On March 25, the Christian church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation. This feast day celebrates the announcing by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she will have a son named Jesus, who will free his people. She has some questions about this announcement. She is young. She has not done the things you would have to do to become pregnant. She is of modest means. She is not the kind of person whose kid will change the world. The... Read more
When I was a new priest I wrote thank you notes on Monday mornings. At some point they became thank you emails. When I became a college chaplain, they became thank you prayers, and now I am usually in meetings on Monday mornings. I still pray my thank you’s and sometimes I send an email, but I remember how those Monday cards shifted my nervous mind from all of the new tasks a new priest cannot imagine completing well enough,... Read more
Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court (Proverbs 22:22 (NIV)) Five or ten years ago now, I led a summer-long Proverbs Bible Study using Ellen Davis’s Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, an insightful study supported by Prof. Davis’s stunning translation. Proverbs is a guide from a teacher to a young man of influence on ethical living and the right use of power in public life. The teacher says things... Read more
Let this not be a time where it can be said of us, we were of our time. Fascism was taking over the globe, and we turned inward and chose to spend our energy on defending the righteousness of our tradition or the church. I can imagine a generation scratching their heads at why we thought that creating opportunities for all sides to speak, civilly, whatever that means, was our best response. I suspect it will be so obvious that we protected our perceived privilege, as evil and terror became the norm. Read more
I love a church meeting. Especially when we decide to take on the things that seem intractable, the hardest things. This year the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church is meeting in Austin, Texas, for 10 balmy days beginning July 4. There’s a lot of good to do together: a service on the lawn outside of a detention center Sunday. What does #metoo mean for The Episcopal Church? We kicked it off with a listening session the evening of... Read more
For Such a Time as This - The Rev. Winnie Varghese
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