Celtic Odyssey

Mark 3:20-35 (MSG; adapted): 1 20-21 Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered — so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was getting carried away with himself. 22-27 The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working black magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power. Jesus confronted their slander with a story: “Does it make sense to send a devil to catch a devil, to use Satan to get rid of Satan? A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn’t be any Satan left. Do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man, and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out. 28-30 “Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said th...

Today marks the 6th anniversary of my ordination. And this weekend, my friends and family were gathered at Casowasco for our annual retreat. There were great sessions and meals and times of prayer. And Saturday, there were others who were noviced and ordained into the ministry. The community has been in my thoughts and prayers all week. And with that in mind, I wanted to answer what seems to be a simple and often asked question— “Are you a priest or a monk? Is it ‘Father’ Jack or ‘Brother’ Jack?” The shorter answer is, “Yes.” The longer answer is a little more complicated. I’m a professed member of the Lindisfarne Community , an international, independent, ecumenical religious community with professed members in Indonesia, the UK, and the US. We’re a new (or “secular”) monastic community in the Anglo-Celtic tradition. A friend of the community described us as, “A religious order with apostolic succession.” And that apostolic succession is the part that trips u...

Here is my reflection on this year’s retreat. I’ll break this down into three sections. General, People, and Ordination. General The focus of this year’s retreat was Serving Others: Seeking Wellbeing . In our first session, we discussed where the Lindisfarne Community (LC from here forward) started, where it is now, and where it is going -- at least in one area. And it’s to that bit I will focus on. The LC’s “Mother House” (the building overseen by the Abbess and Abbett) is in Ithaca, New York. It’s where LC started and continues to be a place of ministry and support. Over the last year, one of our priests has been cultivating a “Daughter House” (the building overseen by a Prioress or Prior). This is kind of like a “local chapter” of the Mother House, where the Prior follows closely to the model of the Mother House. In this instance, however, New Seeds Priory also adds a Zen Buddhist element. It’s an inter-spiritual, contemplative practice community. This is an exciting new...

Thank you, Sara for inviting me to speak this morning. And thank you all for having me. I’ve actually been here a few times before and really enjoyed it. I’d like to start off by telling you about a dream I once had. I used to live in Chickasha and we had a small but prominent Mennonite community there. The men can be identified by their attire and their...beardiness. In my dream, I’m standing in a farmhouse with a Mennonite man. We’re looking out a window into a field. I turn to him because we’re having a conversation yet there’s no sound. When I look back out the window, I see a huge tornado coming right at us. There’s no way out. When I turn to my companion, he has transformed into a monster. I woke up. I told a friend of mine about my dream. She said that it was obvious enough to her what it meant. The Mennonite man represented the church. I represented a challenge to the church. The storm and the monster represented the trouble that would come from both outside and inside the chur...