Conversations of a Theological nature

The presentation of the gifts My understanding of tithing is closely tied to how I of worship. Whenever I have to look at something that is important to me I find myself always returning to our Eucharistic practice. The Eucharistic celebration is an offering of our time; it is a time for us to come into the rest of God’s presence, rest from our labors and a time when we give to God of our resources. One of my favorite rites in the Eucharist is the presentation of gifts. Here at St Stephens we don’t do it, however, an important part of the presentation of gifts is before the offertory is taken; where the bread and wine is brought to the altar. This rite comes from the early church where people brought [up] bread and wine which they worked to make, for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This is a simple gesture (that may be easily dismissed) and yet it is full of depth and meaning. It is a reminder that when we are making an offering be it monetary or goods, we are offering ...

My Faith journey – 31 January 2016  In the name of the Father, an of the Son and of my he Holy Spirit. Amen. In preparation for today I had to wrestles with texts that would be easy to preach on in any situation other than today. Relating the texts to my story ha been a challenge. In the gospel Jesus is recorded as having said, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (v21). God says to Jeremiah "before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."(v5). Paul's explanation of love in action is one we are both familiar with and challenged by. In all three readings, the only passage that has some resemblance to my story is Jeremiah's response to God, " ah, Lord God! Truly I don't know how to speak", (v6). Feeling ill equipped to do something because I don't know how or because I know my shortcomings is something I am familiar with. After consulting 3 different lectionaries hoping one of them would ...

writing has a quality to it that allows one to think more clearly and makes room for one to say more than they would in any other form of communication. this is possibly the thing about writing i enjoy. although i rarely make time to write as much as I would like to. Alas i have decided to engage my creative faculties by starting a blog or rather think of it as a way of creating a space where i can do what i love and engage in a process of emptying the ideas in my head. the emptying of ideas in my head is more about sifting through the ideas that are worth following through and which ones are to be discarded. this is something that a friend of mine has encouraged me to write as I often share my experiences with him.i hope this will be a fruitful exercise. grammar and punctuation are only considered important if it affects what i am trying to say.