Precious Lord, Take My Hand

I had the difficult task today of singing for the funeral of  a 38-year-old mother of three from who died unexpectedly last Thursday.  It was a beautiful, intimate service, attended by so many people who knew her and her family.  She was a wonderful wife and mother, and a talented artist, and a bright, warm, [...]

An Evening Prayer

I’m afraid that I don’t have anything amusing or funny to say today. I’m just not feeling it. So if you want a laugh, it’s probably best to read something else.
One of the reasons that I love being an Episcopalian is that I love the Book of  Common Prayer.  (Actually, I know many people who [...]

Bells and smells

I recently read a statistic that over half of U.S. adults have changed religions.  So I got to thinking about my own religious change; specifically, how I became an Episcopalian, and more importantly, why I’ve stayed an Episcopalian for 24 years, with no thoughts about changing. 
People come to the Episcopal church for lots of reason, [...]

Thursday Meanderings

1. This woman called 911 because McDonalds was out of McNuggets. Ridiculous. I mean, I can see if they were out of Filet-o-Fish, but running out of McNuggets is not an emergency.
2. I’m pretty tired of reading stories like this which suggest that one of the main reasons people survive accidents is because the thought of [...]

A memory seared in my brain

(USA Today photo)
I’m surprisingly disturbed by the fire burning this morning at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. On the face of it, there would appear to be no reason for that.  No one died (or was hurt), and the fire appears to have spared the worship area, although it did suffer water damage. (Note: the fire was declared [...]

Angels and shepherds and kings

Today was the annual Epiphany pageant at St. Christophers.  There is no service which better illustrates the “sacred chaos” of St. C.’s.  Despite several hours of rehearsal, most participants aren’t exactly sure what they’re supposed to be doing.  Children (usually mine) walk randomly across the altar at inopportune moments.  We sing lots of Christmas carols [...]

My first Episcopal blog post, for what it’s worth

I haven’t written anything thus far about being an Episcopalian…that category is still empty on my blog. I’ve thought about it several times. Once, I thought about writing about famous Episcopalians, but the only ones I really know of are Garrison Keillor and Robin Williams (I’m not even sure that he’s still a practicing Episcopalian [...]