There's a war going on, a madman finally showing his - - well, yeah that, but colors, in the cut of his predecessors. How do these people get to national leadership? People let them. An ultimate immorality of the Third Reich was that nobody around him had the courage to bring the man down. Even Stauffenberg had himself in mind, didn't have the character to stay next to Hitler with his briefcase, planted it, left, and, hearing the blast, hurried to Berlin to collect his glory and power. Are those around this man as gutless? Or are they totally bought-in complicit? Under the spell. Sipping the cool-ade. Police arresting protesters ? But of course we also have that.  Interesting how disaster unifies: 9/11, Pearl Harbor, Ukraine. Apparently even Switzerland on board. Power of protest: Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? brought a president down. Different systems, what would it take there today? Nobody knows. Maybe we'll find out before this is over. What for dis...

  I know you think it's yours, and okay, I'll give you that, I'll give it to you, you can have it. You can have it now, and more welcome than you will realize until you get here. But I remember when it was mine, I remember when life was real and people were real and life seemed like One even though it never was. It was all illusion,  which was a song dancing in my head at the edge of my dreams when I woke up this morning, and I had all the tune but only some of the words, so had to Google it. It was Joni Mitchell, remember Joni? We were at war then too, and there were good guys and bad guys then too, and I knew I was on the right side, but it was illusion. Did it ever occur to you that the bad guys think they are the good guys? Well, they do. I know that, because I've been on both sides and always thought of myself as one of the good guys. But Pete Seeger had it right all along.  Anyway, here's Joni's song that woke me up. There'll be other songs today, love...

  Old Testament: Exodus 34:29-35  The Epistle: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a] Exodus 34:29-35 New Revised Standard Version The Shining Face of Moses 29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and to...

At seminary we are encouraged, even directed, to acquire the spiritual practice of "reading the Daily Office", which originally would have meant Morning Prayer, but might be any of those in that section of the Book of Common Prayer: The Daily Office Concerning the Service - Morning Prayer & Evening Prayer: Rite One Daily Morning Prayer: Rite One Daily Evening Prayer: Rite One Concerning the Service - Morning Prayer & Evening Prayer: Rite Two Daily Morning Prayer: Rite Two Daily Evening Prayer: Rite Two An Order of Service for Noonday Concerning the Service - An Order of Worship for the Evening An Order of Worship for the Evening An Order for Compline Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families (with the Lord's Prayer inline) Additional Directions Table of Suggested Canticles  A quick and easy read would be this, from Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families: In the Morning From Psalm 51 Open my lips, O ...

Concluding from this morning's A.Word.A.Day,  A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves. -Robert Neelly Bellah, sociologist and author (23 Feb 1927-2013)     whose book grabbed my attention in the mid to late 1980s.  Although it was not a can't-put-downer , sometimes as boring as my Sociology-101 textbook at UF, Bellah helped me in a number of ways, transitioning as I was from having been full-time naval officer to full-time parish priest. They are different enough, but the same in ways that are helpful in the new vocation, where for a while some of my parishioners referred to me as the field marshal. I had retired from the Navy in 1978 and, having pushed it aside for more than twenty years so firmly that I thought I had finally shed it, started theological seminary on my birthday in 1980. Bellah is correct, and I'm appreciating the chain of thought he ignited for me this morning. Leaving home is ...

  Good morning! If you don't receive Sean of the South in your email just after midnight every day, that's too bad. The column is free and it's an ought-to-have just in case you need it. Sean can be profound or he can be sappy unto maudlin, but you can read his columns that appeal to you and give the ones that don't a miss.  I thought this one was theologically spot on. There are lots of stories like this one, mysteries about "Who Was That Masked Stranger Anyway?" and you are left Knowing but not necessarily Saying, which has precedent at John 21:1-17.  And, be it apparition or vision or passing stranger, the Form itself responds to God's answer to Moses question, "Who are you?" when God responds, "I AM. I will BE what I will BE." I AM whoever and whatever I say I AM whenever and wherever, to whom and whomever I will BE. So, is God Jesus, or is God an old woman standing on the bridge in a fog?  If you think God to Moses rocked it, say ...

Yesterday on, IDK, Youtube or Facebook, I started watching recorded bits of our diocesan convention, so far, the bishop's address and a fascinating and entertaining presentation by Bertice Berry, PhD sociologist, author  https://berticeberrynow.com  about stories, telling our stories as Teller, and, as Listener, hearing and being aware of one's internal response.  No sociologist am I, but as priest, pastor and, inevitably, sometime counselor, I have developed listening practice that helps me hear the person who's confiding in me, and also conveys that they have my full attention, that no distractions divert my focus on their story (which can be discouraging and belittling), and that I do not interrupt them. In recent years I also have tried to learn to let them and their story be all the focus, and not come back with similar stories of my own. Trying to be a better listener. Dr Berry had exercises with the audience, each person to pair up with one other person, two minute...

  sermon: ἀγάπη experiment [excusing myself, who knows better, for changing Luke's verb form ἀγαπάω to the noun form ἀγάπη for reasons of clarity in English], the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke (6:27-38)  Jesus said, 27 “But I say to you that listen, ἀγάπη your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you ἀγάπη those who ἀγάπη you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners ἀγάπη those who ἀγάπη them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend ...