I’ve been reminded lately, by events in the world and events in the personal lives of those around me, that just because we are in Eastertide doesn’t mean that everyone is happily enjoying new growth and life! After the solemnness and introspection of Lent, and the drama and trauma of Holy Week, we were primed to get right into the celebration of resurrection at Easter. And yet, for some of us, the celebration comes harder some years than others. And sometimes during Eastertide we have an anti-climactic feeling, or it seems that the promised new life is slow in coming or might have passed us by entirely....

Bp Mary Glasspool, Assisting Bishop in the Diocese of New York, recently wrote a meditation about the Lenten Practice of Stations of the Cross. As you may know, the devotion developed out of the practice of early Christians who wanted to literally walk in the footsteps of Jesus as he journeyed in his last hours to the cross.....

I don’t know about you, but over the past year or more I’ve really become a bit of a political news addict. I’ve counseled others who are suffering from this condition to limit their news from their phones and computers and TVs and newspapers and magazines -- and yet on I continue, unabated in my quest to know more, understand more. Unfortunately, it also tends to lead me to be outraged more! And so I’m already thinking that part of my spiritual discipline for Lent will have to be some curtailment of my news habit. And because it is often easier to do something positive rather than stop yourself from doing something negative, I will pay closer attention to my prayer life in the meantime. One of the best antidotes I know for feelings of frustration and despair and outrage and fear is prayer practice that is centered on the love and compassion that God has for us beloved children....

Merry Christmas! How many times have you heard that greeting since December 26? My bet is not very often. I recently read an article about how the idea that there was a “war on Christmas” got started in conservative evangelical Christian circles. As I read, I was reminded that those who exhort us to “say Merry Christmas again” don’t appear to be very interested in the theological meaning and liturgical timing of Christmas! Instead they are much more focused on the trappings, on consumerism and materialism (presents, lights, decorations, prominent Christmas-only displays), and starting as early in the year as possible -- way before Advent, way before Halloween, in fact....

This week the church commemorated All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2, and now properly called All Faithful Departed) – we at Holy Apostles will transfer the commemorations to this coming Sunday, November 5. On All Saints’ Day, we remember all saints, known and unknown. But in practice, there was an increasing desire to make a distinction between the better known, exemplary saints (or Saints with a capital “S”), and those small “s” saints who are mostly unknown (such as friends and family). Hence, in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, provision was made to also remember All Faithful Departed on the day following All Saints’ Day. (Many churches combine the days, and transfer them to the nearest Sunday.)...

It is hard to write this meditation this week -- lately the tragedies have been piling up, and there are many weighing on my mind. I fear that we are all feeling a bit of fatigue, and it is hard to process each new event. The continuing crisis in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria especially shouldn’t be forgotten or pushed aside -- even if you have already donated earlier this month or this year, please consider giving again to Episcopal Relief and Development.... It is the mass shooting in Las Vegas, though, that is the most challenging for me to wrap my mind around right now, and to figure out how to respond. We can, and should, always be praying. We can pray for those who have died, for those who are suffering, for the first responders, for those who will continue to respond to the needs after the initial crisis has passed. We can also bear witness to what has happened. Holy Apostles joined many other churches across the country on Tuesday and tolled our solemn bell at noon to remember the victims of this tragedy.

It is a time of endings (of the summer season, of vacation-mode, of leaves already beginning to show signs of turning vibrant color before falling to the ground) but also a time of beginnings (of the Autumn season, of new projects at work and home, of the bountiful time of the fall harvest). What I seem to be most aware of today is the golden quality of the sunlight at this time of year – warming the days after cool nights, softly filtering through the canopy of the trees, helping to ripen the fall fruits...

As you’ve no doubt noticed, I often like to use this space to write about the feast day of some saint or another – and this week I struggled to decide between two: Clare, Abbess of Assisi (1253) on August 11, and Florence Nightingale, Nurse and Social Reformer (1910), on August 12. In good Anglican fashion, I decided not to address this in an “either/or” fashion, but instead with a “both/and” mentality – and so talk about both of them!...

This past Tuesday was the feast day of Benedict of Nursia -- traditionally remembered as the founder of western monasticism. Born in Umbria, Italy, in 480 A.D., Benedict founded twelve monastic communities over the course of his life. His greatest impact on modern Christianity is the Rule of Life that he developed for his monks, which laid out how the monastery and the monk’s lives were to be ordered. He called his rule “a school of the Lord’s service, in which we hope to order nothing harsh or rigorous.” You can decide for yourself if the monks’ lives were harsh or rigorous: every day they spent an average of four hours in worship, five hours in spiritual reading and study, six hours of labor, one hour for eating, and eight hours sleeping.....

This Sunday, June 18, is Father's Day -- the day when we honor fathers, father figures, and paternal bonds. I did a little research (thank you, Wikipedia!), and found out that the holiday was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd as a complement to Mother's Day. Dodd and her five siblings were raised by her single father. When she heard a Mother's Day sermon at Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1909, she told the pastor that there should be a similar holiday honoring fathers. The first celebration was held at a YMCA in Spokane, WA, on June 19, 1910....