Faith in Progress

For several days this week I met up with four seminary friends for a reunion/retreat in Lexington, Virginia.  We stayed at a house that one of the women had visited before to help lead a spiritual retreat in the past.  I'm not sure why, but I'd expected a run down farm house - something adequate and decent with Shrine Mont like facilities.  (No offense, Shrine Mont.)  Instead, it was one of the most amazing and comfortable places I've ever stayed.  Abundant rooms, beautifully furnished with beds and pillows more comfortable than mine at home.  A three-story tower with 360 degree views of mountains and farms.  A huge modern kitchen with every accoutrement I could imagine.  A living room with enough chairs and couches for all of us to sprawl out on centered around a huge hearth for cozy fires on the rainy days.  And a gas outdoor fire and another fire pit on top of a hill for the nicer days.  A porch with a bunch of swinging chairs.  ...

November 14, 2010 25 Pentecost, Proper 28 (Year C) St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church Isaiah 65:17-25 Our first reading this morning is one of my favorites. I love this vision of the new heavens and new earth that God is going to create. It was written 2500 years ago, and it’s still, to me anyway, just as wonderful a promise as it must have been then. Still a tangible picture of how things ought to be. No more weeping; long healthy lives, homes and fruitful work all around; a closer relationship with God; peace. I can’t think of anything I could add to make the list more ideal. But the problem with beautiful visions like this is that by their very nature they make you long for them to be fulfilled. And they make you wonder what’s taking so long. And they might even lead you to start doubting the faithfulness of the promisor. I’ve been thinking about God’s promises a lot recently in conjunction with our Godly Play stories for the Sunday School kids. I’ve been sharing a shortened versio...

23 Pentecost, Proper 26 (Year C) October 31, 2010 St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church [I'm afraid something will be lost in the print version, since you won't get to see me run and climb my makeshift tree in the middle of the sermon, but here goes...]   You’ve heard of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, the 4 stages of cancer, the 5 stages of grief. Well, today in Luke’s Gospel we get the 5 stages of Being Loved by God, courtesy of Zacchaeus. Stage 1 – We are who we are We aren’t given too many details about Zacchaeus, but it’s enough. Enough to know quite a bit about him, and even more about what everyone must have thought about him. He’s exceedingly rich, which from the Gospel of Luke seems almost enough in itself for him to be doomed. Remember a few weeks ago when we we’ve heard Jesus’ story about the rich man in the fires of hell who wanted Lazarus to come give him a drink of water? Things do not usually go well for the rich in Luke’s Gospel.  Plus, Zacchaeus is also a...