June 26, 2016 - Proper 8C

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Can you recall to mind a time where you were falling in love? And I’m not talking about the love that you might have for a pet, child, or material thing, but specifically about romantic love. Do you remember those butterflies that you’d get in your stomach as you got ready to see that person? The way your heart danced when you would see them? Can you imagine what the world might be like if there was more of that feeling of love in it? If our souls were stirred up like that not only when we are falling in love, but every time we encountered another person?

June 5, 2016 - Proper 5C

Lectionary Readings

In the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

            When you’re going through the ordination process, one aspect of the formation is to work as a chaplain intern. So the summer after my first year of seminary, I worked at Alamance Regional Hospital in Burlington. Part of the work was to occasionally stay over-night at the hospital, being on-call for any pastoral emergencies. I’ll never forget the first time that pager went off in the middle of the night, I scrambled to look presentable and rushed down to the ER. There, I watched a man in his early 60s come in on a stretcher. He wasn’t breathing, and the doctors and nurses did everything that they could to revive him, but it was too late. In a hospital, death is a medical diagnosis before it is a pastoral situation, so the doctor has to be the one deliver the bad news to the family in a small waiting. In most situations, including this one, as soon as the doctor did his job of notifying the family, he’d leave the room and it was then my job to do what I could to comfort the family.