Feels like fall!

I'm sure these cool August days will yield to warmer ones but there's something of fall in the air that leaves me feeling, well, autumnal.

My soul warms to the spring, hopes for the summer, delights in the fall and simply endures the winter. So my delight in these cool days and even cooler oh-so-good-for-sleeping nights has been teased to an early awakening.

Makes me wonder how the many climates of life around me season my experience... how the climes of my presence season the lives of others... how one can have a wintry soul in July and a summery heart in January... All mysteries - as tomorrow's weather usually is...

Seasons: revealing God's raining, shining, snowing, blowing upon us..

All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord.

Sun and moon, bless the Lord;
stars of heaven, bless the Lord.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;
all you winds, bless the Lord;

Fire and heat, bless the Lord;
cold and chill, bless the Lord;

Dew and rain, bless the Lord;
frost and cold, bless the Lord;

Ice and snow, bless the Lord;
nights and days, bless the Lord;

Light and darkness, bless the Lord;
lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord.

Let the earth bless the Lord,
praise and exalt God above all forever.

(Daniel 3:59-66)

The Preacher's Task

Just as I break the bread of the Eucharist each Sunday, so is it my task to break open the bread of the Word. It was St. Augustine who said that the liturgy feeds us from two tables: the table of the Word and the table of the Sacrament.

In breaking open the Word it's my task to nourish our assembly with both comfort and challenge. It has been said that the scriptures are intended to "comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." Like all easy divisions of the world into two halves, that saying is incomplete even as it makes a point worth pondering.

In this week's scriptures, Jeremiah (the prophet, not the bullfrog) gets into trouble for afflicting the comfortable. I'd like to tell you that by comparison the Jesus in this Sunday's gospel brings comfort to the afflicted, but this week Jesus has a hard hat on and he comes out swinging a sledgehammer!

This is one of those week's when the preacher's job isn't easy. I don't own a hard hat and I've got very little experience with heavy tools. Pray for me and for all who break open the Word this week that we'll be both faithful to our task and nourishing of our people.

The Techno-Word!

This is pretty funny - and pretty soon something like it might well be on the shelves at your local computer store!

The voice-over is clear but he speaks quickly - you might want to listen twice to catch it all.

Enjoy!

Hearing the Lord's Word

My parishioners know that before the first and second lessons are proclaimed for the Lord's Day liturgy, I offer a brief context for understanding the text about to be heard. I base my intros on work done by the late Ken Untner, bishop of the Saginaw diocese in Michigan.

Would you like even more preparation for hearing the Lord's word?

Go to this site where you will find several informative and accessible approaches to the scriptures for the Lord's day.

Hope this helps!