Like and Love, Ramblings of a Theologian in Progress

Lectionary Texts: Job 42: 1-6, 10-16; Mark 10:46-52 (preached 25 October 2015, St. John's Aberdeen) What does it mean to be lost? When we say that we are lost, we almost always mean that in the course of getting from destination A to destination B we’ve lost our way. There was a path to be on and that path disappeared a few left turns ago. I’m particularly bad at getting lost between a start and a finish. Even with the advent of Google Maps, I’m more than likely going to get myself misplaced. Case in point- my first time navigating to St. John’s, I made it all the way to the Crown Terrace Baptist Church and couldn’t figure out for the life of me what google wanted me to do. While I, theoretically, understand maps- but truth be told if I had been in charge of leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, we would either still be wandering or landed somewhere closer to South Africa because that turn “felt right.” But being lost has a much deeper meaning. Merriam-Webster gi...

I was given the opportunity to preach the homily this Sunday at St. John the Evangelist in Aberdeen. Below is the text of the sermon. Lectionary texts: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22, James 5:13-20, and Mark 9:38-50 Holy is the familiar room And quiet moments in the afternoon And folding sheets like folding hands To pray as only laundry can Laundry seems to be anything but holy, yet American folk singer Carrie Newcomer invites us to reimagine the ordinary actions of our lives as part of the holiness of creation. The quiet moments, the laundry, even the sound and smell of eggs and salt in the frying pan, make up the tangible liturgy of the day. It is in the ordinary that she sees the outworking of grace. At times it’s difficult to see the beauty in the ordinary. It is even more difficult to expect the holy in the ordinary. Although Genesis narrates the story of creation to remind us of God’s breathe and word in all of creation, we often take that for granted and trample u...

It's been a busy summer and an even busier few months, which means I have not posted anything in what seems like forever. But term has started and some things need to be written and reflected on. Last night we rewatched the season finale of New Girl. It's a good episode and a very nice season finale, the kind that fills you with excitement for the next season and a twinge of sadness because you're saying goodbye to your fictional companions for several months. The part of the episode that really affected me was the closing seen. One of the characters is leaving for New York and in the scenes of his departure The Head and the The Heart's "Rivers and Roads" plays in the background. It's fast become one of my favorite songs since the initial viewing, but only upon yesterday's viewing did its full impact hit. A year from now we'll all be gone All our friends will move away And they're goin' to better places But our friends will be gone aw...

For those that asked for the sermon I delivered to St. John the Evangelist this past weekend, it's below. This particular Sunday was also Mother's Day in the United Kingdom so if the imagery is a bit focused on that you will understand why (I stand by the imagery, regardless of the holiday- but it is drawn out a bit more for the occasion). And in good high church fashion, I preached from the lectionary texts for the day: Many thanks to my dear friend Meredith for not only coming to the service, but taking this picture Numbers 21:4-9 Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21 It’s Mothering Sunday and it seems only right that we come to the Old Testament in the Book of Numbers and the children of God are being, a bit childish and petulant. Numbers has always felt like it was written by someone who had recently traveled with small children because Israel complains a lot. The food is never right. The journey is taking too long. Someone is always being mean. T...

A lovely note left for me by my office mates We're 4 days into being back in Aberdeen. Before we left for Christmas in Houston, Joy very thoughtfully asked if leaving Houston would be harder this time. I hadn't really stopped to think about the possibility that leaving Houston a second time would harder than the first time, but there was some good truth in that question. When we left in September we left knowing that we would definitely be back at Christmas, a mere 3 months away (I even had a countdown app going). I left at least with the naive expectation that I expect many college students, and many people who are really moving away from home for the first time, leave with- that things will somehow slow down and not really change that much. That life where you leave it won't go on without you there. And I realize that that thought is incredibly egotistical and not sustainable at all because life obviously goes on with people moving in and out of our lives all the t...

It occurred to me last night that it's been a bit since I've actually posted on this (appropriately as I'm typing, Jim Croce is singing "there never seems to be enough time to do the things we want to do" - such true words) because life's been a bit hectic. You may also notice that I'm writing in the 8 am hour, and yes I'm up at campus already by 8 or earlier everyday. Today, however, I'm struggling to concentrate on my Bonhoeffer reading so here we have a blog post. It's been almost 2 months since the move. I think we've more or less settled in to some sort of routine. I've settled into a routine since my day-to-day doesn't change weekly like Jack's does. Here's a general life update organized by the beverage I've come to associate most closely with it. Coffee No grad student will ever doubt that coffee is always in the back of their mind. We don't have a coffee maker (few people I know do). Every morning...

This past weekend seven of us ventured out of the city and into the Highlands of Scotland. Our tour guide was amazing. He's from Aberdeen and has been doing tours of the area for 25 years. Scotland is a beautiful and incredibly desolate country in the Northeast. Aberdeen is built from the gray granite that is local to the area. This is absolutely gorgeous in the sun. The light picks out the flecks of color in the stone. The city sparkles and glows. The highlands outside of the city are vast. At this time of the year the hills are covered with a violet heather. It's a muted purple, but with the green of the grass and the changing fall colors it's quite the spectacle. Colors are more vibrant here because of the rain fall that brings forth a variety of flowers and green grass. As beautiful as north east Scotland is, it's also incredibly bleak. The sun brings out the beauty of the city's stone, but the sun is absent for most of the year. Karl (our guide) said that...