I’m interested in recognizing the ways that I let my life get into a rut, blocking God’s creative presence, letting distractions and little pleasures deter me from more meaningful and challenging opportunities. There are so many activities and things that produce gratification rather than mere pleasure.
Bill, my best friend in seminary, enjoyed playing the organ. It was a form of relaxation and refreshment for him, and occasionally he would substitute in our seminary chapel worship when the regular organist was away…
I don’t know who first coined the term “practical atheist.” I first heard the term as a description of people who express faith in God but who live as though God were absent, as though everything depended upon their own resources. I find it all too easy to slip into practical atheism…
Today is the feast of St. Benedict. Benedict’s rule of life has brought focus and balance to centuries of Christians wishing to live an authentic and healthy life. Benedict’s rule structures each day as being grounded in liturgical prayer and spiritual reading, with plenty of time for rest, for work, for eating, and for building relationship. The three promises of the Benedictine rule are promises of stability, obedience and amendment of life.
We celebrate two of our great founders today, Peter and Paul. The iconography of their friendship is an image of unity in diversity as well as a picture of reconciliation after conflict and, maybe, competition.
We begin today’s readings in Psalm 120, with the cry for deliverance “from lying lips and from the deceitful tongue. [From] the sharpened arrows of a warrior, along with hot glowing coals.”
There is a temptation in failure to allow conscience and pride to turn a transient and momentary failure into something permanent and defining. Peter’s resilience is a model for us.
With the birth of a baby, hope springs anew. What shall this little one become? What shall he see? What will she do? What changes will come? Hope springs anew. We imagine possibilities; we prophecy.
In our reading from 1 Samuel today, Samuel warns the people what they will get if they choose a king to rule over them rather than choosing God’s rule. The king will have retainers and advance men, laborers for his benefit and for the means of war, luxuries and prime real estate, the best of everything and a piece of everyone’s possessions. The ruler will disburse his wealth and power among his own class, among the wealthy and powerful.