Every Sunday, Christians rise to confess the faith once delivered: “We believe in one God… We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ… We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” The Nicene Creed moves with a steady rhythm of affirmations, statements about what God has done in history, and what he has promised to…
Psalms and Prayers after an Assassination
After an assassination, we really ought to pray. By definition, an assassination is a surprise, a shocking and unexpected murder of a political or religious leader. We remember assassinations because we feel them personally; at the assassination of public figures, our minds and bodies participate in the shock. This shock produces anger, and anger can…
Why Do Anglicans Pray for the Dead?
For those new to the Anglican tradition, it may surprise you that the Book of Common Prayer, in all of its major editions, offers prayers for those who have died in the Christian faith. We don’t just pray for those who mourn but for the departed themselves. We see these prayers for the dead in…
Death, Be Not Proud: A Reading of John Donne’s Holy Sonnet X
“Death, Be not proud,” also known as Holy Sonnet X, is John Donne’s great poem in mockery of Death. Composed in 1609, the poem was published posthumously in 1633. It is fitting that Donne got the final word, laughing at Death from his grave. The power of the poem is its reversal of our experience….
Burial at Sea on the Galilee
Ashes, Ashes Tears filled Jessie’s eyes when she took my hand one evening and said, “I brought Derrick’s ashes. Could we have a service tomorrow in one of these beautiful places around the Sea of Galilee?” I knew her well. She was with her son on our trip to the Holy Land, which her husband…
The Liturgy Will Pray for You: A Journey Through Grief with the Book of Common Prayer
I did not become a Christian in a liturgical tradition, but I was introduced to liturgical prayer and worship very early in my walk. I found liturgy especially helpful in giving me words and phrases to cling to when my own prayers felt “stuck.” Now, after 21 years as a Christian, having shifted into the…
COVID–19 and the Death of Death
Death is on people’s minds these days, whether they want it to be or not. According to a recent report by White House science advisors, there is a chance that between 100,000 and 240,000 people will die because of the Coronavirus. In the face of such a staggering number of fatalities, what each of us…
This Holy Week, Remember That You Are Going to Die
This week, the Presbyterian theologian Carl Trueman reflected on what Christians ought to learn about ourselves and about the world from the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing, he says, seems obvious: “The levels of general panic indicate that few of us have been properly prepared for the reality of our own mortality.” Many Christians have reflected…
I Don’t Want a Celebration of Life, I Want a Burial Service
When I die, please don’t call my burial service a Celebration of Life. Don’t get me wrong, I hope that people will want to celebrate my life. I just don’t want this to replace my Christian burial. Bury me according to the rites of a Christian. I want to be one more brother in Christ,…
Thank you Bishop, and Good-bye
Ten years ago Fran and I flew to Orlando to say some words to my former bishop, Donis Patterson. We had not been friends, but when I had heard that his health was failing I felt we had to go to see him. To thank him. In 1985 he appointed me as ‘Missioner’ of the diocese and sent me…
