The Sunset Juggler (formerly The Dragon's Mouth)

Yes, I know.  For most people, Christmas started around Thanksgiving and ended on December 25.  Many of the mega churches started holding their Christmas services weeks before Christmas Day.  But, for me (at least “officially” for all Episcopalians and others who celebrate a traditional “liturgical” year) Christmas is a season that begins on December 25 and continues through the evening of January 5 (The Epiphany is January 6, when the three “kings” come with presents for the baby Jesus).  So I’m really in the middle of my celebration of Christmas. (more…)

We had another clergy write yesterday.  Our third write was on the phrase (from “O Little Town of Bethlehem”) “Be Born In Me Today.”  I think I may have at least a start for Sunday’s sermon:

At bible study yesterday we were talking about Joseph, who was going to put Mary aside quietly (rather than have her stoned or publicly humiliated) when he had a dream.  And a dream is certainly not an automatically authoritative event.  We have lots of dreams, and they don’t all come from God — though therapists tell us we can all benefit from paying attention to our dreams.

Anyway, Joseph clearly didn’t want Mary as his wife when he had this dream. (more…)

You may remember (if you’ve been following) that I had gastric bypass surgery about 10 months back.  Mostly, things have been pretty status quo for a while — so while it continues to be something I deal with every day, I really haven’t had much to say about it for a while.

But I heard last night about another guy who had the same surgery, and had pretty much the same complications I’ve had (more…)

My wife sent me a link to a new blog that I’ve now linked (see my blogroll):  The Hardest Question.  There is a list of (heavy hitting) contributors, but the first article I read all the way through did not seem to be on that list:  Danielle Shroyer.  She wrote a piece on this Sunday’s gospel called Prophets are Terrible Dinner Guests.  If the title grabs your interest, please do follow the link!