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Priest & Poet: September 2014

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Sunday, September 28, 2014. September 28, 2014. Ezekiel 18.1-4;25-32; Matthew 21.23-32. This past week, of course, the plaque for the memorial garden we dedicated in. May was finally finished. It will hang on the wall near the circular window on the stairs leading down to the Undercroft. I am proud of our memorial garden and what it will, hopefully, one day be. A resting place. Under no circumstance will anyone be denied burial in the memorial garden due to financial reasons. In one cemetery the boulder ...

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Priest & Poet: May 2015

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Sunday, May 31, 2015. May 31, 2015. I try…I really do. I try not to complain about other preachers. But, there is one thing I have never enjoyed about preachers. I am always made uncomfortable by preachers who use the pulpit as a confessional booth. That’s a joke, of course. Because, who does it more than me? I’ve confessed to you from here before. And I apologize for that. I joined while I was searching and was a very content Unitarian, actually. I enjoyed the UU Church. It was certainly a progr...And t...

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Priest & Poet: 11 Pentecost

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Sunday, August 9, 2015. August 9, 2015. Ephesians 4.25-5.2. This past week there were two very important historical anniversaries. On Thursday, of course, was the 70. Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. We commemorated that event as part of the Eve of the Transfiguration Mass here at St. Stephen’s on Wednesday evening. And today, of course, is the 70. Anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. Being a pacifist for me is easy when it means standing up against what I view as unfair wars. However, I h...

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Priest & Poet: Uptown Gallery reading

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Thursday, July 30, 2015. I will be reading tonight at the Uptown Gallery in Fargo (74 Broadway) at the North Dakota Humanities Council Social/Friendraiser. Mark Vinz will also be reading. 5:00 to 7:30 pm (the reading begins about 5:30). Join us for what will no doubt prove to be a fun night of poetry, art,. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). View my complete profile. My new book of short stories! My latest book of poems! St Stephen's Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota. Watermark tem...

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Priest & Poet: 9 Pentecost

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Sunday, July 26, 2015. July 26, 2015. 2 Kings 4.42-44; John 6.1-21. Now, as most of you know, it’s very rare—very, very rare—that I ever preach on sin. I don’t do it very often—and when I do, I usually do it during Lent. Because I have to. But today, I’m going to preach a little bit on a sin. I know I shouldn’t. It’s a baptism Sunday, after all. But, don’t worry; it’s not going to be one of THOSE sermons about sin. The point I’m making, however, is that most of us simply eat because we are schedule...

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Priest & Poet: January 2015

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Sunday, January 25, 2015. January 25, 2015. An agnostic is essentially anyone who “doesn’t know.” And in this sense, we don’t know about God and the greater mysteries. Let’s face it—we don’t know. We can hope. We can have faith. But, ultimately, as long as we are on this side of the veil, we don’t know for certain. Nor should we. Because we don’t know, our faith becomes more vital to us. And that’s a good thing. For me, when I first read his book, Meeting Jesus again For the First Time. Especially his wr...

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Priest & Poet: August 2015

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Sunday, August 30, 2015. August 30, 2015. James 1.17-27; Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23. I had hoped—honestly—that now, in our Gospel readings, we had moved away from all that bread imagery we’ve been hearing over the last several weeks, that we would get a break this morning. Maybe some nice, sweet Gospel reading about lambs or miracles. But…no. Instead, we get this reading from the Gospel of Mark. One of those finger-shaking scriptures. Avarice (which is just another word for greed)? You are worried about wh...

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Priest & Poet: 6 Pentecost

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Sunday, July 5, 2015. July 5, 2015. Ezekiel 2.1-5; 2 Corinthians 12.2-10; Mark 6. 1-13. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the very least. Last week I had a sermon all prepared, of course, following the Supreme Court’s decision a week ago Friday on Marriage Equality. Since then, the Episcopal Church has approved liturgy that essentially approves the same thing. In which the great character actor Vito Scotti played a Japanese solider who did not know the war had ended some twenty years later.

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Priest & Poet: December 2014

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Sunday, December 28, 2014. December 28, 2014. As you have heard me confess many times from this pulpit; I am a church nerd. But, I think I need to be more specific with the self-description. I am really, in all actuality, a liturgy nerd. Now, saying that I can say that I am no liturgical scholar. For me, I am more experiential in my love of liturgy. No one has to guess what I believe, because I believe what I pray. You want to know what I believe? In our beginning is our end, in our end if our beginning.