A Pilgrim's Journal

Dare we light the pink candle? proclaiming joy in the midst of tragedy

2012-12-16T07:40:00.000-05:00

The Third Sunday of Advent is a day historically called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin for joy. It is a day for rejoicing. Why? Because Paul tells us in his letter to the Phillippians (Phil 4:4-7) to rejoice always - that the habit of rejoicing is fundamental to those for whom the Lord is near. The pink candle on our Advent wreath reminds us that we are called to be a people of joy, especially as

The Hansons Marathon Method: a review

2012-11-25T21:46:00.001-05:00

I am using the Hansons Marathon Method (see Hansons Marathon Method: A Renegade Path to Your Fastest Marathon) to prepare for the 2013 marathon season. Now that I've spent several weeks with it since the October publication of Luke Humprey's book about it, I thought it might be helpful to record some initial impressions. In particular, it seems possible now to describe the Hanson method by way

Mourdock, rape, and the Christian hope

2012-10-26T13:20:00.000-04:00

A friend, responding on Facebook to recent reactions to comments by Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock about a hypothetical pregnancy arising from rape, introduced an opinion slide with the following assertion: "As I understand it, this is the christian doctrine. That all things good and bad happen at the behest of God." But is that right? First, let's take note of what Mr. Mourdock

A Spotter's Guide to Biblical Genres: Gospels

2012-10-12T09:36:00.000-04:00

My friend and colleague, the Rev'd Claire Wimbush, has produced a wonderful guide to help Christians engage Scripture fruitfully through recognition of the particular literary genre of the text we are reading. The format is like that of a bird-watcher's guide. She's given me permission to publish it on my blog for broader dissemination. I've been publishing it serially on Fridays over the next

On marriage and divorce

2012-10-07T10:00:00.000-04:00

In the Revised Common Lectionary's readings for the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost we encounter an odd juxtaposition of texts. With the psalmist, we express wonder at God’s providence: “What is man that thou art mindful of him?” (Ps 8:5) In the letter to Hebrews, we’re reminded that Jesus, our great high priest, has spoken God’s providential word to us (Heb 1:2), and advocates before the

A Spotter’s Guide to Biblical Genres: Torah/Law

2012-10-05T09:40:00.000-04:00

My friend and colleague, the Rev'd Claire Wimbush, has produced a wonderful guide to help Christians engage Scripture fruitfully through recognition of the particular literary genre of the text we are reading. The format is like that of a bird-watcher's guide. She's given me permission to publish it on my blog for broader dissemination. I'll be publishing it serially on Fridays over the next

A Spotter’s Guide to Biblical Genres: Poetry

2012-09-28T09:44:00.000-04:00

My friend and colleague, the Rev'd Claire Wimbush, has produced a wonderful guide to help Christians engage Scripture fruitfully through recognition of the particular literary genre of the text we are reading. The format is like that of a bird-watcher's guide. She's given me permission to publish it on my blog for broader dissemination. I'll be publishing it serially on Fridays over the next

A Spotter’s Guide to Biblical Genres: History

2012-09-21T09:27:00.000-04:00

My friend and colleague, the Rev'd Claire Wimbush, has produced a wonderful guide to help Christians engage Scripture fruitfully through recognition of the particular literary genre of the text we are reading. The format is like that of a bird-watcher's guide. She's given me permission to publish it on my blog for broader dissemination. I'll be publishing it serially on Fridays over the next

Much ado about Jesus and a 'wife'

2012-09-19T10:04:00.000-04:00

The media are seizing upon an opportunity to discredit Christian claims once again, this time by promoting claims by a Harvard Divinity School scholar, Karen King, regarding a fragment with text purported to show that Jesus had a wife. Actually, she doesn't say that at all, but the press seems to translate her claims in that way. Thought I'd share with you, with the permission of those quoted, a

The third option: learning from the Libyan incident

2012-09-16T10:00:00.000-04:00

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia) It’s been a tough week for America, it’s been a tough week for the Middle East, and it’s been a tough week for the Church. Four U.S. diplomats gruesomely murdered in Libya. American embassies attacked, the Stars and Stripes torn down and replaced with the black flag of the radical Islamic fringe. And all of this precipitated by

The necessity of good works

2012-09-09T15:11:00.000-04:00

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2:14–17 NRSV) In my last

Unpacking via media

2012-09-02T21:52:00.000-04:00

My brother shared a link to an interesting article on the Progressive Christian blog. It's entitled 'Why We Should Do Politics like Episcopalians.' It's written by a guy I'd like to know - judging from his bio. Greg Garrett is an English professor at Baylor and an Episcopal lay speaker, and apparently friends with Brian McLaren. He seems an altogether congenial man, and that shines

Choose this day whom you will serve....

2012-08-30T09:34:00.003-04:00

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia) My last post was about headship within a family, recalling Paul’s charge that we be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. And we saw that headship has to do with virtue and difference. We become virtuous by imitating those who are further along in the art of being virtuous persons. Virtue is important because it is

"The husband is the head of the wife": wrestling the elephant in the room

2012-08-19T16:31:00.002-04:00

“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,

Is Spirit another name for Reason?

2012-07-29T20:59:00.000-04:00

Someone recently suggested that we should be careful to differentiate between Jesus and the Spirit when we talk about God. Her thinking was that Jesus does some things, and the Spirit does others, and therefore she assumed that the Trinity is not always fully present in God's actions, but, as she put it, "only the Person doing God's work." The question she asks is both ancient and common:

Why Not Substitute "Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer?"

2012-07-22T20:29:00.000-04:00

Recently someone complained about the way we name God in the liturgy. I thought I'd share that conversation just in case one of my readers worries about similar things. The basis of the complaint, as far as I can tell, was an underlying objection to the use of masculine language. The formula, "Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer" seems like a more inclusive way of naming God, at least from

A Response to Ross Douthat

2012-07-15T15:44:00.000-04:00

In his critique of the Episcopal Church in this weekend's New York Times, Ross Douthat, a Roman Catholic, offered advice to the Episcopal Church. The advice is this: "Conserve! Resist change. Eschew liberalism or you are destined to institutional death." Douthat offers, in brief form, a declension narrative intended to explain where we, the Episcopal Church, went wrong by pointing to alleged

Leeks, Greens, and Beans

2012-05-15T16:56:00.002-04:00

Our 2012 vegetable garden under construction Great Sabbath day yesterday. Claudia and I had a nice running date (6 mile progression run, at hard pace the last two miles), and then, until dusk, I played in the garden, planting this year's crop. Gardening nourishes my soul. SInce it's not for sustenance, I figure it is a proper Sabbath re-creation for me. I pulled out some scraggly,

Uplifting Ride at Canandaigua Lake

2012-05-09T15:39:00.001-04:00

Canandaigua Lake just after sunrise May 2012 Got up at 5am this morning while on our diocesan clergy retreat to ride the Canandaigua hills. Four deer crossed my path before sunrise. All creation serenaded me. What abundant beauty you have provided to draw us closer to you, O God! Got in 27 miles, climbed my first Category 4 and 3 Category 5 hills, and hit a peak speed of 57 mph (downhill),

Debriefing: Switching to Minimalist Shoes

2012-03-29T23:58:00.000-04:00

Nike shoes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) In my last two posts, I've described what I believe to be the two changes that had the most positive impact on my being in a position to run a Boston-Marathon-qualifying time in the Disney Marathon, a goal I ultimately failed to achieve due to a late season injury. When I set my goal about a year ago, I was woefully out of shape, unable to run three

Debriefing: Getting Stronger

2012-03-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

Tony Horton, inventor of P90X, leading athletes through his routines. This is the third post in a series debriefing my Disney Marathon 2011 experience. In my last post, I suggested that the most significant positive factor in my journey to the marathon was the rebalancing of my metabolism made possible by the UltraMetabolism approach to food choices. I dropped 30 pounds in just a

Debriefing: Losing Weight

2012-03-10T12:27:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mark Hyman This is the second in a series of posts debriefing my Disney Marathon 2012 journey. In the next few posts I'll reflect on what went well. At the top of that list indubitably is the effort to get down to my ideal target weight. That actually was the top goal I set for myself when laying out my priorities for the year. Indeed, it had been at the top of my

Debriefing: Disney Marathon 2011

2012-03-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

It seems I always learn the most from my failures. Now that two months have passed since the 2012 Disney Marathon for which I trained most of last year, the agony of defeat has waned sufficiently for me to step back and take inventory of the lessons learned in my pursuit of a goal that remains on the horizon. That inventory reveals not just some critical mistakes that kept me from my goal,

Just signed up to run for Diabetes Research and Education!

2012-03-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

Image via Wikipedia I just signed up to raise money for the Diabetes Research and Education foundation while I train for my next marathon. I'll be running the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC on 28 Oct 2012. I've not done this before, but I'm excited to raise money for a worthy cause. Consider a small tax-deductible charitable donation to fund diabetes research.

My Book Review of Charles Taylor's "A Secular Age"

2012-01-29T00:23:00.002-05:00

Delighted that The Living Church published my book review of Charles Taylor's A Secular Age in their February 12th edition which is now available online. Lots of jargon given the subject and my audience, but perhaps the review will prompt some folks to read Taylor. You can click on the Full Screen button on the toolbar to obtain a more legible view .A Review of Charles Taylor's "A Secular Age" (