The Inner Man (person)

One of the hardest parts of Lent, or the discipline that Lent offers to us, is admitting that we aren't perfect, we are flawed, and we have "room to improve." I am, in many ways the older son...I don't want to ask God to forgive me because that means that I have to admit that I am wrong. When will we get over our selves and trust God?!?!?

"Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts..."

Today's reflection reminds me of Matthew 15:16-20, "Then Jesus said to Peter, ‘Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.'"

I was speaking with a colleague who asked the question, "When we get angry, is it a reaction or is it a choice?" After some conversation, he expressed his opinion that "All feelings and emotions are a choice; we just choose certain emotions and feelings so often and so long that they become a habit." When he said this, I immediately thought of this passage from Matthew and this reflection from Holy Island. We form our habits to be angry, suspicious, bitter, malicious, manipulative, etc., and these habits infect our heart to the point that we need to beg God to "cleanse the thoughts of our hearts" so that we may have a fresh start, have a "holy do-over" on our spiritual journey with God.

We profess that Jesus provides us with the "holy do-over" and we understand that Lent provides us with yet another opportunity to unbind those things that keep us from drawing closer to God...like a heart full of thoughts centered on one's self instead of on God.

Is it possible to wake up to our blindness?

I know that Jesus healed many blind people. We read these stories through out the Bible, but as we look around our churches today, as we look around our homes today, as we look at ourselves today, is it possible to wake up to our blindness? I know what I wrote yesterday. I know that I wrote that I was blind to my own true self. But now that I am beginning to see it and admit it to myself, will I change my pattern? Is it possible to get up off of my mat and walk into the discipleship of Christ. That action requires as much, if not more work, than the actual recognizing and admitting that we were blind. Once we "can see", we have responsibilities. We can no longer hide in our own comfortable little world. We can no longer serve and service our own needs and ourselves. We have to care about "the other" and let go of ourselves.

Using myself as an example here again, and yes this is painful for me to do, was/is my working at the church 4 or 5 evenings a week (and yes, I'm doing "church work" during those days as well, and that is not counting Sundays) because there is really work that needs to be done or is it because I have this innate need that needs to be filled? I am sure that if you ask me, my wife, my children and 5 different people at the church, you will get just as many different answers. Of course mine will be the only one that is correct, but therein lies the issue. Once we see the need for adjustment in our life, can we do it? I am only kidding about my answer being the only correct one, most probably all the answers have a very large vein of truth in them. That is when the community has to come together to help find the best solution. Remember, we don't live on an Island. And that my friends, can be even scarier than putting one's thoughts on the internet. Relying on the community to help make decisions means that we let go of some of the control we have over our lives. It sounds hard, it is hard, but it is part of the "waking up" process.

Blindness to our true selves

This one is hard to write about. Not because there isn't anything in this reflection, but because of how "close to home" this reflection lives. Kennedy writes, "any self-study pursued with courage and patience, without dodging the truth, will bring some order out of this welter of confusion..."  (Holy Island, p. 44)

I had lunch with a colleague and they asked what it was like for me to write my reflections on this blog. I answered that it was hard for me to put my thoughts out into cyberspace because in reality, a private person. This social media experiment is an experiment on two levels. The first level is trying to build community, in a non-traditional, maybe post-modern sense. The second level of the experiment is to see if I can personally put my thoughts and ideas out there for others to see and read and then be able to hear the feedback, for better or worse.

What I didn't expect through this experiment was that I would do as much personal soul searching about who I am as husband, parent, and priest. I haven't shared all of these thoughts on this blog because most of them are private and somewhat inappropriate for this type of public forum. However, as I have tried to be open to the Holy Spirit this Lent, I have realized that I have been blind to my true self. I am thankful that over the next several readings we will have an opportunity to delve into this spiritual journey of spiritual blindness.

One way in which I have been blind to myself is that I have been over-scheduling my church calendar not leaving enough time for my family. There is a reason that our Bishops and Spiritual Directors constantly remind us that our Letters of Agreement are explicit in that only 2 or 3 evenings are expected. We as clergy will work 5 evenings and feel guilty for not working the sixth and seventh. I have fallen into this trap. I have been blind to myself and to my family which is a huge spiritual charge given to me by God. And trust me, as I reflect on my life through the mirror we call Lent, this is only one of the ways in which I see myself falling short...if I am honest with myself.

In what ways are you blind to your true self?

Exposing ourselves to the Word of God

I know Kennedy is speaking to more in this reading that just exposing ourselves to the Word of God, but this is what struck me today. All to often we feel we have reached a pinnacle of our faith and we stop exposing ourselves to the Word of God. We no longer study, or we no longer hear what God may be saying to us in someone's sermon, or what God may be trying to teach us through someone's Sunday school lesson because we think we have arrived at the point where we, at least for the time being, have learned all there is to know.

This is actually a pitfall of all professions. Teachers feel that they can't learn to teach any differently, lawyers think they know all there is to know about the law, CPAs think they know all there is to know about accounting, doctors think they know all they need to know about patient care and disease. Sometimes, this even proves to be the case because the knowledge from years past proves to be the best knowledge over the "current' knowledge being taught.

However, exposing ourselves to God is dangerous. It provides the opportunity for our "perfect" worlds to be dissected. When we allow God's Word and the Holy Spirit to move into and through our life, we are changed, molded, morphed into a more whole, complete being if we are willing to be so formed. The opposite is when we see the transformation taking place and we fight it and become hard of heart, steadfast and hollow.

This Lent, try to expose yourself to the Word of God. If this is something you haven't done in a while, it can be very uncomfortable...trust me. If this is a practice you are familiar with, it is still uncomfortable, but it is a practice you know you can trust...and you know you can trust God to see you through it.

"and there is no heart in the responses..."

Remembering the chanting of the Great Litany on the first Sunday of Lent, Kennedy's reflection echos our need to be "involved" (Kennedy's word). As Kennedy points out, our worship comes alive when we are involved, or engaged in the worship instead of just reading the words on the page. We have to offer our own heart's desires along with our words to truly worship. It is then that we are ready to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.

I can tell you, it is painfully obvious to me as a Priest when I am just not "feeling it" on a given Sunday. Yes, there are times when I feel as if I am just reading the words off of a page. Thankfully, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen more than I thought it would while I was in Seminary. Likewise, it is painfully obvious when the congregation isn't "feeling it" on a given Sunday. Truth be told, when one complains about the service being "too long," they aren't complaining about the length, my opinion is they are making the point that they aren't engaged in the service, or at the very least, they are having trouble engaging in the service.

I find that when I am fully engaged, the service seems to only last minutes...when in fact, the actual time may be the longest service of the year. When one is in the presence of God, time is immaterial. If one is finding it hard to engage, one needs to look inside themselves to see what it is that is preventing the engagement. It may not always be the individual, and in fact, I have known it to be the service, or even the priest. However, human nature is to blame the other before we engage the self. As I have heard many times, especially in Lent, "the self, seeing where and how we interact with God and our relationship with God is key to who we are with God." Maybe then the (our) heart will return to our responses.

Silent Lips?

I continually remind our children to be thankful for that which they have. We live in a culture that tells us no matter what we have, we need more! Too often in our life, we don't give thanks for the material things we have or for the spiritual blessings we have or for the blessings we have. Stop, right now and give thanks!

Today, about 13 months ago, I was in Ashburn, Va visiting some friends that we met in Seminary. They helped remind us of the simplicity of life, the necessity of friends and meaning of thankfulness. I give thanks for the way in which they keep me grounded. I haven't seem them in over a years, but being with them again reminded me of how God has used them, my Hindu friends, as a calming force in my life over the past almost 7 years. (I also have a longing to see them again!)

What are you thankful for? What have you taken for granted in your life? What do you need to stop and give thanks for this very moment? I have had these close friends from over 7 years, and only that weekend 13 months ago did I realize how special and important they are to my life. Why is that? Probably because I never took the time to stop and see who they are because like most, my lips are silent because I am focused inward, instead of on others.

Returning thanks...

This reflection will be short.  If you pay attention to any prayer that I lead in our parish, I almost always start with the words, "Almighty God we give you thanks for..."  Whether it is a funeral, a meal, a meeting or before the service.  All to often we engage in a prayer of begging for God to meet our needs instead of entering prayer to return thanks to God for all that we have.  We, as selfish humans, always want more, want better, want prettier, want quicker, want more functional, want...we very seldom give thanks and praise for what we have.

Today, as you live, move, and have your being, give thanks for all of the blessings of this life.

Reference this post and this post!

Keeping Christ in the Center

What is the focus of our lives? This question probably has multiple answers. There is the "hoped for" answer. There is our "perceived" answer. There is what "other people would see as the answer" answer. There is the "what it should be" answer. And then, if we are brutally honest with ourselves, there is the honest answer.

As Christians, we proclaim that Christ is the center of our lives. Prayer is the one vehicle that has been thought to keep us focused on God in Christ throughout the ages. As Kennedy points out, the monks placed crosses at the center of their monasteries so that they would be reminded to keep Christ at the center of their prayers. In most of our churches, we have big crosses or crucifixes hanging behind the altar so that we are reminded that Christ is the center of our worship and being. We have thought for a long time that the best way to keep Christ as the centerpiece of our life was to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Personally, I believe we can be in mostly constant prayer. When we pull up to a stoplight, we can pray for the people next to us. As we drive down the road, we can pray for the person driving insanely in front of us. As we go through the checkout lane, we can quietly mutter a prayer for those around us. Just walking through the Target or the Pig is an opportunity for prayer. Not to mention the intentional times that we set aside for prayer.

And the hope, if we are constantly in prayer, is that God in Christ is foremost in our mind as we walk through this life. If we are able to take a step back and look at our lives, I think we will see that when we answer the question, "What is the (REAL) center of our lives?" we will begin to see that we make our decisions based on what's best for that 'real center'. Don't confuse God and church, or God and money, or God and family, or God and .....(fill in your own blank.) This Lent, what changes in our lives, in your life, in my life, do we, you, I need to make to keep God in Christ at the center of your life?

Of the three things I pray...

I must admit, I am one that is easily distracted. One moment, I can be totally focused on the most important thing on my agenda, and the next moment, I am distracted by the most minor of details. This isn't because of any type of disorder or hyperactivity; this is because I, like most of you, have 30 things running through my mind that I either should, must, could, or need to do before I get to the next thing. Taking the time to stop and pray, or stop and do anything for that matter, can sometimes be, well, time-consuming.

When Jesus taught us to pray, at least according to the Gospel of Luke and Kennedy's interpretation of Luke, Luke didn't give us formula, Jesus gave us a technique. This technique reminds us that when we pray we need to pray for help in understanding God's will, our bodily needs and our relationships.

When you pray privately today, pray for God's will in and God's will for the journey of your life. Pray that God will meet your needs of daily bread. And pray that God will be present in all of relationships, those that have withstood the test of time, those that are strained, and those that are yet to come.

Silence in prayer

"What we are asked to do daily in prayer is to yield ourselves to God and no longer try to manipulate life for our own ends; to abide in him that his words shall abide in us--so his will may be done."  (Holy Island, page 23)

Silence.  When you pray, do you have silent time with God? Do you find time in your preferred prayer posture to be still in the presence of God and listen to what he might be saying to you?  Prayer should be at minimum a one way conversation, God talking to you!  All to often we think of prayer as a time we beg God to change God's mind so that he might heal someone else.  I would argue that prayer is to change our minds and hearts, not God's.  

The next time you pray, allow as much time to be still before God and listen as you do with your prayer of intersessions and thanksgivings.  But I must warn you, your life will be changed! Another admission...I struggle with this!!

A prayer starter...

My posting for this morning/today, is nothing more than a prayer starter to help you and me remember to take time to pray this day. If we made this our habit as much as we do checking our email, logging on to Facebook, posting on Twitter or even starting that pot of coffee, imagine how much more intimate our relationship with Christ might be.

Almighty God,

I give you thanks for this day. I give you thanks for my family. I give you thanks for a new day to ....

This morning I humbly pray for...

This day, I pray your presence will be made known to me and I will be brave enough to recognize you and serve you.

In Christ's most holy Name,  AMEN!

Fasting to grow

"Let our avowed intent this Lent be to fast from...whatever else dwarfs and hurts the soul." (Holy Island, page 19.)

A long time ago, back at my home parish of St. Paul's, Kingsport, during the first year I was in EFM, wow, I don't even remember the year now, there was a lady who gave up negative thoughts for Lent.  I will never forget her.  She was a jewel.  She was one of the most loving women I have ever met. She is one of those people that you really don't think of as having "negative thoughts", but to hear her tell her story, did she.  Now, I am not going to break the confidentiality of EFM, but suffice it to say that she really struggled with her Lenten discipline that year.

Think for a minute how many times a day we have a negative thought.  These thoughts can be about ourselves or others.  Think for a minute or two about what happens to us when we string four or five of these negative thoughts together in one day.  Then think about having four or five bad days in a row.  It can really "dwarf and hurt the soul."

It is the intent of Lent that whatever our Lenten discipline or form of fasting upon which we decide to endeavor, we will claim it as a life changing discipline.  We should choose a discipline that we can live with once Lent is over.  We should choose a discipline that will change who we are, especially before God, not just for 40 days, but for the rest of our life.

Are we ready for our Lenten fast to touch us as Kennedy suggests?  He says, "The lasting results, the outward and visible consequences of such a chosen fast, must indicate that those who have chosen it have been deeply and permanently dyed by their experience." (p. 18).  Are you ready for what a true and well intentioned Lenten fast can do?  Or more personally, am I?  In what ways will I  be changed during this Lent by the study, prayer and discernment that I am willingly undertaking?  Do I trust God to lead me?  Do I trust me to follow God?  Will my spiritual growth be enough to overcome my childlike insecurity?

Holding 'fast' to your Faith

"[B]ut bodily discipline and spiritual growth must lead to another aspect of this third point, namely, to resist successfully the temptation to grow weary of well doing and chuck the whole business." (Holy Island, pages 16-17.)

There will be a time on our spiritual journey when we will think we have arrived.  Don't be fooled!  Nourishing our spiritual life is a continual, life long process.  If we stop nourishing, then we start mal-nourishing!  Life is a constant discernment of where God is calling you to be, what God is calling you to do, and how God is calling you to do it.  We should never reach a place in our spiritual lives where we feel as if we know we have made it or know we have learned everything there is to know.  That is giving in to the temptation of well doing. To constantly learn, discern and digest will allow you to grow "fast" in your faith.  In this sense, I am using "fast" in the sense of "anchoring" as Kennedy refers in today's reading.  The more we can ask ourselves the tough questions about our faith and honestly answer them, even when the answer is "I don't know," then the stronger our faith can become and the more of a foothold we will have in our faith journey.

When I felt called to be a priest in the Episcopal Church, my spiritual growth didn't stop happening then and I didn't know everything there is to know about being a priest in the church on the day I was ordained to the priesthood.  Likewise, I did not stop discerning God's call in my life.  When I became the Rector of St. Paul's, Smithfield, my discernment didn't stop either.  I served God in Smithfield, then God, and the people of Mequon, called me to serve as the Rector of St. Boniface Parish. I've just learned that I've been called to serve on the Task Force on Health Insurance Parity and on the Diocesan Communications Committee for the Diocese of Milwaukee. My discernment doesn't stop. At some time in the future, I will be called to serve somewhere other than St. Boniface. God only knows.  Your call to serve may change, but our faith can be steadfast.  I have a strong faith that God will call me and place me to serve where God needs me and wants me to serve.  It is my responsibility to remain steadfast in my daily study of scripture and prayer. As odd as it may be, I am thankful for the wording of the mission statement of St. Boniface: "To know God and to seek an understanding of His evolving plan for us." As we grow, God will use us in different ways. Hold fast to your faith and see where God takes you, takes us, next!

As you can see, all of the "fasting" is lived out in a multi-layered community.  So maybe this Lent, you will learn to 'fast'...stand fast, or firm, or grow more firm in your faith.  Give your life an anchor.  Begin a daily study or prayer time.  Constantly discern where God wants you to be and how he may help you to get there...

Fasting as 'Quickening'

"The season of Lent provides many stimulants for speeding up spiritual growth." ( Holy Island, page 15.)

Yesterday the reflection was on placing our body under our soul.  The logical next step is that if we have the body out of the way, we would have more opportunities to strengthen our spiritual soul and take steps down our spiritual paths.

What are ways in which we can "speed up" our spiritual growth?  Well, by participating in this discussion. :) I know that some have had at least a stimulant for thought, if not the beginnings of actual spiritual growth over the last few days.  Some would argue that this "online world" is not a community.  Even though from time to time you may feel like you are talking to Brad Paisley in a three-way chat, growth happens in a community.  I do not mean to minimalize the real dangers of the internet, especially for youth, but I have found people to be the most "real" in some internet chat rooms.  They may not be "real" to who they "really" are, but the questions they pose to you, or the direct responses one may abruptly give to you may in fact be exactly what we need to speed up your spiritual growth.  The point here is not that you are chatting in a chat room.  The point is that you are involved in a community instead of going about your study alone.  If you are in community, you have someone to ask you the questions you may not want to ask yourself.

Call up two or three of your close friends and start a discussion on Holy Island and then share your thoughts here.  Read Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith and discuss it in a small group of 4 or 5 at someone's home, or start or join an online discussion community.  Read Everything Must Change: When the World's Biggest Problems and Jesus' Good News Collide by Brian McLaren or Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith by Diana Butler Bass.  Or here is an interesting book that I read just last year, If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus and Bishop Curry of North Carolina, my former Bishop, calls it a must read. Want to join a small group that is already formed? There is a small group that is meeting at the Gettel's house where they are talking about another of Brian McLaren's books Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices. All of these books provide great food for thought and fodder for discussion in a small group.  If you decide to start a small book group, let me know and I may join you, if you wish, and we can quicken our spiritual lives together.

Fasting...it doesn't have to mean taking away.  It can also mean quickening, or speeding up the spiritual growth in our lives.  The good Lord knows we could all use a little tune up in our spiritual growth engine!  And what better way to do it than venturing off our own Island to a place that is a little more unfamiliar.  Who knows, we may just learn something about God and ourselves in the process.

Abstemi-what?!?

Today begins a four day reflection on fasting.  Kennedy tells us that their fasting may be used devotionally in at least  four senses and he begins with abstemiousness.

Abstemiousness is a bodily discipline, or as Kennedy says, "The body must be kept under if the soul is to grow. We pamper and overindulge the body in almost every conceivable way until at last we must call a halt and seek to exercise more control over bodily appetities and either over-exertion or sloth.

For me,  this is the traditional way we think of Lent.  We declare we are going to give up chocolate or meat.  We declare we are going to start going to the gym everyday or walk the dog twice as far so that we get more exercise.

These disciplines are good for our physical bodies obviously, but we have to remember that Lent isn't about the physical body, it is about the spiritual journey.  We not only need to know what we are giving up, but why we are doing it.  For example, Maxine is giving up chocolate because she realizes that she eats way too many Snickers bars.  What she is doing is going to help improve her physical body.  But, in an over-simplification, if every time she longs and desires chocolate during Lent she stops and prays for the hungry in the Sudan or Haiti, then she is using her Lenten discipline to further her spiritual journey and her relationship with other children of God around the world.

Our bodily desires, whether for food, drink, etc. are sometimes the very stumbling blocks we are trying to remove so that our spiritual life might flourish.  Stopping to pray for that 45 seconds or 3 minutes that our body and psyche tell us we need to eat that chocolate may be the 45 second or 3 minute prayer in which the discussion takes place that we understand God's call to us...all because we stopped to listen. Lenten disciplines may have either a bodily or a spiritual element, but seem to be more effective when they have both.  I desire to take the time to enter into and be a part of the community of which God calls me to be a part.  But beware! While we may still be on our own Island, we may have just let someone else on it.  however, don't think you can control who comes on to your own Island...the moat around your Island isn't as deep as you think!

Ash Wednesday

"But when the pages of church history are turned even further back , Lent is found to have been a joyful time when alleluia was the accepted theme and worshipers stood for the prayers to show their joy, because of Christ who loved them enough to give his life for them and who had redeemed them from their miserable condition of ignorance of what God was like." (Holy Island, p. 12.)

Has you ever realized that Lent in the early church was a time of celebration and joy? Can you imagine a time in which "Alleluia" was the theme of the Lenten season? Can you imagine what the people of the early church must of thought when THAT change took place?!

As Kennedy reminds us, around "568 when the Lombards invaded Italy, all Christians were called on to observe a special season of fasting and prayer; but the invasion lasted so long some of the special supplications used became fixed in the liturgy of the Church and remained to give Lent a sad and melancholy face." We, the people, have turned Lent into a chest-beating, we-are-not-good-enough-to-stand-before-God campaign. Lent, at least according to Kennedy, seems to have been a time of celebration. Can you imagine Lent as a time where we began to celebrate Christ's death and resurrection and, then continue the celebration through the Feast of the Resurrection, instead of just beginning the celebration at the Feast of the Ressurection? Talking about putting ourselves on an Island; around the year 568, we began to separate ourselves so far from the meaning of Lent for our own gain that we never returned to our celebration.

As was written on page 12, "There is something wrong with our religion if it is all taken up with our Lents of respectable self-improvement. Our faith must be outgoing, to the down and out and to the up and out. We should seek self-improvement only in order to serve the Church's mission better." This is a by-product of our being on our Island. We have become so focused on ourselves that we think we are actually doing something to help ourselves by observing Lent. We think that God will like us more, find us more respectable, find us more worthy when in fact that is the wrong attitude to hold toward Lent. Lent is about making straight our paths with God; to focus not on ourselves, but on our relationship with God. To God be the Glory, not to us may God give the Glory.

This Lent, observe a holy Lent, celebrate a holy Lent...and understand that Lent is full of joy! Alleluia! Thanks be to God.

Being an Island

As I read (and re-read, present tense in both instances) the opening reflection of Holy Island: A Lenten Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne by James Kennedy entitled "A Word about Islands", there is one thing that really impressed me and that is Kennedy's comment, "No one can be an island or live on an island completely cut off from the life of his fellows, for one would soon become ingrown and unproductive, living artificially. But we can make pilgrimages to one, actually or in our mind, and can designate any time or place of apartness as our Holy Island of retreat and spiritual renewal, provided we do not remain there too long" (P. 7.)

We hear week after week that we Christians are part of a community. We live in a community, we worship in a community, we serve in a community, even our monotheistic God is a community, or economy, of three persons in one. Even our "personal" lives are lived in community. We have the communities of our work places, our families, our friends, our neighborhoods, and many other "communities" in which we live. Unfortunately, and all too often, we get this hair-brained idea that we can do it ourselves and that we don't need the rest of the community. We in effect make ourselves an island.

As a church, St. Boniface is part of the community of Mequon and Ozaukee County (and even a couple of other counties!) St. Boniface is part of a community of churches, part of a community of non-profit corporations, part of a community of forgiveness, part of a community that is called to help the hungry, homeless, and hopeless. When we make ourselves an Island, we leave a hole in the community in which we live.

In the Episcopal Church, each church is part of the Diocese. Again, all to often, an individual church begins to think "we know how to function best" and "We don't need the Diocese to exist." Each church, at some point in their existence, will tend to make themselves an Island and set themselves apart (in a negative way) from the rest of the Diocese.

When we make ourselves an Island, and especially when we stay there, we "become ingrown and unproductive." We become an Island unto ourselves, we begin to live "artificially" because we have lost touch with the reality of the world around us.

This Lent, as a community of people, how do we honestly own our past, repent of our shortfalls, celebrate our blessings, and once again appropriately re-engage the communities that surround us and of which we are such a vital part?

Online Lenten Study

As a Lenten discipline, beginning on Ash Wednesday, I am going to begin an online study. I will be reflecting on a short book called Holy Island: A Lenten Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne by James W. Kennedy. I hope you will join in (presuming there are any of "you" out there) and make this a discussion. This book can be purchased from Forward Movement publications. If you are a member of St. Boniface, you may pick up a copy of the book at church. The cost of the book is $5 if you pick up the book at church. Make checks payable to St. Boniface Episcopal Church.

On Monday or Tuesday of this week, I will publish a short post with some background information on Holy Island: A Lenten Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne and my perspective of a Lenten discipline.

So, keep your eyes open for the my Lenten online study of 2011...

Faithfully,

Kenny+

Live video stream of St. Boniface

Live streaming will begin approximately 5 minutes before service begins, if not before.

Get the service bulletins here.

If you click the SMALL "play button" in the lower left corner of the video screen, you will stay on my blog. Otherwise, you go to the ustream.tv site. After you click the play button, you will see a short, 30 sec advertisement. This is not my advertisement, but one played by ustream.tv. I'm sorry for the ads, but I am live streaming the services for free, so this is but a small price to pay.

If you click the BIG "Play button" in the middle of the screen, you will go to ustream.com. you will then be able to chat with others who are "virtually attending" the service.

Thank you for virtually "attending" the St. Boniface services. If you have any trouble viewing today's services, please let me know.

Blessings,

Fr. Kenny

Prayer for the closing of our Stewardship Campaign

This is the prayer that I composed for the close of our Stewardship Campaign at St. Boniface Episcopal Church. Thanks to Chess for "proofing" and some final grammatical edits.


Gracious and loving God, source of every grace and blessing, as we gather today we also bring you thanks for the many gifts you have given us: our lives, our families, our friends...and our time, our talents and our treasures.  We thank you for safe passage as we met with one another to share and learn our hopes for our parish life together. We acknowledge all that we have comes from you and you call us to be stewards of your gifts. Bless us as we gather today to return from your gifts our commitments to your ministry at St. Boniface. Bless these commitments we have made and will continue to make as you open our eyes to your ever evolving plan for us.  Renew your Spirit within us and be present among us.  Give us strength and courage as we continue on our faith journey to become more generous disciples of Christ so that your love might be shared, your work might be accomplished and your will be done in our parish, this community and around the world by our being your hands, hearts and feet. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  AMEN.

For more information on St. Boniface, click here.

For my personal website, click here.