Celtic Odyssey

“Why don’t you go to seminary?” I was standing in my Mom’s kitchen. We had just been talking about some things I was learning in my study of the Scriptures. We did that a lot — talked about theology, Christ, G‑d, predestination, free will, church history, etc. You name it, if it was about our walks with Christ, we talked about it. For the most part. Obviously there were times when we didn’t see eye-to-eye about things, but those times were very few and far between. She always had a way of asking the right question in the right way to make me dig deeper and try a little harder at making complicated things easier to understand. I remember one time (and no, it wasn’t at band camp) I was publishing a monthly newsletter. In it I chronicled my understandings about “end-times” (eschatology) and “salvation” (soteriology). I always gave her a copy. “What’d you think?” I regularly sought her feedback and input. “Well, it was good for the first couple of paragraphs but after that, yo...

Mark 4.35ff (CEB): Later that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along. Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped. But Jesus was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?” He got up and gave orders to the wind, and he said to the lake, “Silence! Be still!” The wind settled down and there was a great calm. Jesus asked them, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?” Overcome with awe, they said to each other, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” ~~~ I’m afraid. I remember a storm like this when I was a boy. It came upon us out of no where. Our little boat capsized and my older brother drowned. I’m so afraid. It’s late. We have Jesus with us but he’s sleeping. Sleeping! ...

I had a dream last night… Well, several dreams, really. It was one of the very rare occasions where my dream continued after I awakened for whatever reason. They were all about my dear friend, Alan Sutherland. We were in various situations — working, serving, playing, dining, etc. I kept seeing his smile, hearing his beautiful laugh, feeling his strong and gentle arms wrapped around me in a warm embrace, seeing the laughter in his eyes, feeling the love of G‑d and neighbor in his actions and words. Photo by Jocelyn Pedersen You see, Alan was the rector of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Norman, Oklahoma. He, along with his lovely wife, Judi, served at St. Mike’s and the rest of the Norman community for about 5 years. Whether he was leading a morning Eucharist at a local Senior Center or coaching and reffing a soccer (football) game or being a listening ear and strong support as a chaplain at Norman Regional Hospital or serving the people in various ways at St. Michael’s, Al...