August 2013

My apologies to everyone for being so bad about keeping this blogspot up to date. It seems that my best intentions to post with regularity on the Rector's page have yet again fallen short. With our new program year upon us I will try to material and news with greater regularity.

In turning over this new leaf let me begin by telling everyone about our adult education offering for this Fall. During the 9:00am Education hour in the Parish Hall I will be offering a course called Modern Parables. This course subtititled "Living in the Kingdom of God," is a video series which features short (15 - 20 minute) video adaptions of some of the classic parables of the New Testament. Along with the video are questions for discussion and suggestions for outside reading. Each class is designed to be 45 - 50 minutes in length. I've heard nothing but good reviews regarding this series! Try to join us at 9am in the parish hall beginning on September 8.

2nd Advent

Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

I always find preaching during Advent to be difficult. I'd like to think the difficulty is due to the busyness of the season but truth be told it has more to do with John the Baptist. It's not that I don't like John in fact I find him to be an interesting and colorful character. My problem with John is that I don't know what to do with him. Seriously, what do you do with a guy who is unkempt, obtrusive and difficult to be around? How do you help him relate to 21st century people? The only comparison I can come up with is this guy I knew years ago in college who always asked difficult or seemingly off the wall questions of important people. He would literally ask noted professors questions about their politics or religious affiliations. One time he asked a professor how he, a professional educator, justified voting for Ronald Reagan given the cuts to education during Reagans gubenatorial terms. I don't remember the professors answer but I do remember being embarrassed for my friend. Funny thing, he wasn't embarrassed at all. Maybe the key issue here is that I'm not alone in not knowing what to do with John. I think the institutional church doesn't know what to do with him and we're all a little embarrassed of him.

Perhaps this piece of scripture is a good reminder for the institutional church that Advent and Christmas is not about neat, pretty packages. It is in fact about difficult and perhaps embarrassing questions that we need to confront and consider. John is asking humankind the same question that is considered in many cursillo gatherings, "if it were illegal to be a Christian, could you be found guilty?"

Confirmation is coming

Bishop Gray will be with us on October 7 at 10:30am to confirm, receive and baptize new members of our congregation. 23 new members to be exact. It's going to be a great day in the life of our church. See you there.

2012 Program year begins ...

I hate to say it but, it is nice to be back in the normal routine again. The normal routine which includes school,  sports and church programs. If you missed it we started our Wednesday night supper and programs yesterday with an interesting presentation about the development of 2 new state history museums in Jackson. Both feature Mississippi state history but one will focus on the civil rights battles of 1945 - 1970. The state department of history and archives believes this will have a 20 million dollar annual economic impact on our state. Come join us for these events and invite a friend!