Getting Lost in the Woods

Our passage today focuses on Jesus’ royal entrance into Jerusalem for Passover.It’s easy to imagine: Leafy branches waving in the air and scattering the path. Jesus riding on a colt. The energetic crowd cheering and singing ‘Hosanna’. The procession probably felt similar to when we have watched floats and marching bands pass by the church for the Franklin County Fair parade; or the parades held in Boston after one of our regional teams won a national title; or like the crowds gathered for a presidential inauguration.  We know what that energy and fun feels like in our bones.  This kind of procession has an air of triumph and provides a common bond amongst the gathered people.  Yet we know where this journey through Holy Week will take us.  It will be this same crowd, or a very similar one, who days later will be crying out, ‘Crucify him’.  After the storming of the capital on January 6, we know all too well how a crowd’s purpose can shift in an instant, from bo...

One of the core values of the Anglican tradition is reflected in the three legged stool.  This idea that Anglican theology and practice are informed by three legs which must be kept in balance in order for the stool to remain steady.  Those three legs are scripture, tradition, and reason.  It has always felt empowering that our theology and practice is informed by scripture, tradition,  and reason .  As we learn and evolve as a species, so does our understanding of God.  I sometimes imagine God’s dream for creation is like a very large piece of marble, and that as stewards of God’s creation, we have been charged with doing the sculpting.  As stewards, our job is not to decide what the marble block will become, but to faithfully chip away at the marble so the sculpture, God’s dream, might become fully unveiled.  Each generation has slowly chipped away at the marble.   As the block takes on different shapes, we sometimes believe we ha...