Seeking Authentic Voice

  A reflection on Epiphany 4C: Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 In one form or another we all have rituals we engage in. The morning ritual in my house includes a cat who chortles and sings for her breakfast and a herd of dogs scrambling underfoot, excited   for their food. But before anyone gets fed we start the coffee pot, and then while the coffee is brewing the animals are fed. My morning routine always includes a cup of coffee, a quick check of email and Facebook, and then usually some exercise. Other rituals, not just daily ones, mark our lives. Bridal showers and baby showers. High school or college graduation. Weddings. The birth of children. Death and a funeral. And birthday celebrations. When I was young we celebrated our birthdays with just our immediate family. I don’t remember ever having a birthday party with people other than my parents and brothers, in part because we lived far from other family. But our family birthday parties alway...

Thirteen years ago, on December 28th I was ordained a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church. (Six months later, on June 28th, to the priesthood). That year the feast of St. John the Evangelist was transferred to December 28, supplanting the usual feast day of Holy Innocents (the day honoring the children killed by Herod - according to scripture- in his vain attempt to rid the world of the Christ-child). I much preferred the idea of an ordination on the feast of St. John. It was however the end of the 20th century, one of the last days of 1999. We all wondered what was going to happen when 2000 rolled in a few nights later. Would computers stop working? Would the stock market crash? Would the apocalypse come? Thirteen years is not a very long time to be ordained. In some ways it still feels so fresh and new. Just like in some ways I still feel twenty-something instead of nearly fifty-six. I think that's a good thing. I don't want my ministry to feel stale and old, tired...