Ephesians 5:15-20 (KJV) 15 See ... that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Ephesians 5:15-20 is our epistle reading for Sunday. It’s a good reading, actually, good Scripture. In some Episcopal parishes all four lessons are read -- Old Testament, Psalm, Epistle and Gospel. Other parishes make use of the prayerbook rubric that says (pp. 325/326, 357) “One or two Lessons, as appointed, are read,” and “A Psalm, hymn, or anthem may follow each Reading.” Many times on Sunday mornings in other parishes, I’ve noticed resi...

No one is interested in this but me, but then this is my blog, SWC. Weldon: I miss Weldon. I really miss Weldon Faul. Weldon loved to come back at me with conversation when he would discover that we had bits of history in common or contrast, not only the Episcopal Church, but interest in cars. Weldon had a childhood history from northern Michigan, bitter cold winters and poverty when he was afraid to go home because of having ruined a rare and precious new pair of shoes that his parent had saved up for and there was no replacing them. Weldon was a retired GM plant manager, a history that caused me envy. He picked up on two cars that crossed in our history, black 1935 Chevrolet coaches (two door sedans) and dark green 1948 Dodge Custom sedans. Soon after they were married in 1934, my parents bought a new 1935 Chevrolet Master coach: My father’s car before that had been, to my best recollection, a 1931 Chevrolet coupe. But they lived here in St. Andrews and my mother’s family...

Seems like heaven is something you either “believe in” or you don’t. The stumbling block of course is that “just because you believe it that don’t make it so,” and “just because you don’t believe it, that don’t make it not so.” Being a thing unseen, it’s a matter of faith then, isn’t it -- “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NRSV). In making a case for heaven, an afterlife, a positive conscious existence after death, it may come as a shock to realize that this is something we know because we’ve been told it by those before us who knew it, and that what we actually have here is not knowledge. It’s faith and hope, isn’t it.  And our hopes vary. Years ago, a parishioner who was dying asked me what she should expect to happen at her death, and I reminded her of our church’s theology of “a reasonable and holy hope, in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those we love.” (BCP 481). Then I pointed out that folks ...

Two Cents Proper 15     The Sunday closest to August 17 Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of this redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Our prayerbook says that for celebrations of the Holy Eucharist throughout the week we use the lectionary propers from the prior Sunday. This makes sense, seeing that Sunday is the first day, starting a new set of propers (Collect, OT, Psalm, Epistle, Gospel) for the week. But for Bible study, my preference is to anticipate the upcoming Sunday’s propers by looking at them through the week leading up to the Sunday, with the idea that it enriches Sunday worship to do our homework: check out what is going to be read, and prepare.  An...

Imagine No Olympics to watch this morning. Not to wax sentimental, but it is always sad when the games are over. It’s All Good the USA bringing home most gold and most total, but there were other greats. Bolt and his gold. China’s 16 year old Ye Shewin. Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich . Andy Murray. Egyptian wrestlers misunderstood the time, arrived late and were disqualified, one falling down and breaking into tears.   There should be games instead of war. The Christmas Truce of 1914 proved it could be so. It’s governments that are evil, not people. Only grandmothers should be eligible for office. And as to waxing sentimental, welcome back, John, we have missed ye. Imagine John Lennon Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try No people below us, above it's only sky Imagine all the people Living for today Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do No need to kill or die for and no religions too Imagine all the people Livin...

John 6:35, 6:41-51 King James Version (KJV) 35  ... Jesus said unto them, I AM the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 41  The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 42  And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? 43  Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45  It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46  Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting lif...

In our Bible Story for tomorrow, King David relies on messengers from the front for information about the battle; and especially for David that day, for news about his son Absalom. Messengers come, two strong runners, first one and then another. A hundred years from now we’ll all have a microchip planted behind an ear at birth, for identification and more. It will contain the entire corpus of acquired human knowledge, updated automatically, a realtime medical analysis of the body, and will serve instant communication with anyone worldwide and perhaps to friends vacationing on the moon or beyond. Today it’s text, email, Facebook, for over a century it was telephone, earlier, telegram or letter. Homing pigeons during WW1. Courier service. Signal flags between warships in daytime, signal lamps flashing messages by light during nighttime operations at sea. Morse code and da da daaa da daaa. Smoke signals. The bugler. Drummer boy.  Owl. Hedwig.  Paul’s letters. ...