Reflections of an Urban Priest

I am not a scientist; I am a theologian, a master of things divine, or so my degree states. I love seeing God’s handiwork all around me. Every day, even several times a day, I encounter God in the simplest activities. I believe that God created life and blessed it. Think about it. The DNA, which to my understanding holds the key to our lives, our hereditary traits in just a few elements of code. All life, maybe there is an exception, contains DNA and when we look at that of a banana or that of a human, they are not that different. All life possesses this remarkable code. (Bill Bryson) I believe that all life is of God and that God knew us in the womb and guides our DNA, if you will, as we delve into any aspect of life. God is with us – guiding us. I do not know how. But what I do know, or maybe it would be better to stick to what I believe, is that God made all of creation. (Genesis 1-2) Since God made all creation, God should be guiding us as we interact with each other, all c...

A mini statement of religious instruction used during our worship in the Episcopal Church when we baptize new members can act as a mustard seed, upon which to build our faith. The Baptismal Covenant contains five questions regarding how we, as Christians, are called to live out our faith. And where we, as the beloved children of God that we are, can find help. The answer from our worship is:   I will, with God’s help.   Our help comes from one place and one place only, and that is God. Our Baptismal Covenant concludes with five questions. 1.    Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? 2.   Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? 3.   Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? 4.     Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? 5.   ...

Early in winter, I bought a small packet of Caprese tomato seeds from a supplier I found at Amazon. I planted the seeds, which in theory I would raise aquaponicly in my basement garden, referred to as the lower 40. I killed the fish so had to shift to hydroponic gardening; I just could not bear the thought of killing anything, except squirrels, but that is a story for another day, so I made the shift to a hydroponic set-up. I started the seeds and now 50 days later, have 50 fruits ripening on the vines, not one of which even remotely resembles the distinctive size and color of the Caprese. I am curious what the tomatoes will taste like. I do not think that there will be a chance that these tomatoes will have that beautiful sweetness, without the high acidic taste of breeds popular long ago, but I’m okay. I await the ripening of the fruit with the love and concern that only that first tomato brings. When ripe, I will pick the first tomato off the vine in the heat of the day, b...

This Week, the Holy Spirit is offering us an invitation to hear the word of God in a way that we have never heard the word before. My prayer was that the Holy Spirit would open the Bible for me in a way that I could understand the message that God has for me, and for us all. The message of the Bible can be difficult to grasp. The language, at times, seems to come from days long gone by; the context, first living as free people and then united by a monarchy, and then finally overrun by and dominated by an Imperial Army is difficult to say the least. Think for example the life, judgement, punishment, and execution that Jesus suffered at the hands of Imperial authority. Capital punishment was a foreign concept to the Hebrew people, it was something that the Greeks and then Romans did. In Hebrew culture for a capital offender the highest punishment was to banish one from the community and condemning the convicted to live in a sanctuary city, alone, and without any support from their f...

Earlier today, February 21st, I opened my Daily Office book for an inspiration for me to "share the message" as my Baptist brother calls the role of preaching for our Wednesday morning joint worship event with Oxford Circle Baptist Church; I call it preaching. I opened to the reading for today and found 1 Corinthians 2:1-13, which I've printed a portion of below. After a long day, the reading kept haunting me, as the Scripture is known to do. I opened the Mission St. Claire website and they had published the wrong lesson, 1 Cor 1:1-13, which I have never found them to do before today. So, what was the Spirit trying to convey to me? I think it means that the Spirit wants me to pay extra attention to today's lesson(s.)  I have been following posts on the Facebook site of the Third Order Franciscans for years. I have the pleasure of working with a Third Order Franciscan and so I sought out the group. There has been a running discussion over the past few days abou...

Lent is a special time for me. It is a time of introspection and mathematics: As I look inwardly at myself, I often add and subtract a few necessities. It kicks off with Ash Wednesday, a solemn day for me and my denomination and it will end on the eve of Easter. Deacon Phil and I will - on Ash Wednesday - be making ashes available at the north end of the Frankford Terminal beginning at 6:00 am for the early morning commuters. Ash Wednesday is an opportunity for those who are separated from the Christian Church to return. The forty days of Lent are days of introspection when we delve deeply into ourselves through subtraction by fasting and rest, as well as days of addition, when we add study, service, and prayer specific to the season to our spirituality. I read, and pray the Daily Office every day, which guides me to lessons which focus on the Lenten themes of the church; in theory, as I pray the Daily Office, I am praying alongside Christians of every denomination, but especial...

The lessons for the fifth Sunday of Epiphany in the revised common lectionary consisted of a reading from Isaiah 40, 1 Corinthians 9, and Mark 1. Each played a role in edifying the good news for the people of God assembled at St. Mark’s Church, Frankford today. Let’s begin today with the lesson from 1 Corinthians 9, where the Apostle Paul, shares for all time a principle of homiletics: as preachers, we must preach to the assembled body in the language that they understand. This concept is foundational in the Anglican Communion where we have learned that preaching in any tongue other than the vernacular is not the way to reach the people. That said, neither Cantonese or Mandarin Chinese possess the vocabulary of spirituality, and in that case learning another language which posses an appropriate vocabulary is imperative: the Roman church has had success teaching and working with Latin. The Apostle leads us to understand that local, relatable illustrations is the way to go. As we mov...