It’s hard to know how to talk about this stuff, but the gap between the Bible training you get in a top MDiv program and what you’d need for general mastery of the field is considerably wider than the gap between what you might have as a lay-trained pastor and an MDiv graduate.

I totally feel for you on this - I get so annoyed being approached by an excitable off-leash dog. Except for that yesterday, I had the off leash dog. Somehow the clasp on her leash broke, and the entire neighborhood discovered that my dog has a heretofore unknown gremlin mode. 🤦🏻😜

I was raised to believe that Christian Universalism was a cop out for those who wanted to sin.

Instead it’s about Christ’s victory over death being so complete that eventually everything is reconciled back to the wholeness of the source of light and life.

Same ending, different heart.

I have so many ideas. Wanna Zoom?

I like to fall asleep reading cozy mysteries - a perfect application for the e-reader because the room can be dark.

I did an 8 AM service on a cruise ship yesterday, and a ninety-year-old Catholic man walked up to me afterwards and said “I’ve never heard a woman give the mass. First time!” And he gave me a big hug. So totally not what I expected his reaction to be. 🥲

writing an e-mail and getting a prompt from AI "this sentence could be more concise"

no. i am verbose. i am loquacious. i am long-winded and often redundant even. you machine, do not tell me how to form my words

I was also in seersucker today, but forgot to take any pictures! Happy Easter!

I’m so glad I’m not the only one who throws a bubbly post-Vigil party! Typically accompanied by chocolate cake.

A+ on my paper that read Psalm 137 through the lens of Childish Gambino's "This is America," means all of the assignments are now graded. 🙌🏼 😎

Breaking my social media silence to announce that I've just turned in the last paper for my degree program. 🎉

Something similar was part of the process in Northwest Texas.

⬆️ this is us. Just the black cassock because that’s “street clothes” (depending, of course, where are you hail from as a cleric).

Y’all.

Oh! We’re gonna do this now. 😎

Rad.

That first time that I took off my collar and watched it be taken away is probably in my top five most memorable liturgical moments.

I should’ve mentioned that we *do not* do Eucharist on Good Friday.

At the Alleluia, as the altar guild restores everything that was stripped away, we re-vest for the Eucharist.

At the risk of starting discourse: during the stripping of the altar, we take off our vestments and fold them and hand them to the altar guild. I usually take off my collar and set it on top of the pile, then put on my cassock (no surplice), which is what I will wear until the great alleluia…

Holy smokes.

I’ll have to listen to the IBCK. (I’m interested to see if the podcast raised the same concerns I had, but will admit that I’m sympathetic to Haidt’s overall argument in that one.)

I’m gonna have to add this to my list. Maybe I can talk to the library into getting it? 🧐

I just wanna pop in here to say that the lemon is good because the ash combined with water can make a pre-cursor to lye, which is basic and can irritate (even burn) skin. The acid in the lemon will buffer that back down. I also always keep a slice of white bread around to wipe my hands with.

* just noting that this is directed abstractly and has much more to do with my feelings about the way we do theological education than with any actual murderous tendencies.

Last two business days of working on the paper that I have been dreading for three years. Mental state is somewhere between these two lyrics:
“Are you still … Still breathing?”
&
“But my heart is wild
And my bones are steam
And I could kill you* with my bare hands if I were free.”

Always a delightful experience!

I arrived at my Seattle office today to find a note on my desk from the diocesan altar guild. They had something I might be interested in, it said.
They were right! And now I have my own thurible. For teaching purposes, of course. 😂⚓️

I’m pretty quiet on the Internet because one of the things that Jesus is constantly having to save me from is scrapping in the comments. (This post inspired by my having made the mistake of logging onto Facebook yesterday. It’s unhinged over there.)

The first season is set in the week of Ash Wednesday, the second season is set in Holy Week.