We updated our website somewhat. Www.stmaryscb.org

Odd question: Has anyone been experiencing that families don’t want anything to do planning a funeral service? Like they have no idea where to begin or what to do? The church is simply “taking care of it.”

I think for my advent discipline I’m going to unsubscribe from every marketing email I get. Inspiration comes from what feels like a saturation of marketing emails and texts for the past 7 days

During my play through of Witcher 3 I stumbled across the Rabbit of Caerbannog

Doing a sermon series of sorts on Isaiah this year for Advent

He is risen

For advent we are going to start up a midweek service. It will be a brief meditative service of prayers with taize music and periods of silence. I perused some of the Church in Wales “Times and Seasons” and found some things that would work just fine, so I adapted a bit and wove them together.

Breaking: Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, has died. She was 111 years old

One of my favorite things is getting to tell friends who are new to NYC that the subway "stand clear of the closing doors please" voice is a trans woman named Bernie Wagenblast and she's amazing.

Like yeah there was the bailout but also no one went to fucking prison I swear a Democrat could build an entire national campaign on “I will reintroduce fucking *consequences* to the equation, like we are going to make that a thing” and win on that alone

If you see this post your getaway vehicle

I feel like at some point the Lord is gonna come back because the whole place has just gone bananas. “Ok operation trumpet is a go. The sharks are now jumping themselves”

Currently at the local comedy night who is doing a benefit for the parish food pantry They asked me to tell a funny story and I said “that would break the seal of confession”

We've been drowning in median voter theory nonsense for so long, trying to appeal to this mythical centrist vote, that I think it's become easy to forget that having courage in your convictions, standing up for them no matter what, will in some cases inspire even your enemies

There is an article on Substack from a local news org about how a school district is requiring membership in middle school student clubs to students w written permission. HS clubs remain unchanged. Why? A “gender and sexuality alliance” club was started at the middle school level. (1/x)

We’re glad to share a new product: The Booklet of Common Prayer! It’s a passport-sized collection of prayers to take with you — fitting in your pocket, it has everything for daily prayer, seven days a week. Take the BCP (at least some of it) with you! shop.forwardmovement.org/product/2700 📕

So … my parish is getting a Deacon! 🎶💕🎉🥳🎊🙌

This time between All Saints and the First Sunday of Advent (inclusive) is the part for the lectionary I call “Real Talk with Jesus.”

One thing about priesting in a small town it’s really important to go to a lot of town events in clerical if only to make an appearance. I think of it as after hours coffee hour.

The design of the graphic from the WSJ is certainly a choice.

Apropos of nothing I was somehow privy to summaries of the conversations surrounding his departure from Harvard and the general theme was “why did we ever think he was a good idea for here?”

I remember a vestry meeting at another parish where we were thinking about how to diversify our investment fund. Someone suggested crypto. Some discussion began and I interjected “before the vestry discusses this further you should know the day this parish invests in crypto is the day I resign.”

Give a man a fish and someone with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about people getting free handouts. Teach a man to fish? Yeah, that person with a thousand fishes is going to bitch about that too.

In a world where you aren’t allowed to rent a car until you are 25, because your frontal lobe isn’t fully online, maybe arguing semantics about whether Epstein’s victims were young-young, or just kinda young is Not What We Should Be Doing, you know?

Good morning. I’ve never been one to gush over popes but if this is real …

Important to understand the Epstein stuff and the fascism and the corruption are, in a lot of ways, really all the same story from different angles: powerful men who can and do abuse vulnerable people around them because they can, and because systems of elite accountability catastrophically failed

I’m reminded of two very wealthy men I worked fairly closely with. One had as his mission in his later years to give all his money … apart from a set amount in his will for family … he spent his final years pretty happy and content. And the other who is still around has spent his entire life …

Apropos of nothing / Fun fact - one of Senator Kaine’s offices is in walking distance from my house.

I was going to skip compline with my Dominican brothers and sisters this evening bc it’s been a long weekend of peopling (2 events plus convention plus Sunday) But good lord do I need to pray right now.

Senator @markwarner.bsky.social and Senator @kaine.senate.gov I am imploring you to not negotiate with people who have proven to have no good faith. If they want the government to re-open let them break the filibuster. The majority could open the government tomorrow if it wanted to.

This afternoon my parish hosted a silent auction and tea for the local artists guild which is probably the most culturally episcopalian thing I’ve posted here

Rich people are complaining about their taxes going up and like, can't you just make more money? I swear, rich people these days just don't want to work anymore. They're so lazy and entitled. Like pull yourself up by your gold plated bootstraps, rich people, don't you always say that's so easy?

It has been wild to watch the story unfold. Every church I know is really hesitant to give money to people for fear of being scammed though we will move heaven and earth to pay off someone’s utility bill, back rent, mortgage, mechanic, etc. We will even call each other saying “can you chip in?”

When Jones was a senator sometimes members of his staff would come to church at the little place in DC where I was seminarian

At diocesan convention we passed this resolution basically telling ICE to pound sand without a valid warrant.

Please in the name of all that is holy turn the sound on and watch this

The most Louisiana headline you’ll read today

At convention today during noonday prayer we were asked to pray the Lords Prayer aloud in the language of our hearts so of course I prayed it in Welsh. A former C of E priest (whom I love dearly) turned to me and whispered “show off!” In jest of course. We had a good laugh over lunch.

Twice this week I have used “The Crown” to help explain the particulars of some episcopal church practices. Husband: so why do you have three bishops? Me: well, there’s assisting bishops, bishops suffragan, and then THE bishop.

Today is diocesan convention in Virginia.

May this become a rallying cry that people of all faiths and of none can share

I’m disappointed no one has thought to do a mark of the beast thing about this. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark … that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Rev 13:16-17

No matter where I live I will always miss living in manhattan.

I don’t know the outer boroughs but I can tell you that in Manhattan the beige sections are where all the money is… upper east side (THE rich) Turtle Bay, SoHo, Battery Park City (those who have a chance of becoming THE rich)

this is genuinely wild

(Sigh) spoke w one of my parishioners today about how she’s doing with the shutdown. She’s been over it.

Good morning. I am playing ghosts of Tsushima and it is as dark as it is beautiful. It is set during the attempted mongol invasion of Japan. You play Jin, a lone samurai who survived a horrific battle. 1/x

In honor of All Souls here is a picture from about 2011 at St Peter’s Key West. The deacon, a Bahamian, is on the left. The sacristan is in the middle and the priest is on the right. Venue is our newly painted lady chapel. Pretty sure took the pic.

And one was a priest and one was a queen and I am one who is both of these And there’s no reason no not the least God help me I’ll be a saint too 🎶🎶

The feast of All Saints is a reminder, among other things, of the infinite goodness of God. No one person can know more than a fragment of God’s love and glory, but we see a slightly different aspect reflected in each of the faces of the saints, in all their sometimes slightly weird diversity.