10th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 14; Ordinary 19; 5 August 2012

The Rule of the religious order to which I belong admonishes me to “seek the sacramental life.” It is, like so many other similar admonishments to particular groups of Christians, simply a reminder to live in the ways that all Christians are called to live, but is exceedingly difficult to do during times of stress and conflict.

Repurposing rituals

The most important aspect of Life Transitions (the subject of the current issue of Liturgy) is that they just keep right on coming. No sooner have you recovered from the last one and settled down comfortably on the metaphorical sofa of your new life then look out! Here comes another set of headlights, screaming toward you at dangerous speed. There is no rest. I myself have just reached the period of life where the teeth become somewhat fragile. It’s a bit less disturbing than puberty was, but still. 

9th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 13; Ordinary 18; 29 July 2012

I have always had this fantasy of preaching my first sermon in a new community by striding to the pulpit, looking people in the eye, and asking “What are you doing here?” It’s a question that bears thinking about, one that deserves attention. When I was growing up, of course, church attendance was de rigueur  for meaningful participation in the community: if you wanted to sell Buicks, you needed to attend church somewhere, and where you attended church had at least some influence on whom you would be selling Buicks to.

Ritualizing our fractures

How exciting!  A new issue of Liturgy has arrived, and it is (as usual) fascinating. Our topic is Life Transitions, and our guest editor is Dr. David Hogue, professor of pastoral theology and counseling at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and author of Remembering the Future, Imagining the Past: Story, Ritual, and the Human Brain (Pilgrim Press 2003). As a former student in Dr. Hogue’s seminar on Ritual Studies, I knew from the beginning that this collection of essays would be fantastic.

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 12; Ordinary 17; Sunday 22 July 2012

When I was a parish pastor, I always looked forward to this midsummer period in Year B, when I got to spend 5 weeks in a row with the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. The denomination in which I am ordained in eucharistically challenged, in that it has taken us a generation to move from celebrating the eucharist four times per year to celebrating it once a month. It is my sincere hope that, with a great deal of coaxing, teaching, wooing and begging, we will finally achieve weekly celebration in another generation or two

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 11; Ordinary 16; 15 July 2012

At the risk of sounding like Walt Kowalski, we never used to hear about clergy self-care back when I was a young pastor. And yet today the call for church leaders to care for themselves seems to be all the rage. 

It’s high time. 

Liturgies of union

In February of 2004, Connecticut became the first of the United States to remove legal boundaries which had prevented gay and lesbian citizens from exercising their right to marry the person of their choosing. That Spring, the editors of Liturgy decided to devote an issue to the question of the nature of marriage (contract or sacrament) and its expandability to include persons formerly excluded. Since that time, the States of Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, the District of Columbia, and the sovereign nations of the Coquille and Suquamish tribes have granted equal marital rights to their gay and lesbian citizens, while the topic of marriage equality has continued to embroil those who make policy for both the churches and the states.