“To write well and speak well is mere vanity if one does not live well.” St. Bridget of Sweden
Note to self: There are enough hours in the day. You would not thrive if there were more. If you cannot get it all done in a day, perhaps you were not designed to get it all done in a day. Turn off the screen. Smell the outside. Wrestle a small child. And then start again tomorrow.
Off the grid for the weekend. Very much looking forward to the 12th Adventure Trip of The South. We have clearly bent what we mean by South, but not Adventure.
This is Malcolm Guite talking about his forthcoming Arthuriad Merlin’s Isle in our crammed dining room in May 2024 when he was in town to speak at our Commencement ceremony. I could not be more personally or professionally excited to start reading in 2026!
Sermon: Becoming Saints (Proper 10, 2025)
In which I explore the deep human question of identity through Deuteronomy, Colossians, and the parable of the Good Samaritan. Before we ask “What must I do?” we must first ask “Who am I called to be?” Transcript
A framed photo we took during one of our 5am visits to a nearly empty Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the latest addition to our prayer desk. Also featured: an icon my wife brought home from the Camino, and small rubber Jesus courtesy of the kids.
The relationship between being and doing is dripping throughout the lectionary next Sunday.
OT: become a new people after Egypt NT: become saints in light of the cross and resurrection Gospel: “What must I DO?” is answered by Jesus telling the lawyer to “BE a neighbor”
Doing the Lord’s work. Because sometimes the Lord’s work involves finalizing restroom tile colors.
One (and only one) of these is compelling and true to observation, reason, and experience. Nature is more than raw material; it is less than divine.
I say this as an outdoorsman, a priest, and a father who enjoys watching his family encounter the awe and beauty of the world.
This is true every Sunday. As a priest serving a parish with those impacted by the Hill County flooding, it was especially true yesterday. Lord, have mercy.
A proposal: what it takes to maintain proper human interaction in the digital age.
Note: as is often the case, this short note started with a quick thought I recorded in a parking lot. Below is the first attempt to put down in words some of what I am trying to say. If you are curious and okay listening to unpolished thoughts, here is the original voice memo. Here is the slightly more polished attempt: Opening Premise Humans are better off when they spend more time talking with family, friends, and neighbors than they do listening to strangers.
My recent desire on walks to recognize—by sight and sound—the birds of our neighborhood has nothing to do with turning forty. Right? Just a renewed desire to know and appreciate the world around me. Right?
Independence Day is as good occasion as any to be reminded of what it means to live in a particular nation as a Christian.
And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not expose them. They share their meals, but not their wives.
Before you can intentionally form a human child, you have to understand what a human child is, and what a human child is for. Unfortunately, most of the modern educational movements of the past century have, as their foundation, a woefully inadequate anthropology.
A 60 word reaction to 28 Weeks Later that may contain a spoiler or two
If you can survive the first hour of stress, the final five minutes of almost pure garbage, and a sneaking suspicion that the most powerful moment of the film was meant to serve as an emotional appeal for the merits of physician assisted suicide, 28 Years Later has some otherwise powerful life-affirming and monastic imagery stuck in the middle.
After a 90 minute lightning delay, it has turned out to be a beautiful evening for the beautiful game.
Every day of the school year, all adults and students on our campus stop what they are doing to gather together for Noonday Prayer. Starting in January 2026, we will gather in the Sanctuary of our new campus for this daily office. I cannot wait.
“Beauty is goodness made manifest to the senses.”
“If we live for ourselves, we are necessarily unhappy.”
Fr. Joseph-Michel of Solemes Abbey
My contribution to an essay series commemorating the Council of Nicaea was published today.
In it I offer a thought experiment I have used to teach the Councils and Creeds over the years.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/the-nicene-creed-deciding-the-rules-of-the-game/