The first time I experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, I was just a kid, 13 or 14 years old. I was at the home of Bill and Joanie Yates. (This was years before he became a priest. Bill and Joanie were young teachers and leading the youth group at All Saints in Lakeland.)

A friend had invited me to their youth group’s Bible study where things were quite different. We dug into the Bible, of course. And we sang a lot. But the thing that was really different was the way we prayed. I was used to praying. My parents taught us to pray at meal times and before we went to sleep. We went to church regularly so I was used to the liturgy and we’d pray in Sunday school.

Read More

Memorial Day means to remind us of over 1.3 million the men and women who died in defense of this country. What do we mean, then, by country? Certainly that means our geography including our states and territories. Certainly that means our people. And within our people, it is formed around ideas. The assumption is that if you are born here you’ll absorb those ideas in many ways, including schools. We hope. More about that in a moment.

It is very clear in the naturalization process where applicants for citizenship have to pass a civics test, which focuses on our founding documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with a special focus on the Bill of Rights. In other words, words.

Read More

This Graduation Sunday morning we are blessed to have a Gospel passage about another graduation of sorts.

There are two primary issues afoot in this Gospel passage. First is the witness we see to restoration. This man has been laid up for some unspecified reason for 38 years. We must assume that over that time his limbs, especially his legs, must have atrophied. John is not specific as to how long he had been at the pool of Beth-zatha, or you may know it as Bethesda, but it appears Jesus picked him out from among the many who had gathered there to seek some healing effects from the waters, perhaps water aerobics although there is no mention of pool noodles, or perhaps aid from the crowds coming to the pool.

Read More