Byzantine columns at Church of the Multiplication (Brotvermehrungskirche), Galilee. Matthew 14 (NRSV): ... 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the … Continue reading Loaves, fishes and Luther’s concept of the Word as sacrament: How do you do church when you can’t go to church? (Pentecost IX)
‘Dinner church’ pastor: When you can’t go to church, look around you
Emily M.D. Scott, "If the Church Door Is Closed, Find the Sacred on the Road," New York Times, 19 July 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/opinion/if-the-church-door-is-closed-find-the-sacred-on-the-road.html Excerpts: Priests and pastors across the church have been grasping for metaphors to help us make sense of this time away from the table, and one another. Some have framed it as a … Continue reading ‘Dinner church’ pastor: When you can’t go to church, look around you
Spiritual direction — journal for June
Copy of email (lightly edited) sent yesterday to my spiritual director, summarizing what I've been trying to do in the past month and suggesting an agenda for our next session. Jun 19, 2020, 7:44 PM Hi, Sister -- Just a note to confirm our spiritual direction meeting at 2:30 p.m. and give you a general … Continue reading Spiritual direction — journal for June
A sustainable ‘new normal’? Maybe, with a little help from the Holy Spirit — stray thoughts for Pentecost and Trinity Sunday
Video clip prepared for Pentecost Sunday service. Offer valid at any time. It's been a brutal spring for everybody, but -- for reasons I can't quite explain -- lately I've felt like maybe we're beginning to turn a corner. It's been three months now since Debi and I went into quarantine just as the COVID-19 … Continue reading A sustainable ‘new normal’? Maybe, with a little help from the Holy Spirit — stray thoughts for Pentecost and Trinity Sunday
Of outward signs, inward grace and Pastor Nadia’s prayer for a time of pandemic when the sacraments can’t be celebrated
Screenshot from Pastor Nadia's FB post. Click HERE for permalink. Click HERE for text. Sometimes you find exactly what you need at exactly the right moment, and you don't know why. Serendipity? Coincidence? The Holy Spirit at work? In 12-step recovery meetings, sometimes you'll hear the old-timers say a coincidence is what you call it … Continue reading Of outward signs, inward grace and Pastor Nadia’s prayer for a time of pandemic when the sacraments can’t be celebrated
Tips from a Harvard Business Review item on grief and a poet’s advice on the medieval sin of sloth in a time of global pandemic
We've been catching up on reading magazines lately, and I saw something in a back issue of Christian Century that made a lot of sense. (We're playing catchup because we're "quarantining" our mail till we know more about how long the COVID-19 bug lives on surfaces. Debi stacks it up in the garage and doesn't … Continue reading Tips from a Harvard Business Review item on grief and a poet’s advice on the medieval sin of sloth in a time of global pandemic
Spiritual direction — seeking a ‘new normal’ during a global pandemic
Since I started spiritual direction a couple of years ago, I've emailed my spiritual director ahead of our monthly sessions ... summing up what I've been journaling about since our last meeting and, more to the point, getting a little focus on themes I've been working on and, more to the point, new directions that … Continue reading Spiritual direction — seeking a ‘new normal’ during a global pandemic
Throwing an inkpot at the virus? Some wisdom for a brutal time from a 14th-century mystic, Luther’s catechism and a Buddhist meditation
https://www.facebook.com/peacelutheranspringfield/posts/1102830350102257?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARByBlc4lICuCA3vbsOF2dLVNReMDsC3fJcGbrDztTKMxNo7Yvk36ysoFlDJzD0AjhazR37AdoCzxxZuDHgOSTeU7wMNZJHOH4NtVU1vEuxxIwp9X1x2a19pJQVTjJnwIv3-6xgaRxMzac51V9kC0Nc-IibArTGMvuSMLvgucLkZnsDmGFSNt_1y3ASEsoUy4YJflA7EPxMscK0Krt4-gFeyXndJBtF2EB_U0FLgYzTAs2kKZJcY1Yz_eSP_WFFUAF2iavb-HNYUJB2NiykhTFtg_HIshv8sgl5pzaoWylvBsKc6RfHEQRW80RZqYw9YSQDt_pIyYn7tGa5tR7ctiBH-wDWfaixAwBPL-N-1OVwkIm-4c4BZQsMIl2KnDd2JTJT2GulOxnrb-v7BLrlgEMmAWQl8VRDd0ZO79BEaS06LXV1M0GBYaobP72iKPquEZ01ByNdcjrQPHDM44Qjnwk_wqr6ZsSJpMstVjOSInMRHw4PWO-87Zw&__tn__=-R Mostly I do church online these days, like most of my relationships in self-quarantine, and last week Peace Lutheran shared a passage on Facebook from the 14th-century mystical writer Julian of Norwich. I was feeling down -- frightened might be a more accurate word -- after two and a half months of the COVID-19 … Continue reading Throwing an inkpot at the virus? Some wisdom for a brutal time from a 14th-century mystic, Luther’s catechism and a Buddhist meditation
‘The UK Blessing’ — in a time of fear and political rancor, a virtual choir calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUtll3mNj5U&fbclid=IwAR1A_TK23D99XEordzKjoE_uhYP7qNlMJO6T54d8QBxXLMREi5sREyrBNQA The UK Blessing -- 992,403 views (as of Monday night, May 4) -- Premiered May 3, 2020 This weekend marked the two-month anniversary of the day I went into voluntary self-quarantine when I got out of the hospital. As luck would have (good luck, for a change), a virtual choir video came out to … Continue reading ‘The UK Blessing’ — in a time of fear and political rancor, a virtual choir calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy
Easter 2020: A technophobe ‘finds Christ in hidden and unexpected places’
To say Easter was different this year would be an understatement -- like saying it was kinda nice when the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series. Growing up in the Episcopal church, I thought of Easter Sunday as a day of obligation, along with Christmas and Whitsunday, when you had to go to church … Continue reading Easter 2020: A technophobe ‘finds Christ in hidden and unexpected places’
