Tag: Holiness

  • Holey and Holy

    Holey and Holy

    I’m swimming in the Gulf, off the coast of Osprey, Florida (near Sarasota) a few days ago while in town celebrating my mom’s 90th birthday.  And as I often do when in ocean water, and have stopped swimming to take in the vista around me … I dig for seashells with my feet.  I find…

  • Holy Mosh Pit

    (Please be aware that during the season of Lent, these weekly devotions will be arriving in your inbox on Tuesdays.) Chaos … it looked like human chaos.  People all over the place … clots of three, four and seven people …different topics circulating in each group … loud laughter … all fueled by Anne’s cookies…

  • Faith Rituals in a Secular World

    Everyone is decked out in their uniforms for their morning responsibilities.  They gather in a circle and create a bit of sanctuary amid the chaos that surrounds them … laughter, movement, local urchins running around, and beverages being consumed.  Their leader offers up ritual words for the task before them, invoking God’s blessing on their…

  • The Saints Who Walk Among Us

    In biblical Greek the word that is most commonly translated as “saint” is hagios.  Note that the word hagios is actually an adjective, not a noun.  It is a word that describes.  Its best translation is “sacred” or “holy.” In the Bible it is often used to describe God’s word … as St. Paul does,…

  • Cathedrals

    Email Devotion, Pentecost 8 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens. –Psalm 8:1, NRSV I was driving home from a day with our youth at this year’s Confirmation Camp at Camp Kirchenwald.  And as I was heading south along Mt. Wilson…

  • Holy Vessels

    Email Devotion, Pentecost 6 “Qodesh cheres … Holy vessels.”  That was the phrase the guest rabbi used in his comments.  But in describing the Jewish usage of the phrase, he noted that the description did not mean a vessel which embodies holiness in its nature, but that of an ordinary vessel holding holy things. The…