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The Way Up is Down

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  Survival of the fittest. It is a term most closely associated with the work of Charles Darwin and if you’ll forgive this non-scientist’s summary of the idea, essentially states that organisms that are better suited to the environment in which they find themselves are more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation. These creatures “win” the biological game. In the days following Darwin’s work, this principle has expanded its reach well beyond the realm of biology. You have perhaps heard of the term Social Darwinism, which, roughly, applies the principle of the fittest surviving to our economic and social lives. The strongest, be they businesses, organizations, or people, are the ones who make it. They are the ones who win: money, status, power.   If you haven’t noticed, we are obsessed with winning. Our social media profiles are full of the different things we have convinced ourselves we’ve won: our families, our vacations, our stuff. Only highlighting ...
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Pandemic as Revelation: Seeking God’s Voice in the Midst of COVID-19

       How does a minister of the Gospel speak into the tragedy and loss of a global pandemic? How does a pastor keep a congregation knitted together in unity and love when they are isolated in their homes? How does a leader direct people toward the Kingdom of God in a time fraught with division? These are some of the questions I have been asking myself over the past eighteen months as I have navigated COVID-19 in the context of parish ministry.   It has been a difficult season to be a pastor. But to be fair, it has been a difficult season to be in any line of work. Our medical professionals, our teachers, and our frontline workers are all receiving the brunt of the pandemic and have responded with courage and resolve. My own difficulties seem to pale in comparison with the sufferings of others. Even so, it has been hard.   But just for now, I want to focus on one very small but important way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has made my job easier. The p...
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The Difference Between Noise and Music

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Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash Readings (From the Daily Office, Book of Common Prayer 2019) :   1 Samuel 5 1 Corinthians 14:1-19 Luke 14:7-14 I remember the first day I played a guitar. It was perhaps not the first time that I had ever plucked a string or held a guitar in my hands, but it was, to my knowledge, the first time I had ever sat down with the intention of learning to play actual music. I was about thirteen years old. I painfully and slowly transitioned from a G chord to a D chord and vice versa. I am sure that it sounded awful.   But despite that, it was a step beyond noise. Noise and music are different things. Anyone can make noise, but not every noise is music. Music has a form, rules. Yes, composers like John Cage bend and break those rules, but there is intention in those compositions. Even the greatest jazz improvisors are bound by intention. Improvisation does not entail a lack of intention, but a great degree of deliberateness and skill. It is far fr...
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Giving Caesar God's Due

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  Scriptures:  Matthew 22:15-22 ;  Malachi 3:6-10 Have you ever received something that you didn’t deserve? Some of the most beautiful gifts in life are the ones we do not deserve. A stranger paying for our lunch in the drive-through. An unexpected grace offered to us from a friend when we are not acting with grace. Our very salvation is offered as something we do not deserve from our Creator, the offering of his own Son on our behalf. The very nature of a gift implies that it is somehow not deserved. That’s what makes it a gift! It is also a wonderful thing to give something when it is not deserved. We can be the one who offers grace when it is not merited; we can be the one to surprise someone else with kindness. This can bring even more joy! As nearly everyone can tell you, it is truly more blessed to give than to receive. But there can be a dark side to giving when it is not deserved. Giving something to an unworthy recipient can be an act of grace, but it can also be...
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Death's Defeat

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  Readings: Hosea 9-10; John 11:54-12:19 There are times where the Old Testament speaks to our need for the Gospel. Usually for me, this is highlighted when we see a particularly violent passage in the Old Testament or one that draws particular attention to the brokenness of the world. Today’s readings from the Daily Office are an example of this. There is a lot of darkness in the words of Hosea.   You may know the story of Hosea and how the prophet’s life is analogous to the unfaithfulness of God’s people: Hosea’s wife is unfaithful to him, just as the people of Israel have been unfaithful to God through their idolatry and reliance on foreign powers for their safety. Hosea prophesies to the northern kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes that split from the original 12 after the death of Solomon, and his message is that destruction will come. And indeed, he is the last prophet to prophesy in the north before the conquest of Israel by the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC. In Hosea 10, the ...
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