War of the Surplice
January 10, 2012 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
If you look around the inside of an Episcopal Church, you can easily glance over some things for which people have bled and died over. Everything from placements of the altar, to the candles on the altar, to the garb of the clergy, there have been some interesting battles fought in the Christian church.
Take the surplice.
Governor Perry & Being The Church
December 14, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
There’s been a lot of discussion on the internet and in the news about Governor Rick Perry’s latest television ad. Some of you may agree or disagree with Gov. Perry, and I’m not really interested in bashing the guy over his opinions about homosexuals in the military or prayer in school (although he did tackle quite a few things in such a few sentences!). He certainly has a right to those opinions, and I imagine he has lots of support and lots of opponents.
Besides all the issues he tried to address in his ad, the thing that struck me was in his first words: “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know…” Here is a politician who is both making a religious stand and at the same time giving permission to not be in church. Read more
Parable of the Hiking Father & Children
November 25, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
One of the things I love about living here is having the opportunity to hike. But something that makes life even grander is when my kids express that they want to hike with me.
While the last couple of weeks have been quite hectic, with tornados and all, I did find time to go hiking with my kids on two separate occasions. First, a few weeks ago, Liam and I were itching for some alone time together, so when I mentioned that I was going hiking Monday morning, he asked in his 2-year-old voice, “Can I go hiking with you, Da?” How could I resist?
Liam and I parked at the Overlook Parking Lot, and hiked about a mile up the PMT and back. He did really well for a 2-year-old, and I only had to pick him up and carry him about a half a mile back. Hiking with a 2-year-old on your shoulders is no small feat, so I got quite a workout. He and I ended our trip with a picnic. The benefit of doing this is that when I got him home, he was exhausted and slept for 2 hours! Read more
St. Nicholas is a _______-Driven Church
November 2, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
At the beginning of our Vestry meetings, we spend 20 to 30 minutes at the beginning on formation. I will lead a devotion, or throw out some discussion questions. At our October meeting last week, I read a reading from a book called Beyond Business As Usual by Neal O. Michell. In the reading, Michell talks about Rick Warren’s popular book The Purpose-Driven Church, which many church leaders are using these days to inspire spiritual growth in their congregations. Michell talks about using this book with his own Vestry and, drawing on Warren’s work, asked the Vestry to reflect and discuss on what drives their church. In other words, he asked them to fill in the blank: “Our church is a _____-driven church.”
He talked about how one person on the Vestry claimed that the church was “crisis-driven,” based on their rocky history. This was a turning point for his Vestry and his congregation, as they moved from “crisis-driven” to something more positive.
So at our Vestry meeting, I decided to ask the same question of our Vestry. I asked them to reflect on the last few month in the congregation, our last few Vestry meetings, and be honest about what was driving our church today. I gave them all index cards to write on and some time to think about it. After watching them write for a few minutes, I collected the cards and read them aloud. I’m not sure what I expected, but here were their answers: Read more
A Tale of Two Clergy Conferences
October 14, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Our campsite at Honey Creek
This year, I decided to go to not one, but two clergy conferences. The first, at Camp Mikell for the priests of the Diocese of Atlanta, is an expectation of the Bishop of all his priests. The second, at Honey Creek in the Diocese of Georgia, was a chance to visit friends and participate in a totally different conference. Both of these conference were great opportunities to have some time of reflection and renewal, as well as reconnecting with my brother and sister clergy from all over the state of Georgia. I also learned a great deal, as is common when you do continuing education. Despite both conferences being geared to Episcopal clergy in Georgia, they had very different programs. Read more
The Lone and Level Sands
September 16, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
A few Sundays ago, I led my first adult Sunday School class on a comic book. Currently, in our lectionary, which is a 3-year cycle of Scripture readings, we are going through the Exodus story. One thing that has always troubled me about this epic story is the role that the Pharaoh plays. Yes, every story needs a villain, and Exodus is no different. Read more
Stay Straight & Peddle Hard
September 9, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
On Tuesday afternoon, Molly and the kids sat on the front porch. Our oldest, Tai, was sitting with her reading a book. Tai was also watching the neighborhood kids ride their bikes up and down Hill Street. Suddenly, Tai said, “Mom, I’m ready to start learning to ride a bike.” Read more
A Couple of Really Cool Things
September 2, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Life is full of really cool things. Here are just a couple…
Last week, I finally got an opportunity to take Tom Cheatham up on his gracious offer to let me paddle around the lake at Callaway Gardens in his kayak. I had a blast just being out on the quiet water, saying prayers, singing some hymns, and loving life! Thanks, Tom, for letting me share that special place for some rejuvenating God-time! You can call me the “Kayaking Priest” or the “Paddlin’ Priest!”
10 Years Strong
August 19, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Sometime in the spring semester of 1997, I first saw Molly Sanders. She walked into our New Testament classroom as we were freshmen at Berry College. I was struck immediately by her beauty, her smile, and her grace. It’s amazing to me that 14 years later, I can say that I’ve been married for 10 years to that girl who was way out of my league.
We didn’t start officially dating until the spring of 2000. I waited a long time for Molly, mainly because I never thought she’d go out with me, but also because she didn’t want to ruin our friendship. I asked her out repeatedly, but she just wasn’t ready. In the meantime we became best friends and shared many classes together as religion majors. Either my persistence wore her down, or she just couldn’t resist my balding head, but eventually, we had “the talk” while sitting in her car behind Evans Hall one afternoon. She told me back then that I better be prepared, because she would be an awesome girlfriend, and of course, she wasn’t lying. She said it as a warning, but I took it as a promise. Read more
Graphic Parables
August 12, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
I’m not the only Episcopal priest who appreciates comic books, graphic novels, and sequential art. In fact, one of my classmates from VTS is making a career out of creating graphic illustrations of passages from Scripture.
The Rev. Earnest Graham, who is part-time priest and part-time illustrator is using his fantastic gifts to communicate the Gospel in a unique way. Check out this piece for this week, depicting the parable Jesus speaks in Matthew 15:10-11, 17-20.
Click on the image to see it in full size.
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