Week of August 9, 2020
Is your spiritual life by chance, or by choice? I’ll freely admit that a lot of my own spiritual life is by chance, and that is not a bad thing per se. Let me explain by using a metaphor. Right now my extroverted tendencies are largely being fed by random encounters with people I meet. I’ll run into…
Week of August 2
I’m taking a break from my review of various spiritual gifts to check in with all of you regarding this time of forced physical separation. On August 3 the Vestry will be meeting again to discuss our situation and the best and safest way for us to engage in community. I think that at this point it…
Week of July 26, 2020
This week’s topic for spiritual gifts has literally to do with spirits, namely the gift of the discernment of spirits. The origins of this gift as described in scripture are connected to notions of both divine and holy spiritual entities and evil ones that could influence (or afflict) people, but more contemporary uses of the…
Week of July 19, 2020
Last week, I talked about the spiritual gift of Exhortation, which involves the ministry of instructing others of the fundamental, practical elements of discipleship. Related to that spiritual gift is another, the gift of Teaching. Teachers are not just people who take our children downstairs into classrooms for the first half of the service. They are people who…
Week of July 12, 2020
I’m continuing with a look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit during this Pentecost season. Parakleo is translated in different ways into English: to admonish, encourage, or beseech. But the most common translation in the context of a spiritual gift is “to exhort,” or to possession the gift of Exhortation. Simply put, those who possess…
Week of July 5, 2020
I have been discussing spiritual gifts during this Pentecost season. This week I would like to talk about the gift of Mercy. Simply put, those who possess this spiritual gift are drawn to caring for people who are experiencing physical or emotional needs. These are the people who are the first to ask how they can help when…
Week of June 28, 2020
For the last couple of weeks I have been talking about the gifts of the Spirit that we celebrate in the season of Pentecost. One of the most confounding gifts for Episcopalians I think is the gift of speaking in tongues, or glossolalia (literally a compound of the Greek words for “tongue” and “making noise”). Speaking in…
Week of June 21, 2020
Last week, I talked about the spiritual gifts that are given to us through the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the work of Jesus Christ in the world. There are many different places in Scripture where Christians have found lists of gifts (1 Corinthians 12: 8–10, Romans 12: 6–8, and 1 Peter 4:9–10 are…
Week of June 14, 2020
During the season of Pentecost, the focus of our readings in worship, our study and learning, shifts from what Easter means to us as humans to what it means to be a disciple of Christ. It is a natural transition: we are given the tremendous gift of grace in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and…
Week of June 7, 2020
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, our “patronal feast day” in the annual calendar. When Episcopal churches are created, their name designates which day is their personal “birthday.” An example would be the feast day of a particular saint for a church named after that saint, or Christ the King Sunday for Christ Churches, etc. So…