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

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

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!”

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10 Years Strong

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

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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The Hiking Priest - New Shoes & Bent Trees

I’m embarrassed to say that it’s been months since my last hike. Partly because of an unusually rainy and a not-so-unusually hot summer, I just haven’t been able to make my weekly jaunts through the Pine Mountain Trail. Also, this summer has been increasingly busy with everything at the church and beyond, with camps and vacations. Don’t get me wrong, this summer has been incredible, but has really limited my hikes, unfortunately.

For Father’s Day, Molly and the kids got me a new pair of hiking shoes. I’m quite partial to Keen’s because they are super-comfortable and super-durable. You can see below how much I’ve used my last pair. I’m a creature of habit, so Molly bought me the exact same style, only in a different color. Even though I got them on Father’s Day, I haven’t been able to break them in on the trail. So on Wednesday morning, I laced them up, strapped on my Camelbak, got my poles and my journal, and headed off to Pine Mountain. Read more

Living Water

This past week, I served as a dean at Junior Camp at Camp Mikell, which is our diocesan camp and conference center up in Toccoa, Georgia. Part of my duties as a priest is to work in the ministries of the the greater diocese and working at camp is one of the ways I really enjoy. Camp was one of the first experiences I had of Christian community and it’s what led me on the spiritual path I’m on today.

A “dean” is someone from the clergy or a Christian educator who plans a program for the kids who are attending camp. At Mikell, deans get the whole morning to spend with the campers. We had a theme of “Living Water” with which to design a 5-day program around. I got to serve with my dear friend the Rev. Mary Demmler, who is the rector of St. Matthias in Toccoa, and who served with me in the past in the Diocese of Georgia.

Camp Mikell is such a special place. The director, the Rev. Ken Struble, has trained an amazing group of young adults to serve as the summer staff. They have the perfect balance of humor, responsibility, and creativity which is necessary to take care of over a hundred kids every week. Junior Camp, which is for 6th and 7th graders, had 110 campers, so we had a huge group to play with all week. During the camp, the campers swim, go on nature hikes, do arts and crafts, play sports, and build community. They get to watch the summer staff perform the “Cherokee Pageant” which is a retelling of Native American folklore that the staff has performed since the camp was started over 50 years ago. (For the second year, I got to play the role of the Raven Mocker, who comes to carry the soul of a fallen warrior to the realm of the dead. It just means I wear a black sheet and screech like a bird.)

Molly and the kids joined me for most of the week, so our kids got to experience camp again, which is always fun to watch. Perhaps the thing they loved the most was eating in the dining hall, where they have some really great food. My new favorite Mikell food is the “seaweed salad” on the salad bar, which had a sesame flavor. Truly, this is not your common camp food.

Like I said, our program was on “Living Water.” We taught the kids about all the places they can see God’s grace in the water that makes up our world. The main project we worked on was giving the small groups video cameras and letting them come up with ways to explain “living water.” Here is the result:

Overall, I came away exhausted and refreshed at the same time. I renewed old friendships and made a lot of new friends. I am always impressed with the work of the staff, and I’m grateful for their openness in letting us into their community. I’ve worked and attended many camps in my life, and without a doubt, Mikell has the best staff I’ve seen.

Pretty much anyone can be a camper at Camp Mikell. Tai went to Mini-Camp with me at the beginning of the summer. Families are invited to Guest Camp at the end of the summer (September 2-5). There are camps for grades 1 and up. They even have outdoor camps! Why wouldn’t you want to send a child, grandchild, or neighbor to camp? If you don’t have one of those, you can always give money to send kids who need financial assistance to camp.

Camp Mikell is one of the treasures of the diocese and is a resource to us at St. Nicholas. We’ll be taking our youth there August 26-28. I would love for our budget to cover sending our Vestry up there on retreat next year. Or, if there was enough interest, we could always organize a parish weekend there. There are lots of ways that we can use this magical place.

Any excuse to eat seaweed salad…

The Wedding of the Century

Did you know I got to perform the “wedding of the century?” No, I was nowhere near William and Kate’s nuptials. This was a different kind of celebrity wedding between two incredibly important people (at least in my household):

Ken & Rapunzel

You know Ken, former paramour of Barbie, who I think at one time was married to the doll diva. I guess I should have checked that out in pre-marital counseling. The bride was none other than Disney’s Rapunzel from the hit movie Tangled. Who would have thought that these two were even in a relationship? Read more

Down? Try Counseling!

For about 10 years now, I’ve been going regularly to therapy. It’s taken me years to say this out loud because when I first decided to go, therapy had a negative stigma in my mind. “Only crazy people go to therapy,” I wrongly thought. But soon after I started in seminary, I realized that the world of ministry required that I take care of my own emotional and spiritual health, which included talking to a counselor on a regular basis, in order to help others with theirs. Since then, it’s become a part of my regular discipline and practice. Therapists and counselors have helped me in good times and in bad. They’ve opened up ways for me to see myself and celebrate my gifts as well as increase my awareness of my weaknesses.

In the Chattahoochee Valley, we are blessed to have a resource in the Pastoral Institute. The PI specializes in all different kinds of counseling–dealing with grief, family troubles, addiction, emotional and physical abuse, and many other things that people struggle with on a daily basis. They are a faith-based organization, but one that is open to all backgrounds. The PI was instrumental in helping St. Nicholas process the grief of losing their first rector, Beverley McEachern, who herself worked with the PI. I have gone to the PI for counseling, coaching, and for ministry training, and know many of the gifted people who offer services there. Read more

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