Each year when Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself thinking both about Thanksgiving and Advent which immediately follows.  Because the season begins with celebration and thanks to God for his blessings, I am naturally drawn to continue thinking along those lines of joy and celebration. Truly the holiday season has arrived!  I look forward to the festivities, lights, special foods and gatherings with friends and family. I think both of gifts to give and ways to serve.

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What must a guy do to get the job done?  When the guy is Jesus and the job is healing the sick and raising the dead, the answer is “whatever it takes.”  Today’s gospel reading from Mark 7 contains one of the most peculiar healing stories, in which Jesus sticks his fingers in a man’s ears, spits on his hand (or possibly in the man’s face), and touches the man’s tongue. The man receives hearing and speech and thereafter is no longer deaf and dumb.  Whatever it takes.

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“Dear People of God, the first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting…”  So begins the “Invitation to Observe a Holy Lent” from the Book of Common Prayer.

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March 5, 2011

Greetings!  Grace and Peace to you through Christ our Savior.

Sunday, March 6, is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany. I wonder how you may have found yourself reflecting over the themes of the Light and Life of Christ at work in you and at work in the the Church?  Into a dark world our Savior Jesus was born, and into the shadows of our hearts Jesus reaches to shine His light and grant us life.  The offer? Life to those dying from the death and sting of sin.

Over the last 8 weeks, the Bible readings from both the Sunday lectionary and midweek “Daily Office” lectionary present to us a Savior who calls us to believe he is good, worthy of trust, able to cure our sin-disease, and he calls us to follow him if we truly want to know the God-shaped life our God would give us. Read more…

On December 3 my father-in-law celebrated his 84^th birthday.  He has many years over which he may reflect. His adult children and I did that for him to some extent by sharing memories, thanks, and spotlighting his positive character traits. One daughter recounted 84 such reasons—maybe a little over the top for the average birthday card, but who wouldn’t want to hear a list of affirmations?  Over the years of knowing him, I have heard him recount both satisfaction and misgivings over what he has done or failed to do, along with hopes realized and hopes unfulfilled.   Read more…

The Thanksgiving Holiday used was originally placed in December one week prior to Christmas.  In some ways, I like that. It would help the people of our new country focus upon all those reasons they were thankful to God just before they celebrate Christmas Day.  But, like you, I grew up with the date being the fourth Thursday of November, and in many ways the date can help us over a whole month focus upon all the reasons we have to give thanks to God before we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth.  For what are you thankful?

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Over the course of the last few weeks, the attention of those in my parish has been drawn repeatedly to core identity markers for Christians. Every follower of Jesus bears in his or her being these identity marks.  I say we “bear them” because to whole-heartedly follow Christ is to let loose the will of Christ within you. The markers of His identity follow.

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Over the last 10 or more years, tattoos have made a big comeback. Have you noticed? I have a brother-in-law who loves Harley-Davidson motorcycles. He rides them, repairs them and more. When he got his first tattoo, guess what it was? That’s right, “Mommy.” Ok, just kidding. Of course it was a Harley-Davidson tattoo! When you enter his home you know he is a fan, because he has a variety of reminders around the home: a phone, a framed photo, coasters… whatever. He has a lot of fun being a Harley-Davidson guy.

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Over the last several years I have seen lots of individual congregations attempt various ways to reach out to their community and offer a variety of worship services, Bible studies, and classes. All of this is done with great thought and sincerity, effort and prayer, and funds and volunteer teamwork. Yet, on the whole, the church-at-large in our area struggles to make an impact and reach people for Christ. We, the Church, do not merely struggle to reach non-Christians, but in reality we struggle to reach Christians, too, who have stopped regularly participating in the life of the Church. I cannot help but wonder, is this because we, the Church, make too much of a habit of inviting people to programs and events rather than inviting them to live a way of life revealed by Jesus?
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(BLOG written on May 5– sorry it wasn’t posted!)

Over the last few months I have noticed how popular different applications have become for “Facebook” users.  First, if you don’t have a Facebook account (or “FB” for short), don’t worry. You’ll survive! Your life has not been cut short or lacks meaning—I promise!  In fact, enjoy your free time. Nearly every FB user admits to the power Facebook use has to consume that time which used to be free time. However, since this medium is so popular as a way to stay connected to friends and colleagues, I have an account and use it several times during the week.  Something has caught my attention.  I have noticed that even among Christians the use of things that fall into the “idol” category has grown substantially. Read more…