Waiting and Waiting
Jack Hardaway ] Waiting and waiting and waiting. What do we do while waiting? It can depend on just what we are waiting for. Waiting for an oil change is different than waiting for surgery. Waiting for a paycheck is different than waiting to give birth. Waiting for a court date is different than waiting […]
Up at Night
Jack Hardaway ] You ever have trouble sleeping? In the night, when we should be asleep, what is it that keeps us awake? What runs through our minds? What are the worries and preoccupations, all those details that make us burn the midnight oil? My grandmother used to pray for wisdom. After awhile she was […]
All Love
Jack Hardaway ] The cross of Jesus is one the oldest images of sacrificial love. We have the traditional fourteen Stations of the Cross on the walls here in the nave of the church. The images show a little side story. Simon of Cyrene carries Jesus cross for a time, that station is number 5. […]
Imago
Jack Hardaway ) We live in an image-soaked time. Dripping, swirling, awash in images. We can’t see the water for the flood. Yet we live a faith where the image reveals God. We are over stuffed yet starving due to becoming resistant to the image, an acquired immunity due to over exposure, and we are […]
Crazy Weddings
Jack Hardaway Weddings are perilous occasions. At least in the parable we hear today. The kingdom of heaven is like a really dangerous wedding where at first no one shows up, people are killed and the city is burned down and then everyone shows up, invited in from off the street, and some are tied […]
Sharing the Miracle
Credit cards. They can be tricky. You know how those credit limits just keep going up. Ran mine way up, lost track of it. I ran it up to oh..about…5 or 6 billion dollars. Needless to say I couldn’t pay it, the credit collection agencies got kind of blood thirsty, then there was this big […]
Names and Stories
My first real camping trip out in the woods was just a sleeping bag, on a tarp, on the ground, under the trees. I woke up in the middle of the night, expecting darkness, but what I saw was a soft magical glow. An old fallen down decaying tree, right next to me on the […]
Dark Secrets
This is the story of a family. More specifically it is the story of a family with dark secrets that destroy it. Surprisingly it is also the story of bringing good out of bad. It is a story that shows us something about God and the way of God in a world full of dark […]
Rude Awakening
How sweet it is when a trickster gets tricked! When the sneak gets sneaked! When the player gets played. When the wily one gets wily-ed. Justice is sweet. These make the best stories. Jacob has the proverbial rude awakening. In a scene straight out of a National Lampoon movie, Jacob wakes up next to the […]
Bless This Mess
Anything can happen. It always surprises me how quickly things get messy. I like to run early in the morning, at around 6:00 AM, especially in the summer. It’s quiet, hardly anyone around. I run around downtown first where it’s mostly just me and the homeless, then I go around AU a couple of times. […]
The Power of Math
The power of math. Stories about math. We don’t usually think about math making for a good story, but it does, if we have ears to hear. I did have a mystical experience in Calculus once, I saw the infinite plane spreading outward in all directions. And then I lost it and never saw it […]
My Burden
We live in heavy times. Gravity seems to have grown stronger. We have become very grave. We can feel ourselves sagging under the weight, under the burden. Jesus lived in heavy times. People weighing each other down. Yoking each other like oxen pulling a plow. Jesus liked games. We see and hear that in today’s […]
Risk
There is a secret conspiracy going on, right out there in the open, under our noses. A deep plot infecting and infiltrating our society, our institutions at every level, steering the course of human events with a hidden agenda. A conspiracy of small things done with great love. Holy visitors. They are everywhere. Where we […]
See – Easter Sunday
I love going to see. That whole experience of going to see something or someone. Going to see fireworks, the eclipse, a friend, the latest Star Wars movie with the Grace Youth Group. So many favorite moments are just that, going to see. Then there are harder moments of going to see. Someone who I […]
Fulfillment
We’ve been hearing a great deal about believing, and belief the past few weeks from the Gospel according to John. Today we turn the pages back to Matthew, and for Matthew it isn’t so much about belief as it is about fulfillment, the fulfillment of Scripture, the fulfillment of what has been spoken. Jesus finally […]
Child of God
“Now Jack, remember who you are.” I’ve spoken many times about my grandmother, and her frequent reminders for me to remember. Clearly, I was very forgetful. When I was older, and was ordained as a priest she would still be aghast at my continued forgetfulness, my general sassiness. Except now the reminder became, “Jack, remember […]
Do I Have Your Attention Yet?
I love old china plates and patterns. So does Susan, my wife. We both come from families with generations of accumulated, and mixed china patterns. Full sets, partial sets, small sets, single pieces. The bottom line, our house has stacks and stacks of china, filling the place up. They are beautiful, the patterns that endure, […]
Shelter
Shelter from the storm. Have you ever had to seek shelter? From a hail storm, a blizzard, a tornado, a hurricane, a crazy world? Shelter from the storm. The Law of the Lord. It is a shelter from the storm. It is the shelter from the storm of swirling chaos that is always eroding creation. […]
Salt and Light
Christians are sneaky people. Subversive. Covert. On the surface we might appear to be polite and law abiding good citizens. But, if you cut through that thin veneer of civility, and get into our minds, and attend our gatherings what you find are a bunch of people who want to change things, to rearrange things, […]
Fishing Fools
Losing a friend is hard. It brings a certain kind of loneliness. We become castaways in our own lives. Jesus lost John the Baptist. The four gospels say various things about how they knew or didn’t know each other. It’s pretty clear though that they shared a deep connection, an affinity, a certain perspective on […]
The Dangerous Game
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me…eleven pipers piping… That is today, the eleventh day, eleven pipers piping. Jeff Foxworthy did his own 12 days of Christmas song years ago with 11 wraslin tickets, a fun song. Tomorrow is the Epiphany, the 12th and last day of Christmas, 12 drummers […]
Dreaming of God
A friend once asked me, “Do you suppose God ever dreams?” My answer, “I know my dog sure does. You should see her, feet twitching and barking.” Does God dream? That’s one of those questions that kind of sticks with you like an ear worm, one of those song that just keeps going through your […]
Waiting
Waiting is a holy thing. Which is not how I normally experience it. Waiting is a lot of things, but holy isn’t the word I would use to describe it. Waiting is holy. So much of life is waiting. I was thinking about that the other night when I was caught behind someone who was […]
Rain
“Well I love a rainy night; I love a rainy night. I love to hear the thunder; watch the lightning when it lights up the sky. You know it makes me feel good. Well, I love a rainy night; it’s such a beautiful sight. I love to feel the rain on my face; taste the […]