Faith in Progress

September 29, 2013 Pentecost 19, Proper 21, Year C               Once again this morning we have the Gospel of Luke talking about the problem of wealth.   And once again, it makes me uncomfortable.   The not-so-secret truth about preachers is that most of the time we are preaching to ourselves as much as anybody.   I am part of Jesus’ parable for today.   So let me introduce you to the characters.             First, of course, there’s Lazarus.   A poor man, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from a rich man’s table.   That’s all we know about him.   We don’t know whether he is kind or loving or righteous.   We don’t know whether he could be trusted with money or would just go off and spend it on alcohol or drugs.   We just know that he was miserably poor.   That he was living a life that was no life at all.   That we would not want to be in his shoes. You’ve probably met Lazarus.   In fact, chances are, you’ve probably met him over and over ag

[This morning we at St. Aidan's have the wonderful gift of a wedding in the midst of our main service!] September 15, 2013 Luke 15:1-10   This morning we have the great joy of being part of the celebration of Chris and Maria’s marriage.   They wanted to have a church ceremony and were immediately enamored with the idea of having their wedding here, at St. Aidan’s, among all of you, in the midst of a Sunday morning service.   Which I think says a lot about them, and about their relationship, a big piece of which is their spiritual connection.   Chris and Maria are embarking on a journey together; a journey that promises beauty and adventure and love, and a journey that will almost certainly come with some unexpected twists and turns as well. I was thinking about them, and about this wedding, while I was taking my own journey -- an 8-mile sunrise hike along the Grand Canyon this summer.             It started beautifully.   With the time change, I woke up easily at 5 a

September 8, 2013 Jeremiah 18:1-11   Most of you know that my family recently returned from vacation in the southwest United States.   We flew out to Phoenix and wound through Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado before flying out from Denver.   There were a lot of memorable sights and experiences, some of which you’ll be hearing about in about in future weeks, but one thing that emerged from the trip for me was a newfound admiration for Georgia O’Keeffe. I’d seen some of her artwork, especially the ever present flowers and bull skulls, but hadn’t really thought much about her before this trip.   Then we got to Santa Fe and while Holden took the kids to the pool one day I went to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum.   I went in as sort of a cultural obligation and came out just a little bit obsessed.               I started my tour of the museum by watching a short film that told a story of her life using glimpses of her from youth to old age and snippets of letters she’d written t