A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

Got a call today asking if I would do the Blessing of the Maibock. At the Town Hall Brewery again. WooHoo!!! Churchy stuff, beer, people singing and saying things really loud. Blessing beer... Mmmm, blessing beer. Haven't heard a confirmation if they want lil ol ME back, but even if they don't, May 19th. Time to be determined. Y'all come ya hear! For beer! Be swill, A+

"There are plenty of good reasons for fighting," I said, "but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side. It's that part of every man that finds all kinds of ugliness so attractive." This is from Mother Night, written by Kurt Vonnegut. I have never read anything by Vonnegut, apparently I have been missing out. It looks like he has some really fun quotes. Bishop Jelinek spoke these words at the UEC last night, in his homily, it was the first time I had heard the quote. Sunday's Gospel talks about how Jesus said to the disciples, "everyone will know you by your love for one another". At our Good Friday service, I talked about how instead of everyone knowing us Christians as a loving group, we tend to be more filled with hate for one another. I am reading ano...

It is amazing how many things you can fit into a day. 6AM - Wake Up 7AM - Church Service 8AM - Call to the National Church for advice 9AM - Breakfast 11:30AM - Lunch 1PM - Clergy Support Group 3:30PM - Selling the Garden as a good place to rent office space 5PM - Growing our Music and Arts in Elliot Park program to include some really cool stuff. Then, to top it all off Sara and I went out to dinner at 7:30PM. I am not sure how the day filled up like that, it suddenly happened and while it was exhausting, it was quite fun. On Monday, I spent the day in Rochester, meeting with parishioners, yes we have parishioners in Rochester and meeting with Douglas Sparks at St. Luke's to talk about the Gethsemane Plan. Today I get to hang out and prepare for everything else that is coming this week, like the National Cathedral Young Adult Event here at the church this weekend. You know, nothing too much. Then to top it off, we start the last phase of Eliot's treatment tomorrow, which is s...

I failed to post to my blog, that our first dog, our first attempt at being parents, Fran died a few weeks ago. I have been meaning to post a picture, she was a great dog that gave us a boatload of laughs, not to mention a fair share of anxiety. We love you Franny, not sure that we miss you all that much, but we definitely love you!

Christopher Walken was in my office today. Well, maybe not Christopher himself, but his voice sure was. I am not sure he has a New York accent, but man, all I could think while this guy was talking, was about all the movies I have seen with Mr. Walken in them. I love his voice, I could listen to it all day. Except, after I had listened to this guy for 15 minutes, I did not feel like listening to him any longer. You can only take so much BS'ing when people are trying to get money out of you. First he was 15, then he was 46, then he was in his 20's, then we visited his childhood, then we were in college, I think he said something about living in Omaha and New York at the same time. I thought to myself, I bet Christopher Walken could live in two places at the same time. Next to the Internet, the biggest thing to keep a priest from doing vital work is people coming to the door in some kind of need or another. My head is still spinning, I think I am going to go for a walk. Without...

I was walking back to the Church from the hospital today, impressed by all the smiling faces and the friendliness out about, it must be spring, when I heard this really wonderful and funny statement. I was waiting to cross, I think Park Avenue, on 8th street, when the folks walking towards me started having a loud conversation. Oh, I chuckle just remembering it, out of the blue, like totally out of the air in front of me, this guy says, very loudly, maybe intended for the freaky man in the collar to hear, "She's so broke, she can't even pay attention!" I love it, that is my new favorite line. Treasurer: "Well, we have a boring budget report this month." Me: "No kidding, we're so broke we can't even pay attention!" Parishioner's Child: "Fr. Aron, my dog died." Me: "You're so broke, you can't even pay attention!" Wife: "Hi Honey, glad you're home!" Me: "Glad to BE home, you're so broke,...

THe massacre at Virginia Tech is horrible, and rather than write anything about it, I refer to you this site of the Washington Post with several wise and excellent comments on the tragedy and God and faith and violence. Read it. ON FAITH

Once again, you never know what you are going to experience when you answer the doorbell here at the Garden. It could be a package full of garbage, it could be someone you are supposed to meet with tomorrow according to your calendar, it could be anything at all. Today it was a man who needed help, needed cash to do something, I have already forgot, because what ensued after was quite, moving? disturbing? not sure what yet. Anyway, I opened the door and here was a man needing money for whatever it was. After ten minutes of talking I was drunk from the alcohol on his breath. So we wandered down to the nearest bar and... just kidding. I couldn't help him as I had no cash and he did not want a check, he probably just needed money for some more alcohol. After we talked for a while, slurring our words and everything he suddenly got very emotional. I mean REALLY emotional. Not in a mean emotional kind of way, just a the world is so damn heavy and I can't take it anymore kind of ...

When I was in seminary, a professor I had stated loudly and clearly, and I am sure these aren't his words, although, he was smart enough that they could be, "The opposite of faith isn't doubt! The opposite of faith is fear, doubt, rather, is the threshold of belief." He went on to say other eloquent words that were lost on me because of the profoundness of those first few words. Last Sunday was "Doubting Thomas" Sunday, well, not really Doubting Thomas Sunday, it was actually 2 Easter, and the Gospel was about Thomas and his supposed doubt, although I don't know if it is so much doubt as healthy skepticism. I had an interesting train of thought though, that I had never really thought of come to me while I was preparing to possibly give a sermon, which I didn't end up giving. Usually Thomas gets a bad rap because he didn't believe the disciples when they told him Jesus showed up, I mean come on, would you believe a bunch scared shaking blitherin...

“Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.” So spoke Sojourner Truth in December 1851, just 5 years before this parish was founded, at a Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. She began her brief and eloquent speech with the words, “Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter.” There has been a lot of racket in our world, in our Church in our lives. Something is out of kilter that is for sure. Each year during Holy Week, all the clergy in the Diocese are invited to attend a service of the reaffirmation of our ...

100 posts in a year I suppose isn't much, but hey, its a start! Enjoy my sermon from Palm Sunday, or don't, whatever you like! The Rev. Aron Kramer Palm Sunday April 1st, 2007 Some day this past week I walked out my door at home to come to work, I walked out into the grey dreary world that I have been walking out into for the past several weeks. I locked the door as I left, and as I turned to go to my little grey car, little green specks caught my eye. The bushes in the front of our house had popped out, no longer was the landscape grey and dreary, it was grey and dreary with little green specks all over it, and whenever I see those little green spots, hope springs eternal in my heart. My first thought in looking at the bud on the bushes and on the trees all around me, was, The Kingdom of God is near! The Kingdom of God in the world often feels like that, grey, dreary with lots of little green specks bursting through. When those buds start to appear, and the bulbs start ...