Category Archives: Uncategorized

Somewhere in the unseen bureaucracy of heaven, I am convinced there exists a small, perpetually overworked department known as The Ministry of Lost Things. You can picture it, can’t you? A tidy office with angelic clerks filing reports on missing car keys, vanishing sermon notes, and the single sock that went missing during the spinContinue reading “The Ministry of Lost Things”

(on healing, grief, and time) Since returning from walking the Camino, I have had another long walk I have been travelling. What seemed a minor foot injury on the Camino infected, and began a lengthy journey of healing for me. And those who know me well, know that I have near-endless patience with others, andContinue reading “Resurrection in Slow Motion”

There comes a sacred silence the morning after Thanksgiving — a sort of national liturgical pause in which the faithful lie prostrate, not before the altar, but upon couches, groaning softly in the general direction of the television. The turkey has done its work, the pies have conquered, and even the dog looks sluggish fromContinue reading “The Day After: A Theological Reflection on Turkey-Induced Immobility”

Thanksgiving Day dawns bright and brimming with promise — promise, that is, of potatoes to mash, pies to burn just slightly, and at least one relative to question your life choices somewhere between the turkey and the trifle. I have long suspected that the true miracle of Thanksgiving is not the harvest itself, but theContinue reading “The Gospel According to Gravy Boats”

There is a moment in every priest’s life — usually about three minutes before the procession — when a creeping sense of doom begins to set in. It starts innocently enough: the choir is lined up, the servers are ready, the organist is limbering up their fingers in a spirited prelude, and you think, “AhContinue reading “Vestments and Velcro: The Perils of Liturgical Preparedness”

(A meditation on patience, technology, and the stubborn holiness of parish administration) I feel as though I should preface this parable for readers from Christ Church with an assurance that our photocopier is currently in perfect operation, and Thanksgiving material is all successfully printed. This is a parable. There are few things in parish lifeContinue reading “The Parable of the Broken Photocopier”

There are days when prayer feels like the most natural thing in the world. The birds are singing, the coffee is strong, and your heart just overflows with gratitude. And then there are the other days. The ones where your prayers sound like they’re bouncing off the ceiling tiles of a drafty parish hall. DaysContinue reading “Praying When You Don’t Feel Like It: Or, “Lord, I’d Rather Just Have a Nap””

Everyone who knows me within my ministry, knows how deeply and dearly I love the sacraments. No matter what level the churchmanship of a given congregation, I love to see the sacraments celebrated well, and to see them used to draw all the congregation into the presence of God. They are tools meant to helpContinue reading “Sacraments in Everyday Life”

I should have learned by now that God has absolutely no respect for my calendar. Every week begins with such promise — my planner laid out neatly in front of me, pens arranged in a hopeful rainbow, appointments colour-coded like a bishop’s vestments in Ordinary Time. I make my lists, sip my coffee, and thinkContinue reading “Title: Holy Interruptions (or, How God Keeps Sneaking Into My Day Planner)”

After yesterday’s blog went live, I received a phone call from another former parishioner — one of those wonderful souls who seemed to have served in every possible capacity in parish including the Altar Guild but short of the Junior Choir. (And truth be told, if she’d had a good soprano voice, I suspect she’dContinue reading ““Pick Good Leaders — and Then Let Them Lead””