The deadlines for the bulletin have all been moved up this season so I write these words on the day before Christmas Eve, with a sense of anticipation and light. The big tree in the church, as of now, has yet to be decorated; when it’s lit, especially in the dark church, it’s a magnificent sight. Every year a member of our parish donates this tree to us, so we are grateful.
We are now in a new year, we celebrate this weekend the Epiphany of the Lord which tells the story of the arrival of the magi from the east. They come to pay homage to the newborn Christ child, and already within the story there is the shadow of a threat, as Herod is suspicious of their asking about a newborn king, and responds with the massacre of all male children under the age of two. The Christ child from His birth will walk in the shadow of threat and death as he announces the good news of God’s kingdom of justice,
peace, mercy, and reconciliation, and He will go to the cross and die for that kingdom. In so many ways, the message of the Christ has always been and still is under threat, anytime we do not see and respond to the radical message of the gospel in our times.
A very fine book recommendation: “A Book of Uncommon Prayer:100 Celebrations of the Miracle and Muddle of the Ordinary” by Brian Doyle. The description on the back cover begins this way: “Prayers for cashiers and good shoes; for shorter sermons and better senators; prayers for the bruised, foolish, glorious, stumbling, brilliant Church; for chaplains and mathematicians; for idiot authors and muddy dogs..” The preface is titled, “Prayer for the Idiot Author That He Doesn’t Totally Punt in the Pages That Follow.” What I love about this book is that the 100 prayers are all about the everyday and ordinary, that they are not necessarily “proper” or pious, but are rooted in the everyday stuff and happenings of life. And isn’t that where God meets us?
Blessings on your week!
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – July 21, 2019
Last weekend we heard the familiar gospel story of the Good Samaritan, a story that has become so familiar that it has lost its edge. In the story, you’ll recall that it’s the Samaritan who helps the wounded man on the side of the road, only after the wounded...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – July 14, 2019
Our parish received a grant from the Lily Foundation to study the biblical notion of “calling” – on what it means to be called and how that plays out in our everyday lives. The grant is for five years, and is in collaboration with an initiative called “Communities of...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – July 7, 2019
Last week our Director of Stewardship, Deb Royals-Mizerk, a member of our pastoral council, Shauna Morin, and I traveled to Collegeville, Minnesota for a three-day gathering of 14 different faith communities, as part of an initiative called “Communities of...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 30, 2019
Last Saturday at Immaculate Conception in Durham one of our friars, Casey Cole, was ordained to the priesthood by our Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama. You may remember that Casey was here last year promoting his book “Called.” He will be assigned to ministry at the...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 23, 2019
A quick update on our new pastoral council here at St. Francis. Our new group had an orientation meeting in early June and we will meet again later in the summer to learn and talk more about the role of a pastoral council and how we see our work here. What I am...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 16, 2019 (Happy Father’s Day!)
I arrived back in Raleigh on June 2, after a week-long Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador. It was my first Habitat trip and felt Franciscan in the sense of the call that St. Francis of Assisi heard to “rebuild my house, which as you see is falling into...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 9, 2019 (Pentecost)
As we celebrate Pentecost today with its gift of the Holy Spirit, we reflect on the reading today from Paul’s letter to an early Christian community at Corinth – “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 2, 2019
This Sunday, I will be on my way back to Raleigh from El Salvador, where a group from our parish has been working on a Habitat project over the past week. In the meantime, we have some good news to report. We friars will be hosting a friar intern this summer....
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – May 26, 2019
Both this weekend and next weekend, I will be away on a Habitat for Humanity build in El Salvador. In our time there, we will be working with a family helping to build a house and we will also spend some time visiting some of the sites associated with Archbishop...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – May 19, 2019
You have probably noticed new signs around our campus. These were installed the week after Easter and these signs are Phase 2 of a 3-phase project to help make our campus more navigable. It was interesting to work with the company that designed and installed the new...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – July 21, 2019
Last weekend we heard the familiar gospel story of the Good Samaritan, a story that has become so familiar that it has lost its edge. In the story, you’ll recall that it’s the Samaritan who helps the wounded man on the side of the road, only after the wounded...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – July 14, 2019
Our parish received a grant from the Lily Foundation to study the biblical notion of “calling” – on what it means to be called and how that plays out in our everyday lives. The grant is for five years, and is in collaboration with an initiative called “Communities of...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – July 7, 2019
Last week our Director of Stewardship, Deb Royals-Mizerk, a member of our pastoral council, Shauna Morin, and I traveled to Collegeville, Minnesota for a three-day gathering of 14 different faith communities, as part of an initiative called “Communities of...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 30, 2019
Last Saturday at Immaculate Conception in Durham one of our friars, Casey Cole, was ordained to the priesthood by our Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama. You may remember that Casey was here last year promoting his book “Called.” He will be assigned to ministry at the...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 23, 2019
A quick update on our new pastoral council here at St. Francis. Our new group had an orientation meeting in early June and we will meet again later in the summer to learn and talk more about the role of a pastoral council and how we see our work here. What I am...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 16, 2019 (Happy Father’s Day!)
I arrived back in Raleigh on June 2, after a week-long Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador. It was my first Habitat trip and felt Franciscan in the sense of the call that St. Francis of Assisi heard to “rebuild my house, which as you see is falling into...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 9, 2019 (Pentecost)
As we celebrate Pentecost today with its gift of the Holy Spirit, we reflect on the reading today from Paul’s letter to an early Christian community at Corinth – “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – June 2, 2019
This Sunday, I will be on my way back to Raleigh from El Salvador, where a group from our parish has been working on a Habitat project over the past week. In the meantime, we have some good news to report. We friars will be hosting a friar intern this summer....
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – May 26, 2019
Both this weekend and next weekend, I will be away on a Habitat for Humanity build in El Salvador. In our time there, we will be working with a family helping to build a house and we will also spend some time visiting some of the sites associated with Archbishop...
St. Francis of Assisi Pastor’s Column – May 19, 2019
You have probably noticed new signs around our campus. These were installed the week after Easter and these signs are Phase 2 of a 3-phase project to help make our campus more navigable. It was interesting to work with the company that designed and installed the new...
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