A Prayer for Haiti

January 17, 2010

Gracious God,
I lift my voice in prayer with all the people of the world.
Surround Haiti and her people
with your loving embrace
that they may be:
supported by the world in the work of rescue and recovery;
comforted as they grieve;
strengthened as they bury their dead;
healed as they tend their wounds;
restored in faith and the
hope of things unseen;
and transformed [...]

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Bring Hope Not Arrogance To Haiti

January 14, 2010

CNN — Pat Robertson, who once suggested God was punishing Americans with Hurricane Katrina, now says a “pact to the devil” brought on the devastating earthquake in Haiti. More than 100,000 people are feared dead in Haiti and Robertson continues to espouse an incomprehensible image of God sending natural disasters upon the innocent and [...]

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One Beggar Telling Another Where To Find Bread

January 8, 2010

I’ve been intrigued by the controversy over Brit Hume’s suggestion to Tiger Woods that he consider the person and teaching of Jesus as a way to experience forgiveness for his alleged infidelity.  Christianity Today’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey recently interviewed Hume to expand on what he meant.   A few choice quotes:
“Instead of urging that Tiger Woods [...]

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Archbishop Rowan Williams Welcomes 2010

January 1, 2010

A timely message about hope, human cooperation, and charity.

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The Hope of Christmas

December 24, 2009

In the Hymn “Once in David’s Royal City,” there comes this line:
For he is our lifelong pattern: day by day like us he grew; he was little, weak, and helpless; tears and smiles like us he knew: and he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.
“Our lifelong pattern” reminds [...]

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Christmas Time Is Here

December 19, 2009

Northern Virginia has been blanketed with a quiet and deep snow with some 16 to 20 inches by nightfall. It put me in the mood to work up Vince Guaraldi’s classic, Christmas Time Is Here, from an arrangement by Jason Vieaux.   It’s not a flawless performance, but good enough for a snowy day.  You can [...]

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Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

December 14, 2009

At our Advent Lessons and Carols last evening both the adult and children’s choir sang Elizabeth Poston’s carol, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree – a carol we’ve not heard at Holy Comforter in some time (thank you to Michael Painter for choosing it).  Poston credits the poem to a New Englander named  Joshua Smith (1784).  [...]

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Keeping Advent Online

November 29, 2009

Here are a number of good online Advent Resources to explore:
The Church of England has its own online Advent calendar
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s 2009 version begins with a brilliantly-colored nativity scene that is actually a child’s puzzle by a Sri Lankan cooperative working with SERRV International.
The Diocese of Maryland’s 2009 calendar features daily mediations from diocesan [...]

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Grateful

November 26, 2009

Grateful for each hand we hold
Gathered round this table.
From far and near we travel home,
Blessed that we are able.
Grateful for this sheltered place
With light in every window,
Saying “welcome, welcome, share this feast
Come in away from sorrow.”
Father, mother, daughter, son,
Neighbor, friend and friendless;
All together everyone in the gift of loving-kindness.
Grateful for what’s understood,
And all that is [...]

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Rowan Williams Offers a Challenge in Rome

November 20, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, speaking at a congress in Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, called for a renewed effort in promoting greater visible unity between Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

“Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church has been involved in a number of dialogues with other churches – including with the [...]

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