From The Deacon's Bench

 In the Episcopal Church, it is normal to refer to the Sundays after Epiphany and the Sundays after Pentecost as Ordinary Time.  These two Church "seasons" are noted visually by the use of green altar hangings and green clergy vestments. Since we just celebrated Pentecost, we are in Ordinary Time, however...for well over a year there has not been ordinary times in our daily lives.  In fact,  Nothing has been ordinary.  We have had to and still must change the way we do almost everything in our lives. We have had to isolate ourselves; for some this might not be a change, but for most, social interaction is a basic function in our lives.  When we did not completely isolate, we have had to limit the number of others that we can associate with.  We have been forced to, dare I say it,  CHANGE...change how we do things, and that has included worship.   As a Deacon, I have some specific liturgical duties.  They are important and help defi...

I grew up hearing the phrase "enough is enough" over and over again.  Usually it said to my brother and me because we would be arguing or bickering or just annoying each other. Well, I'm ready to say "enough is enough" to all of those folks who continue to argue against wearing a mask or not getting vaccinated and the rush to "open up" things by allowing larger and larger crowds to come together.   We have been dealing with this pandemic for over a year now, I get it that people are tired of all the regulations but, the regulations have been working, the statistics show as the percentage of vaccinated individuals increases, the percentage of infections decreases. As Christians we learn how live our lives based on what Jesus would do and what Jesus would expect us to do.  Jesus tells us to love one another....show that love by being safe and encouraging everyone in your family and circle of friends to follow the safety protocols and get vaccinated. 

If we were playing a word association game, and if I said the word change, many people would think of the coins we get back from making a purchase.  But I'm not talking about that kind of change... I'm talking about that other kind of change... doing something differently We all know that change happens... You can fight it, but you can't stop it However, while change is a six lettered word, for many folks the idea of change is considered a "Four-Letter Word", in other words... a dirty word. Well, actually, it isn't the word itself that people don't like, it's the concept. For the past year, numerous changes have been made in what we do, or how we do it or if we will ever be able to do it again.   In order to keep people safe during the pandemic, changes have been necessary.  As time passes, it has become apparent that some of the things we have done in the past may never return in exactly the same way. For many people, while they may not like the chang...

 March is a very special month for me.  It is the month of my birth and also the month that our youngest granddaughter was born (one day after my birthday).  It is the month that some garden bulbs start too send forth small green shoots.  Days start to get noticeably longer, the average outside temperature starts to increase and more birds are visible. March is also one of the oddest months of the year weather-wise.  One day it can be like a Winter day and the next a Spring day and once in awhile a Summer day appears.  So it is not surprising that so much of what happens in "My Month" is shall we say "quirky".  As a child, I quickly realized that my birthday was always during Lent and as a result I never had any big birthday parties.  Lent was a time that we ate more simply, never any sweets and we never relented from that discipline, even on Sundays.  It wasn't until I was an adult and chose to become an Episcopalian that I learned that Lent...

Well, I hope the title of this month's "From The Deacon's Bench" got your attention.  Tempus fugit is Latin for "Time Flies" and for me, the phrase "Time flies when you are having fun" was repeated by my parents so often that it is one of those things that is permanently etched in my memory. Until very recently, time did seem to speed up when I was fully engaged in an activity that was joyous or exciting or memorable.  Before I realized it, the hours seemed to disappear.  Exciting travel to various countries around the world seemed to be over in a flash.  Special events in the lives of family or friends seemed to be over almost before they got started. Well, the past year is indeed the exception to this "rule"!  On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency. Over 103 million cases and over 2.23 million deaths worldwide and growing.  Living in fear, not being with family or frie...

 I've been actively involved with the Episcopal Church for over fifty years.  I started attending just as the "new" Book of Common Prayer was being introduced. It took several years and there were various versions of the book in the pews.  It was referred to as the new prayer book back then and to this very day, some folks still call it the "new" prayer book.  I have had conversations from time to time with folks who still use their 1928 prayer books for personal prayers and daily offices, and they would tell me that they receive a special level of comfort using those forms and reading those words. I have served on the Vestry of several parishes and since being ordained I have been expected to attend Vestry meetings with voice, but no vote.  As a result, I can give you countless examples of what it is like when somebody proposes that the parish changes something like service times, or carpet color or how or when to decorate the sanctuary for holidays.  Most...

 I have started several posts to this blog over the last few days and was not pleased with the direction they were taking so it was "Off with their heads"... electronically that is. So I started to look at some of my past "From The Deacon's Bench" articles.  The one from December 2015 caught my eye and I realized that in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic, when things are not normal, perhaps a return to the past might be in order.  So here is the Flashback: Gifts As I sit to write this, it is the eve of “Cyber Monday”, this has closely followed “Black Friday” and the yet to be named “Get it before its Gone Saturday” and “Forget Church…SHOP IT Sunday”.   I know things in the world change, and I have to admit that as I age, I tend to be less welcoming of some changes, but that is not the reason that I am concerned about this particular change.   I grew up in an extended family that was very large.   My Mom had five brothers and six sisters, and I can’t eve...