Reflections from Rick Lord on Leadership, Transformation, and Things That Keep Human Life Distinctively Human
The fourth week of Advent (this year a full seven days, thank God), promises to be active with preparations, last minute purchases, and social engagements. In my parish office, we are busy getting ready for the Festival of the Nativity and the many guests we expect on Christmas Eve. Spiritually, the goal is the same: getting [...]
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The author David Dark, in his book titled, “Everyday Apocalypse” offers this helpful insight: “Apocalyptic literature cracks the pavement of the status quo. It is the place where the future pushes into the present. It’s the breaking in of another dimension, a new wine for which our old wineskins are unprepared” (p. 12). I wonder [...]
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A Pastoral Prayer for Advent. Blessed are you, O Lord Most High, God of all creation: in the darkness and in the light. Blessed are you as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In this time of waiting we again watch for the signs of your coming. In this changing [...]
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Lately, at Church of the Holy Comforter, we’ve been exploring possibilites for improvements to our main sanctuary built in the early 1960′s. Three central goals have emerged: To Unify the Assembly (to emphasize a community gathered rather than audience observing participants) To Illuminate our Sacred Space (more natural as well as digital light to uncover [...]
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I was privileged last Sunday to worship with the community who call Liverpool Cathedral their spiritual home. The magnificence of the Cathedral, completed just 30 years ago, gives your spirit wings simply by the beauty of the holiness that surrounds you on every side. Or is it the holiness of beauty? Whether in a towering cathedral or a simple [...]
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“Praise the Spirit in Creation, breath of God, life’s origin: Spirit moving on the waters quickening words to life within, source of breath to all things breathing, life in whom all lives begin.” (Hymn 506) This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the third great feast of the church year after Christmas and Easter [...]
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From my Easter Sermon: It’s not theories about the historical basis for the resurrection that we need, but the practice of resurrection in our lives and communities. We build the resurrection into our thinking about what will happen to those we love and what will ultimately happen to all of us. We know that can’t [...]
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Where are you? It’s a question I’ve whispered in my heart numerous times since death robbed me of the warmth and physical presence of my father nearly two years ago. I thought of him during our slow procession through the Stations of the Cross yesterday. The impermanence of human life is one of those “hard [...]
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The season of Lent ends at sundown today and we enter the Paschal Triduum, the three ‘Great Days’ which commemorate the Last Supper, Passion, and Death of Christ. These, together with Easter, are the most solemn and distinctive celebrations of the liturgical year. The washing of feet and the sharing of a meal are the [...]
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Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, [...]
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