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

I was standing in our driveway when I man approached me and asked, “Are you associated with the parish here, and the garden over there?” I responded, yes, and he let out an exasperated sigh, and said, “There were two men who stole a melon from the garden, I thought you should know that.” That’s what it’s there for, was my brief response. Our Garden is not there for us, it is there for us in that it is an opportunity to participate in God’s call to us for mission in our neighborhood. The fruits of our labors are meant for those who are willing to take the food from our garden. It is not ours. Food is our mission, and it will remain our mission for at least the next year. I want us to buy into this mission effort we are participating in, because there is nothing we have been called to do more clearly than this mission around food. God is in this work, God is clearly asking us to do this work. On Monday, the Junior class from Breck school walked into our sanctuary with bags of foo...

I am the sexiest man alive. Seriously, I am. When I was in college, attending my Sociology classes, I learned about this little phenomenon called a self fulfilling prophecy. As a joke, a couple of my friends and I decided to make our own outrageous self fulfilling prophecies. Mine was that I was the sexiest man alive. To this day, I look for opportunities to mention this fact to see what kind of reaction I get. Lately, I get responses that are very serious, usually short like, “No you’re not.” One of the enduring concepts of the Episcopal Church is the idea, “What we pray, shapes what we believe.” The things we pray week in and week out, day in and day out, shape what we believe. I haven’t done any scientific studies about this, and I have been told by some important people that this idea is a bad idea, but I really like it. The tradition of the Episcopal Church is one of small “c” catholic tradition. A tradition that embraces a great deal of diversity, in fact our diversity ...

I recently received an email from an organization, or a publisher that stated the following: "The old church met on Sunday mornings. Today’s church meets all day, every day, everywhere. Today’s most successful churches have a secret – they’re fulfilling their mission in part by enabling and growing an environment where church community and communication happens every day, in groups big and small, throughout the congregation." We will be working on the latter part of that this coming year. The constant, continuous communication of what it is our mission is about and opportunities to share in that mission. Food is still our mission, and it will remain our mission as we prepare for our work in stepping out from under the Diocesan Financial assistance we have been receiving the past five years. How will we live, what will it be like stepping out on our own into familiar, yet unknown territory. We are on our way, and it is exciting to think about what we can do as we continue...