Innerdriving

Epiphany 3A Matthew 4:12-23 St. Matthias January 26, 2020 Recently I found an old post card I had been given years ago and thought I’d lost.   It wasn’t from a vacation.   It didn’t come in the mail.   This post card was handed to me almost 30 years ago at a new beginning.   It was my first Sunday as a priest and I was about to process down the center aisle of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Collierville, TN.   On the front of this post card is a picture of the Elvis Presley Meditation Garden at Graceland.   On the back was a note from the Rev. Reynolds Cheney, Rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Memphis.   This was the parish who sent me to seminary.   Reynolds wrote, “Remember whose you are, and you aren’t the King. Now I must tell you that every time since that Sunday, when I walk down the aisle of any parish, I remember those words.   On that Sunday morning many years ago – that postcard made me remember why...

Epiphany 2A John 1:29-42 January 19, 2020 St. Matthias            This week I passed a Bible test.   It was one of those online things where they ask you a whole bunch of questions just so you will see all their ads and they can make money. These sites are called Click-Bait and I bet I clicked 100 times.   But I can’t resist.   I want to see if they actually know what they are talking about when it comes to the Scriptures.   There were questions from both the Old and New Testaments.   There was even one from the Apocrypha.   The more questions I answered the more difficult this quiz became to the point that I was determined to finish just to prove that I could do it.   After all, I went to seminary.   I have a master’s degree.   I remembered that it was Rahab who helped Joshua capture Jericho.   When they asked who was the painted Queen?   I knew that it was Jezebel f...

Christmas 1A John 1:1-18 December 29, 2019 St. Matthias            Welcome to the 5 th Day of Christmas and I hope you received your 5 Gold Rings today - plus the 4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and of course your Partridge in a Pear Tree.   This year, if your true love faithfully follows the traditional French carol and presents you with all the gifts for each day it will have cost $38,993.59 according to the Annual Christmas Price Index published each year by PNC Bank. It is just 2 tenths of 1 percent more than last year, but since the index was first published in 1984, the cost of those 12 days’ worth of gifts has almost doubled.   But, the real question is - DID you get the RIGHT gold rings.   If you are thinking in terms of metal circles that fit around you fingers or wrists – think again.   The 5 gold rings in the song probably refer to ring neck pheasants.   I was als...

Christmas Eve Year A Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) St. Matthias December 24, 2019 It had to be seven zero zero!   We know it better as 7:00 am and this was the time when me, my brother and sister could leave our rooms on Christmas morning. My sister kept the time.   I usually had been awake since 5:00 am or before.   The anticipation had been building to new and unbearable heights of excitement.   After months of planning, wish lists sent to Santa Claus, and a mile of wrapping paper - it took mere moments to discover the true mysteries inside those boxes.   Countless times in the weeks leading up to Christmas morning, we would shake the presents as each new one appeared under the tree.   There were a thousand and one guesses.   It was the season of expectation and anticipation.   And we had no idea what would happen! Isn’t it wonderful!   You wait and worry and dream and hope and then it all happens.   Mary and Joseph had known...