We had a great time last night at the adult bible study.  Great conversation that, I hope, will spark further thought, reflection, and discussion.  I was asked if I could put some of the highlights in the Morning Email.  I’ll do my best ~
The impetus for the topic was something Fr. Tom Brackett said at the Missional Church Summit in regards to Original Sin vs. Original Blessing.  Time did not allow for Fr. Brackett to elaborate too much on that, and the concept of Original Sin was new to some …

Last night (Wednesday, June 30), I spent some time talking about worship from a biblical standpoint.  I used a lot of scripture and ideas and while I can’t recreate what was said last night, I did want to post the scripture references so you can read them in their entirety on their own.  The following is a basic outline:
I.  When a child is born, her natural instinct is to crawl up her mother’s womb to her breast to receive her first taste of sustenance.   Likewise, in most of the …

from the book of Ecclesiasticus (not Ecclesiastes)
“If you blow on a spark, it will glow; if you spit on it, it will be put out; yet both come out of your mouth.”     28:12
“Unjust anger cannot be justified, for anger tips the scale to one’s ruin.  Those who are patient stay calm until the right moment, and then cheerfulness comes back to them.  They hold back their words until the right moment; then the lips of many tell of their good sense.”   1:22-24

This may be my only post this week.  I’m sitting in the airport hotel in Charlotte.  This week I will be on vacation in Wyoming riding horses and maybe doing a little fishing.  Just because the rector is away doesn’t mean church takes a break too.  There is a fabulous program led by Christin Barnhardt this Wednesday and I have a very good priest in Fr. Jay Burkhardt celebrating and preaching on Sunday.  It helps me to relax knowing that the vibrancy of the church doesn’t miss a beat when …

I’ve spent a fair amount of time the past week in the hospital (visiting family in South Carolina).  If you’ve been to the hospital in the past year or so you also have noticed the very aggresive campaign all hospitals are engaging on hand washing.  Here in Winston, there are hand washing (or at least hand sanitizing) stations right as you walk in the door, next to the elevators, outside the rooms, inside the rooms, lions, tigers, and bears – Oh my!  And for good reason.  So much illness can …

The reading from Acts on Ascension Day (Acts 1.1-11) has this after Jesus ascended:
suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?
Does this sound at all familiar?  Remember what St Luke recorded in his Easter narrative?  Take a look:
suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?
Catch that?  In both stories …

Last month news broke about a team of evangelical explorers who have claimed to discover Noah’s Ark buried high up on Mount Ararat in Turkey.  Genesis 8.4 actually says, “in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.”  This is not the first time, however, that the Ark has been discovered.  Problem is, explorers aren’t stumping their toes on the same block of wood.  In other words, there appear to be lots of Noah’s Arks.
So is this the one?  The …

The Gospel for Sunday, John 14.23-29, Jesus says this to his disciples:
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  I do not give as the world gives.
Interesting sentence: peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  What is the difference between leaving something and giving something?  Why would he say it like that?  Also the part about not giving as the world gives; is our idea of peace different from Christ’s?  How so?
It reminds me of what Jesus said in Luke 12:51 when he …

The following conversation actually happened with a five-year-old on the way to school.
Five-year-old in the backseat, whimpering.
Me: What’s the matter?
Five-year-old: I don’t want to have my teeth pulled.  I just want them to fall out!
Me:  What are you talking about?  You don’t even have any teeth that are loose.
Five-year-old: I know, but I don’t want them pulled.
Me: Have you ever lost a tooth?
Five-year-old:  No.
Me: Then how do you know it will hurt?  How do you know the dentist will hurt more than the tooth just falling out?
Five-year-old: I….I…..I  just know …

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
When I was a boy, I would watch old westerns with my father.  This was the only way I could get him to allow me to stay up after bedtime.  I watched them all, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, and Have Gun, Will Travel.  I remember that last one especially.  Paladin, the …