ἀ ληθῶς ἀνέστη Matthew's resurrection account: 28 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of ...

All things came into being through the λόγος John 1:3 Through him all things were made. (Nicene Creed, paragraph on the Second Person of the Trinity)  Holy Saturday: without vaping too far off into the absurd, the mostly but not entirely tongue-in-cheek theological speculation chuckled through by our theology professor my years at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, was that there is One God, Father, Son (λόγος: Creating Word, “and God said …” Genesis 1:3) & Holy Spirit; that the One God (λόγος) became Incarnate in and as Jesus of Nazareth; that this One God (λόγος) having been put to death on cross on Good Friday, is dead on Holy Saturday; accordingly that Creation was that Day without a Creator, posing not only the question “who was in charge?” but the theological proposition that, the λόγος dead and ceasing to speak, shouldn’t all things on that Day, Holy Saturday, have vanished, evaporated, vaped, not only into nonexistence, but into never having been f...

Good Friday homily in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida. April 14, 2017, the Reverend Tom Weller. If, on this Most Holy Day of cruelty, fear, anguish, and unnerving contemplation - - if, still couched in medieval darkness, the church has reduced you to a groveling sinner, cowering in your unworthy human nature, there is good news, hallelujah, for the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God loves you just as you are, the way you are, notwithstanding this horrific event at human hands.  Yes, we preach Christ Crucified, but “The Gospel” is not the sacrifice of Calvary in which the Church has reimaged and reimagined a standard capital punishment from that era of bestial Roman cruelty, into a unique and unspeakable crime against the Creating God, plunging humanity into darkness, and separating us from the love of God, and raising the specter of Hell to bully frightened faithful into obedience. That’s not it. That’s not it: the gospel of Jesus Christ is G...

“A violent and surprising week” CNN calls it. Because it hadn’t come for weeks or months, I’d forgotten about their early morning email “5 things for your new day” that used to show up daily in my box. Who doesn’t like CNN, it doesn’t matter, I also receive “The Atlantic Politics” and a daily email “The New Yorker” and various other limited-free dailies online. And for news I read foxnews before going on to other online news channels, so, see, no prejudice or preferential treatment.  A news line on the CNN reads,  Scorpion stings passenger on United flight  WOW they are just not having a good week .  which leads me to wonder just what all United will do. Next the flight crew will carry a cage of tarantulas up and down the aisle and drop one in the lap of any passenger who refuses to leave voluntarily. Okay, I’m gone: I’d rather be beat bloody and dragged screaming down the aisle than have a scorpion or tarantula dropped on me.  But this week has b...

Sitting out on 7H porch with a thawing Easter ham from Idaho as an exhaustively busy day expired, finishing two fingers of a good single malt on ice, finale of that bottle, which lasted four or five years, I go easy on the scotch. Gazing out across StAndrewsBay at flashing lights on channel markers and a tower, and the lights of Thomas Drive high-rises and BayPoint mid-rises - - we considered buying over there, but there’s traffic and The Bridge, besides, StAndrews is home. After a deliciously spicy and salty Thai lunch, a nap, Stations, supper of one slice of sprouted wheat toast gravied thickly with blue cheese dressing, and a mug of ice water, as I wonder whether, if and when the FuroForty will kick in. Right ear plugged up while a wax remover works it, unbalancing with all there was to do Wednesday that the right ear let me down, even with the ear phones couldn’t hear a thing out of it. What’s bothering me. United Airlines should be pummeled, cancelled, litigated, sued a...

Homily at the funeral of Dr. John Joseph Benton, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida. The Reverend Tom Weller A time to be born, a time to love, and a time to die. John Benton, you did it right, you did it all just right:  honor, kindness, blessing grateful parents and families with healthy children under your loving care, blessing creation with ten children of your own that you and Freddie created and raised as responsible citizens, generosity, blessing the world with service of kindness, blessing St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church with loving and faithful service to the Lord, not to mention at times in the early years, nearly doubling Sunday attendance as the Benton family arrived with a quorum for worship! blessing the earth with your and Freddie’s brilliance and your service, as physician to needy families in other lands. John Benton, the Lord created you, as he created Father Abraham, to be a blessing to the world in which yo...

No sophisticated user, when the online notification says a word processor update is available, I’m wary, because in my years of using it, there's yet to be an improvement, the updates always make it not easier but confusing unto start from scratch, why do they do that? And it’s no good ignoring because like Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door, the notification keeps knocking until I say oh what the hell, and let it download.  Beautiful moon last evening, first beyond the clergy parking sign as I left BayMed after a hospital call, then over downtown Panama City from 7H when I arrived home a few minutes later. Pink, the moon was supposed to have a pink tint? I didn’t see pink, who saw pink? And yes, that's my green light off to the right - - Wednesday in Holy Week, preaching a funeral this morning, stations of the cross this evening. What’s all this religion and religious observance about and for anyway, is it because, unlike other innocent animals who did not bite on th...