Literally and metaphorically: it’s been a year, today. One year since I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer I had never heard of. And a year of sickness, surgery, healing, and change, so much change…in and around me. It’s hard to know what to do on an anniversary like this. There’s a lot […]
Whose Glory? The Tragedy Unfolding in the Diocese of Florida
Yesterday, the Court of Review of The Episcopal Church issued a report on the election of Charlie Holt to bishop of northeast Florida and events surrounding and contributing to the ongoing protest of his election. In true Anglican fashion, it’s highly-structured and has a got a chanting-the-psalter feel to it, with “These findings cast doubt […]
PC(USA) Ordination Exams: Now can we have THE talk?
Recently, many PCUSA seminarians sat for an exegesis ordination exam unlike any other I’ve ever heard about. For many, this exam was one of the last ecclesiastical hurdles to jump. For those of you who don’t know, PC(USA) ordination is a multi-year, multi-leg endurance race of classes, internships, verbal and written examinations, psychological evaluation, and […]
On Going Back
We can, and must, rebuild what was. Return to a time when it made sense. Pretend like this never even happened. Reset our “innocence” and ignorance. We have so many ways to describe the one thing we simply cannot do. Go back to the way things were, or at least the way we remember them. […]
Embracing the Incarnation with Frail Flesh
I’m beginning this in the infusion waiting room just a few days into Advent. With my church ministry days behind me (at least for now, probably for good) I’m relearning how to love this time of the year. I can, in good conscience, light the candle of peace this year, not feeling like a fraud, […]
Waiting Room
This is a ChattingReadingWritingLearningThinking PlanningWorryingHopingPrayingRestingLaughing CryingMourningCelebratingRoom.The one thing it’s not: a waiting room,because none of us have room to politely waiteven just one more second in this beautiful, broken world of ours.
Open Wound
The damage was too great, the surgeon told me, to close the wound. No amount of skill, no number of stitches, could close the bloody ellipse, much less hold it indefinitely. It could be cared for and fretted over as much as I liked, but only time would heal this open wound. Healing, closure the […]
The Holy Women
This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it. – M. Robinson, Gilead Instructions for living a life:Pay attention. Be astonished.Tell about it. – M. Oliver, “Sometimes” The holy women keep telling me to pay attention to this world around me, and within me. Poring over their words, it becomes […]
A Meditation on Bullshit
I’ve been thinking a lot about bullshit. Not literal bullshit (cow patties, meadow muffins, etc.) but human speech. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a good kind of bullshit, and a bad kind of bullshit. The good kind is I came to know early on. I grew up in a place where people would […]
The Road Ahead Goes Through the Wilderness
Now that I am almost healed from my successful surgery, I’m onto the next step in my cancer journey: radiation. I’ll be getting 30 doses of radiation daily, targeted at where my lymph nodes are (well, were). My oncologists have warned me to strap in, as each dose contributes to lethargy and a sun burn […]
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