Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is to pay attention when a word or image or theme comes up across multiple conversations or in different spheres of my life, often in what…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Last Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension – the day when we remember the last time the resurrected Jesus gathered with his friends before being lifted up to heaven before their very eyes. Next Sunday…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. A certain woman named Lydia. We don’t know much about this woman. She was a worshiper of God – that is a Gentile who was studying Judaism, but not yet a convert. She was…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. From time to time I have heard people say that if Jesus came back today he wouldn’t recognize the religion which bears his name. When people say that the implication is that there is…
The Rev. Scott Slater serves as Canon to the Ordinary in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. Following nine years as rector of Church of the Good Shepherd in Baltimore, he began serving on the bishops’ staff in July of 2010. As part of his role, he leads vestry retreats, assists congregations and clergy in conflict, and helps promote healthy leadership dynamics.
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. Night has passed and a new day is beginning. For this third, and final, time in the Gospel of John that Jesus appeared to the disciples after being raised from the dead, we watch the story…
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and work through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. Amen. How many of you heard the Gospel today and thought to yourself, “Oh, it’s the doubting Thomas story?” How many of you heard the Gospel today and thought to yourself, “Oh, it’s Pentecost already?” Ah,…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! There is a practice in the Orthodox tradition to tells jokes at Easter in honor of the joke that Jesus played on death in the resurrection. Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one before. It happened in Sunday School. It’s always Sunday School, isn’t it? You see, Ms. Clara…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Fire and water, bread and wine: these are the primal elements of our faith, the means by which we encounter God. Tonight as we’ve gathered they have been wrapped in darkness, and now light – and above all love. Lent is the journey through the wilderness of the sin of…
Today everything is stripped bare. We gather on this Good Friday to contemplate the death of Jesus. As much as we may want to, we can’t make the story either stop before Jesus dies, or fast forward to the empty tomb. Today we must linger with the broken body of Jesus. The inevitability of the Good Friday story holds so much…