April 2008 - Growing up, I had my fill of preachers ranting on about how people should be in church on Sunday mornings and how worshipping on the golf course or out fishing was just not an adequate way to return thanks to God for God’s blessings.

March 2008 - Years ago, an archbishop in England referred to it as a “conjuring trick with bones.” It is also the subject of four conflicting accounts.

February 2008 - How about having a very fruitful Lent this time? Not the same old give-up-chocolate-or-beer Lent. Instead, how about a Lent where you give up something that could really set you free?

January 2008 - The first chapter of John's Gospel account points out something that gives us insight into human nature.

December 2007 - Back in 2004, while on a spiritual retreat in Scotland, I wrote a poem that began: How do you come among us? ...

November 2007 - Autumn is a season where human beings look to fill their storehouses with the bounty of harvest to ward off the anxiety of the lean months of winter.

October 2007 - Night comes. Inexorably the days grow shorter, and night encroaches upon our enjoyable hours of warmth and sunshine. Night comes, and with it darkness. What must we do to stand in these dark times?

September 2007 - So eager for summer to begin, and now how quickly it has seemed to flow by! This summer, sometimes, while out riding on the Harley, I found myself yearning for a spot that was just a few miles up the road. Of course, that kind of longing exchanged illusion for reality. Pinning for the perceived beauty just a few miles up the road, I was lost to the beauty that currently enveloped me.

June 2007 - The summer season is upon us and vacation plans are probably already made. No doubt many of you will be taking interesting journeys. Some of these journeys will have attributes of rites of passage. For instance, if you are taking your young children or grandchildren abroad for the first time, that is a marker in the shared experience of your family and, as such, is a rite of passage.

May 2007 - The last Sunday of this month, Christians everywhere will be celebrating the feast of Pentecost. This is the feast that commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church.

April 2007 - Now is the time of our triumphant song. Throughout Eastertide, we will be singing three troparia that have the same verse: “Christ is risen from the dead. Trampling down death by death! And on those in the tombs bestowing life.” This little verse makes me wonder if I have to wait until I’m in a tomb to have a taste of that life--or is it available here, now, in this moment of singing?

March 2007 - Now is the time of the archeology of the heart, soul, mind, and body. Our Lenten journey is deep into the digging pits of inward exploration. Our seeking is for that pristine place where we first meet with God in sublime communion. Such is the prize and, as with all things of great worth, getting there requires quite a bit of effort.

February 2007 - One month ago I thought I had the perfect New Year’s resolution. It was airtight and couldn’t be broken. Here it is, “I resolve to not make any New Year’s resolutions this year.”

January 2007 - Well, it’s Epiphany — so where is God? Epiphany means “the manifestation of a divine being,” so — let’s see It! After all, we live in a culture that demands proof that is preferably empirical.

December 2006 - In the season of Advent, we are called to action. Now is the time of preparation for a momentous approach of something that, if we are ready, if we are willing, will spill into us grandeur.

November 2006 - It is almost as distracting as tinnitus, and each day it draws inexorably closer. Yes, it’s the holiday season. Ready or not, it is upon us and will soon arrive, with or without our cooperation.

October 2006 - The Celts in Wales who celebrated Nos Galan Gaeaf ,and the Scots and Irish who celebrated Samhain, felt that this was a “thin” time of year. That is, they recognized that this was the final harvest of summer’s bounty in preparation for the coming bare days of winter.

September 2006 - Community is risky business – for you! There is always the possibility that your ideas may not be accepted. Even worse, in a religious community, if your beliefs are different you might even be shunned or ostracized. If that happens and you feel you can’t leave that particular community, then you have to become someone you aren’t—you have to become estranged from your self.

June 2006 - With the exception of the earthquake in San Francisco, 1906 was pretty much a ho-hum year.

May 2006 - It is the days past the celebration of resurrection—so what are we to do now? Put away the Easter baskets while picking up the stray cellophane grass that escaped from the Easter Bunny?

April 2006 - When is Easter this year? That’s an easy one! Sunday, April 16th. Unless you are an Orthodox Christian. For the Orthodox, the celebration of Easter is Sunday, April 23rd. Um, wait a minute, though. If you go to the Great Vigil of Easter, then it falls on Saturday, April 15th.

March 2006 - The days of discipline are upon us. Discipline, for some, is such a harsh word. It conjures up images of judgment, punishment, or ridicule.

February 2006 - As a parish family, we have been through two stunning losses.

January 2006 - What would Jesus do? Much has been said about that little catch phrase. Some take it seriously, some snicker about it, while others don’t care one way or the other. For Epiphany, however, the question can be useful.

December 2005 - Wake up! Watch! Be Alert! Sleepers arise! These are the cacophonous calls to Advent.

November 2005 - This is the season of joy and satisfaction, the time when the harvest is collected to carry us through the lean months of winter’s cold.

October 2005 - In the mid 1970s, I was home one weekend from college when an old friend I’d taken karate classes with called and invited me to Bible study.

September 2005 - Do you remember when “paradigm shift” was the big buzzword in the 1990s? Paradigm shifts are happening still.

Summer 2005 - Religion certainly is a big hit these days! Turn on the TV and there it is. Turn on the radio and it’s the buzz.

May 2005 - Who or what is God? If you were asked to come up with a definition of God, could you?

April 2005 - I’m like the majority of Christians: Give me the cross any day over the empty tomb and the resurrection.

March 2005 - Ludwig Feuerbach wrote in his work The Essence of Christianity, “Whenever morality is based on theology, wherever the right is made dependent on divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be justified and established.”

February 2005 - During our vacation in January, Mary Jo and I availed ourselves of the opportunity to do some snorkeling on the reef in Cozumel, Mexico.

January 2005 - In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, poet William Blake wrote, “Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence."

December 2004 - Now is the dark time of this world. The sun falls further in the sky and the days shrink as night grows.

November 2004 - November -- the time of the harvest, gathering in the fruits of the earth, and the bounty of God’s blessings. No wonder this is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving.

October 2004 - There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “It’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than a man in a time of chaos.”

September 2004 - Fall is such an enjoyable time, especially at our church. There is the energy of catching up, sharing summer stories, planning for the coming year, and so much more. But I guess it is the gathering of the saints that I like the best.

Summer 2004 - In The Hermetic Writings from the third century we find these words: “Becoming everything is just another method of becoming nothing...”

June 2004 - Eeyore, the old grey donkey, stood by the side of the stream, and looked at himself in the water.

May 2004 - The first two weeks of April have been exhausting. I’m not just talking about the hurried rush of Holy Week and Easter. The exhaustion I have felt comes from the long list of names of the soldiers who died representing you and me on the far away fields of battle in Iraq.

April 2004 - Several people are walking down the street when suddenly they all witness a car accident. Being good citizens, they wait for the police to arrive to give their statements.

March 2004 - Lent, why bother? If I take the spiritual discipline of Lent seriously, it will eat into my already overburdened schedule.

February 2004 - Lent, more than any other season in the Christian year, challenges us to seek a deeper spiritual discipline in our everyday lives.

January 2004 - Where is IT? Can you put your finger on IT? Can you taste IT? Can you feel IT brush by you in a crowded room? Does IT catch your attention out of the corner of your eye as you hurry down a busy street?

December 2003 - When I first began attending the Episcopal Church, Advent was somewhat confusing to me. Where were the Christmas carols that we always sang like clockwork in the Methodist Church, beginning with the first Sunday in December?

November 2003 - Here we are in the middle of the year-end’s trifecta of big holidays

October 2003 - Is it just me, or does the world require more coping energy these days?

September 2003 - The rain showed no signs of letting up as we careened down the narrow road to Pennant Melangell, a tiny settlement in mid-Wales.

May 2003 - There were stories and myths about resurrection in many cultures long before Jesus showed up. What makes him so different, so special?

April 2003 - In 1981, I worked as an Eligibility Counselor in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Food Stamp programs

March 2003 - March fifth is the beginning of a great celebration-Lent! Oh sure, many years when Ash Wednesday rolled around

February 2003 - This is the season of God's revelation among us. So how do we communicate with that revelation?

January 2003 - In the eighth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, we read the story of Jesus healing a blind man

December 2002 - My friend Rebecca Cook is a southern poet. Her poem "Light," concludes with these words

November 2002 - The philosopher Heraclitus once wrote, "Opposition brings together, and from discord comes perfect harmony"

October 2002 - When I was a young boy, my parents used to gather up us kids and travel with us over the mountain

Summer 2002 - Bob was emaciated. His body was slowly melting away in the final stages of an AIDS related condition

May 2002 - The rush of a violent wind! Tongues of flame!

April 2002 - Two disciples walked all the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, had supper, and ended up with a case of heart burn

March 2002 - We are headed around the final turn and going for the finish line

February 2002 - Farming must be the most frustrating occupation going

January 2002 - Okay, the Child is born and dwells among us. Where?

December 2001 - Christian mythology is powerful in the way it presents events that are revolutionary and transformational

November 2001 - As I was walking through the woods this fall there was such a rich yellow canopy of leaves that the air itself seemed golden

October 2001 - We have all been extended an invitation by Osama bin Laden to join in a dance of hatred and violence

September 2001 - This is a time of reflection for me. I have been Rector at The Church of St. Mary the Virgin for five years

Summer 2001 - Jaraoslav Pelikan once said, "Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."

May 2001 - In my Protestant upbringing I was taught to believe in the Resurrection as a historical event

April 2001 - I need Holy Week. Here I sit in my tomb of self-pity or pride or greed or lust and I need to die

March 2001 - On Ash Wednesday an invitation will be extended to you

February 2001 - I was skimming through Psyche and Matter by Marie-Louse von Franz...

January 2001 - Here we are in the season of "an appearance or apparition of a deity...

December 2000 - There is a story about the Buddha just after his enlightenment ...

November 2000 - November offers all of us an opportunity to reflect on the many ...

October 2000 - Take a moment and think about your typical day. If your day is ...

September 2000 - Mention the word "stewardship" around Christians and they think of...

Summer 2000 - When I was a child I was perplexed by God and religion...

May 2000 - There’s nothing like a new car–the smell, the feel of it...

April 2000 - A few years ago an Anglican bishop in England said...

March 2000 - In his book, Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit, Robert E. Kennedy...

February 2000 - In his book, Answer to Job, Carl Jung poses this question...

January 2000 - There is an old Zen story that goes...