“Above the deer I find the words from Psalm 25, “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.” The beautiful scroll of the letters and the words draw me in as we color together.”
“Paul goes back and forth between teaching them to be courageous sons and daughters of Christ and to be polite, keeping a low profile, and not offending.”
“Rather than worrying about hand sanitizer and toilet paper, we can take pride in finding safer ways to deliver food to people who are hungry. We can bug our town councils about providing places to shelter for those experiencing homelessness. We can reach out by phone and computer to our friends and family who are isolated. We can send money to organizations which are safely providing health care, food and shelter to people who have been infected. We can enjoy walking outside and can take photos to share with those who can’t get out. In millions of ways we can be creative, joyous, and active in love.”
“Lent is a perfect time to practice this purging. It is tough to do, but the reward is a lightness of spirit and trust in the One who forgives all our sins. And it can be done without going out, searching for things that aren’t on the shelves yet, and coming home empty-handed but with the possibility of having acquired an illness.”
“But we are God’s people. We tend to repeat our mistakes, large and small. Thanks be to God for reminders from this introverted but incontrovertibly gifted servant of God of what is important and what should be released from our attention. Maybe there will be one less mistake today, because of his wisdom.”
“For us right now, who face a time of unprecedented anxiety and uncertainty in this time of global pandemic, being asked to shelter in place and remain out of gatherings of more than ten people, it is nonetheless vital for us to remember that we are all part of one large, beloved flock, under the loving gaze of the Lord Our Shepherd”
“What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?”
“In my small living room in Central Missouri I felt connected to hundreds of people – bound by our shared desire to hear God’s word for us in these days and to give thanks for the body of Christ that transcends time and place.”
“Sundays are feeling strange. In my diocese, no Chalice. And definitely no touching. The first week of the Plague at the Peace we wandered around like BBs in a boxcar, bowing, smiling sheepishly, uncomfortable.”
“He says the time has come when the Father will be “worshiped in spirit and in truth”. God is spirit, he says, so worship from the part of us that is spirit, too. It’s not where you worship, it’s how.”