On Purpose
July 12, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 7th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 10
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
If you were here last Sunday, you heard me make the case that Mark’s Gospel is the Action/Adventure movie of the New Testament. But, if we look at today’s passage, it seems more like a horror film. If I were watching this in the theater, this would be the time I’d go get a refill on my popcorn.
When we have a gospel reading like this it’s tempting to turn to the Old Testament or Epistle lesson for a good word, and avoid this gruesome tale altogether. And, as tempting as that was for me, I kept being pulled back to this text. So, let’s stick with Mark’s gospel and see if we can figure out what’s going on here.
The reading today comes immediately after last week’s lesson… the one where the disciples have been empowered by Jesus and given authority to go and do God’s work. They have gone out two by two, with only a staff in hand and sandals on their feet. They were told to take no food, no money, no extra clothes – just GO, just as they were. They were proclaiming that all should repent. They were casting out demons. They were anointing the sick with oil and curing them. Pretty powerful stuff!
Then, all of the sudden, we’re presented with this odd and terribly graphic story about Herod and the beheading of John the Baptist. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gift of the Holy Spirit
May 24, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The Day of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
(Gospel text is provided at the bottom of this post)
Three years ago, as part of my seminary education, I was an intern chaplain at Grady Hospital. This Clinical Pastoral Education, as it’s called, or CPE, is a time to see what it’s like to be a hospital chaplain, and also a time to learn more about yourself, as a pastoral care giver.
The various floors and departments of the hospital are divvied up to the six chaplain interns, and my parish, if you will, was a couple of the surgical floors. Now, patients on surgical floors aren’t usually there for a long time. They’re given a room after surgery and stay just long enough to be ready to go home, or go to another rehab facility.
So, as a chaplain on a surgical floor, I made a lot of cold-calls, popping in, introducing myself as a chaplain, and seeing if the patient or their family wanted to talk or pray. My hope for my ministry was to be one person from the hospital team that interacted with the patient without poking or prodding them. I wanted to be a presence for them in whatever way might helpful.
Sometimes my invitation was well received and other times, not so much. But, that’s the way it goes.
I remember one day in particular, near the beginning of the summer. The resident chaplain suggested I visit a patient who had actually been there for several weeks. I’ll call the patient Bill.
I learned from the other chaplain that Bill and his girlfriend had been riding together on Bill’s motorcycle. They were riding through Atlanta on their way back to New York after a vacation in Florida. They had a wreck and Bill’s hip was badly injured and his girlfriend – I’ll call her Sue – had extensive injuries including brain trauma. She was in the intensive care unit (ICU), and although Sue was still alive, after several weeks she still hadn’t regained consciousness.
They were in an unfamiliar city with family far away; in different rooms and on different floors of the hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
Seeing deeply
February 11, 2015
Candler School of Theology – Episcopal Studies Eucharist Service
Holy Women, Holy Men: Fanny Crosby, Hymnwriter, February 11
Isaiah 42:10-12; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 9:35-39
Last week when I was on campus, Bishop Whitmore asked if I could come and lead worship here today. He said that y’all are using Holy Women, Holy Men and then simply said “Fanny Crosby, “Blessed Assurance.” I admitted to him that I don’t know much about hymnody, but he smiled and said, “Just look at the gospel, that’s all you need to focus on.” So, it was a go!
As I looked at the texts for the service, I noticed that the reading from John was the end of the healing of the man born blind. Then, the Old Testament also mentioned leading the blind out of darkness. And it hit me, oh yeah, Fanny Crosby was blind!
Yet, unlike the man in the gospel story, Fanny wasn’t born blind. But when she was only six weeks old, she had an infection. It was 1820, so medicine was quite different then. The local doctor couldn’t be found, but a stranger said he could help, it’s unclear whether he was a real doctor or not. He put hot poultices on Fanny’s eyes to kill the infection. It must have been excruciating. The good news is that the infection cleared up, but the scars on her eyes rendered her sightless for the rest of her life.
Fanny’s father died within a year, and her mother became a maid. Fanny’s Grandmother was her primary caretaker. A woman of strong faith, she was determined to raise Fanny just as any child. She believed that all children come into the world ready to learn, and Fanny’s grandmother taught her plenty![i] Read the rest of this entry »
The Gospel according to Huckleberry Finn
January 11, 2015
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The 1st Sunday after Epiphany
Genesis 1:1-5; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11
After the worship service on Christmas morning, Alice and I headed to Hilton Head for a few days of R&R. We stayed at a hotel with a beachfront view, and each morning as I awoke, I could see the thin glimmer of day breaking, as color peeked above the ocean waters. I was drawn to it. Each day I welcomed the gradual emergence of a new day; of God’s creation.
That first morning at the beach, I began reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. You know Huck, he’s Tom Sawyer’s good friend; the one who traveled down the Mississippi River on a raft alongside a runaway slave named Jim. I’ve always loved Mark Twain’s humor and the way he captures the full picture of life, both glistening and gritty. Through his stories he brings to light the truth of real-life experiences. Read the rest of this entry »
