A World Full of Leaving
We are always leaving. Someone is always leaving. Something is always ending. Seasons of life slip away, sometimes quietly and slowly, sometimes suddenly. The next thing we know everything changes. I thought I saw it coming, but I didn’t. Sometimes we get to say good bye, sometimes we are just up and gone. We live […]
Lots of Room
I’ve been reverting to childhood lately. Finding my favorite books from when I was a child and adolescent. The timing of this probably means something… I’ve always liked the stories with pictures of towns, and floor plans. Especially the Richard Scarry children’s stories with Lowly Worm hopping around on one foot, Bananas Gorilla throwing banana […]
Indeed
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! The Easter acclamation. I love it. The more we say it the more our hearts are lifted up. Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! So, a funny thing happened. A great mystery. At the beginning of Lent the Grace Church children, […]
Don’t Stop Believing
What does it take to make the dead live? Have you ever been dead? I love the greeting where someone responds, “Well I woke up not dead again. It’s a good day.” There are many kinds of death. What does it take to make the dead live? A belief that is so strong, strong enough […]
Seeing
Ignoring the facts until it is too late. Sound familiar? That is the definition of Sin in the Gospel according to John. It isn’t really a moral category for John. It is about seeing Jesus and believing, or not, until time runs out. Lent is about Sin. Or rather being freed from Sin. And in […]
Water in a Dry Place
(GAVEL SOUNDS…) I call this court to order. The case of the Israelites vs. the Lord will now be heard. The question before us, “Is the Lord among us or not?” The plaintiff claims that they have been brought out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, to die of thirst in the wilderness.” […]
Being Wrong
I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970’s. I would get up early and claim the television before my brother could. Some of the best shows weren’t even cartoons, they were these low budget shows made by Kroft Productions and Filmation, shows like Space Academy, and Jason of Star Command, Ark 2, Shazaam, […]
A Sight Not To See
The circus comes to town! But no one notices… They parade down the street, Elephants striding, Tigers growling, Lions leaping, clowns clapping, the trapeze artists trapezing, the music bombasting, the greatest show a-showing, and no one sees…walking by, stepping around, driving away. It was such a sight not to see. They set up the Giant […]
Reconciliation is a Four-Letter Word
Reconciliation is a four-letter word. It isn’t what we expect. We think its about coming to agreement or getting along. When the experience is usually the opposite. The hard truth is that reconciliation usually doesn’t work. The unspoken truth is that reconciliation frequently makes things worse. Reconciliation focuses, clarifies and intensifies the conflict. It isn’t […]
God’s Peace
Washing dishes. A favorite plate, a wedding present, a slip and it falls, in slow motion. When it hits the floor it shatters, one instant it was whole, the next the shards scatter in every direction. Things fall apart. We fall apart. We break. The most precious things go to pieces. Lives. Relationships. Families. Our […]
That Kind of Church
What is precious to us beyond measure?The irony of being human is that what we treasure most we so often take for granted.Is it the Church? Is the Church precious beyond measure?Not the Church as in history and architecture and institution, but Church as in people, the living body of believers who fumble about trying to […]
God’s Stubborness
There is scripture and then there is scripture. There are the words and images that we all share in and then there are the words and images that we have a more personal credence too. Sometimes, often, the two overlap. I have known many people who have what can be called an “expanded Bible” to […]
The Walking Living
So we have two choices. To walk around being dead or to walk around being alive. Every now and then I watch a zombie movie or television show, pop culture has an ongoing fascination with the walking dead. The shows are silly and gross, but there is an underlying question that is sometimes subtle, […]
Outrageous
What do you think of when you think about communion? What picture comes to mind? How is communion with God experienced? The last supper of Jesus with the disciples being told to remember as the cross rapidly approaches? The altar rail here at Grace? The table of fellowship? What comes to mind? Comfort, hope, strength, […]
Waiting
We adopted this little animal rescue dog from Hartwell last year. It is definitely my wife’s dog. When Susan leaves, Charlie, that’s the little dog’s name, stands by the door waiting, listening watching, full of attention and longing. She just sits there, waiting for Susan to return. Waiting. It is a holy thing. Waiting for […]
Friendship with God
Now that it is planting and growing season it is also time to start getting ready for canning season. Getting all the jars ready, the lids, the rings, the spices, the special salt. It is fun watching a cabinet of clean, empty downturned jars, one by one turned upright and filled with all those colors […]
Muscadine and Jesus Vines
The last frost date has come and gone, two weeks past. Around here that is April 15th. That means it is time to plant. It is time for things to grow, to flower and fruit. I started a new raised bed. We’ve been composting so I added two bins of homemade soil. I planted some […]
RELENTLESS
Easter 4b 2018 Ps 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 22 April, Jack Hardaway Make no mistake, we are more than sheep. We are all either hired hands or wolves as well, or both. But there is only one Good Shepherd. That is the whole point of this day. Jesus. He is the shepherd of […]
Playing in the Dirt
God likes dirt. The creation story, right there at the beginning of it, God plays in the dust of the earth, shapes a human form and breathes life into it. The first thing almost, God playing in the dirt, and making dirt people, earthlings, that is what the word Adam means. It is a very […]
Snake Stories
One time we opened a kitchen cabinet and a snake fell out. Well, looky there! A sight to see! A little thing. It had a diamond pattern. It rattled its tail. I thought it was a baby rattler, turns out it was just a juvenile black rat snake. They imitate rattlesnakes, pretty good at it […]
The Human Body
Lately I’ve been thinking about the human body. How we honor it and treat it. I recently watched as a friend was carefully and tenderly washed as they prepared to die. It was beautiful. I’ve been thinking of the tradition of the Pieta in painting and sculpture, of Mary tenderly caring for the body of […]
What Connects Us
Ladders are curious things They look funny. They are awkward. We all have funny and sad stories involving incidents and accidents with ladders. Our electricians had to get a special ladder to reach the lights here in the nave. I have to laugh whenever I see them carry it into the building, it takes at […]
The Big Tent
The circus comes to town! But no one notices… They parade down the street, Elephants striding, Tigers growling, Lions leaping, clowns clapping, the trapeze artists flipping, the music bombasting, the greatest show ashowing, and no one sees…walking by, stepping around, driving away. It was such a sight not to see. They set up the Giant […]
Lighten Things Up
Are you afraid of the dark? Sometimes I am. Sometimes I’m not. I don’t know why. Sometimes I can be alone at night on the side of a mountain and be fine, just me the woods and all the critters hopping and crunching, hooting and yipping. And other times… I turn on every light in […]