prayer – Rob's Reflections

One billboard outside Sandusky, Ohio

Each year my wife and I attend St. Bartholomew’s three-hour Good Friday service. Each year I wonder how on earth I will sit through three hours of music, extended periods of silent prayer, readings on the seven last words of Christ, and a homily on each. Each year the time disappears.

Sinking into Silence

Each year I try to spend a week in silent retreat. With my travel schedule, that can be a challenge. However, if I attach the retreat to other travel, so that I’m already away from the temptations of the office and the “to do” lists of home, I can sometimes swing it.

Five Advent Lessons

This Sunday, the First Sunday in Advent, will mark a new liturgical year. We tend to gloss over that in our culture, focused as we are on the big event: Christmas Day. However, Advent is one of the places where one can feel God at work in the world. Here are five ways to makeContinue reading “Five Advent Lessons”

Poppy Day

Late last Friday night, I landed at London’s Heathrow Airport and made my way to the Central Bus Terminal to catch a bus to Oxford. I was headed there to attend a weekend conference on Healthcare Inequality (perhaps the subject of another post someday). As I was standing at the bus ticket counter, IContinue reading “Poppy Day”

The Kumari’s Blessing (Part One)

Just short of a year after the April 25, 2015 earthquake that struck Nepal, my daughter and I landed in Kathmandu. We were there to visit the recovery programs that Episcopal Relief & Development was supporting. Before leaving Kathmandu to tour the epicenter of the destruction and our work, my daughter and I took anContinue reading “The Kumari’s Blessing (Part One)”

Hurricane Harvey: What can I do to help?

Starting on Sunday, as the scope and devastation of Hurricane Harvey became apparent, my email box began to fill with some version of: “What can I do to help?” I praise God for these emails. When we see images of people suffering, we want to do something. That’s understandable. As Christians, we are called to seek andContinue reading “Hurricane Harvey: What can I do to help?”

Three Everyday Thin Places

You don’t have to travel thousands of miles to find a thin place. In fact, it’s important to find them in your everyday life. But, you have to be looking for them. Here are three thin places that I try to visit on a regular basis.