, “Beware of practicing your piety before others inContinue reading “The Grace of God”

In the Reflection of the Chalice Cup

I tend to think in metaphors; if I can get a metaphor out of my brain and have it actually make sense to others then it means that I have begun to grasp whatever important concept I am trying to more fully understand. Early on in my discernment to the priesthood, a metaphor stuck, andContinue reading “In the Reflection of the Chalice Cup”

Being Found by God

A sermon delivered to the people of Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY on John 1: 43-51 on the Second Sunday after Epiphany, January 14, 2018. In 2010, Marina Abramovic, an experiential artist who creates exhibits that challenge and engage the viewer, had an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art entitled “The ArtistContinue reading “Being Found by God”

The Mess of the Middle

It was a warm New Year’s Day at a monastery in Cullman, Alabama years ago that I first accepted that I am a mess. I distinctly remember writing in my journal, a new practice at the time, “What if I will always be a mess?”. I was young and hopeful, but also naive about myselfContinue reading “The Mess of the Middle”