The Spirit blows where it will We do not know where it comes from or where it is going, yet we can feel it all around us: in one moment a cool breeze that helps us catch our breath as we close our eyes and relax in peace, while in the next moment a... Continue Reading →
A Year of Seeing: July 9: “So that our eyes look forward”
So that our eyes look forward What does it mean to be present in all of this, around us and within? To be present, surrounded by so much we cannot control, yet called on to pay attention to it. The wind blows where it will. Which wind? How will we know when we lick... Continue Reading →
A Year of Seeing: “119”
119 I had lost count of how many days we have been here in this new way of life that we keep resisting on some level but that is relentless in its insistence that we are being transformed into something different, something possible and whole. Our fears grab our ankles and choke our voices... Continue Reading →
Standing on our own two feet: a Reflection for July 5
Standing on our own two feet A Reflection for July 5, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Stuart Higginbotham [This homily is partly based on this video of Thomas Merton's last lecture. I highly commend it to you...] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywE6bhApcSk Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give... Continue Reading →
“Live in this Place:” A Reflection on Jeremiah 28
Live in this place A Reflection on Jeremiah 28 This morning, I want to invite us into a different type of reflection, given what we continue to face in our world. There is such a tendency to fill space with words, with some idea that will relieve anxiety or seek to fix a problem, to... Continue Reading →
A Year of Seeing:June 15: “On a bench at the auto shop”
On a bench at the auto shop To take time each day to sit in quietness, to sit still in the busyness that presses upon us and lures us like a siren to join it and yield our groundedness to the distractions that sap our soul. To sit, to plant ourselves in one place,... Continue Reading →
Guard Your Heart: A Reflection for June 14
Guard Your Heart A Reflection for June 14, 2020 The Rev. Dr. Stuart Higginbotham You should know I had an entirely different sermon written for today, but yesterday I really struggled to know what to say right now. The original words I had crafted so carefully, with quotes by Meister Eckhart that weaved with the... Continue Reading →
A Year of Seeing: June 10: “Spider Web Meditation”
Spider Web Meditation You must sit still with the rays of light riding through the branches on chariots of dust to see the shimmer of the thin strand of the spider’s web that connects this leaf with that one over there. In this moment of stillness, of stillness, it shocks you: The connection of... Continue Reading →
Pentecost Sermon: Some masks are going on; other masks are coming off
Some masks are going on; Other masks are coming off: The struggle of living in community Pentecost 2020 Stuart Higginbotham Last week, I made my first pastoral visit in two months. Two months. I had to get special permission from the bishop to go and visit Ann Beadling in the nursing home wing of... Continue Reading →
A Year of Seeing: May 21: “Stone and Water”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clh8odj0Iiw Stone and Water Be a stone, planted firm as a cliff, on which the waves of reaction are exhausted and eventually settle and gently lap the sandy shore. Be a stream of water, a river, whose persistent flow and presence crosses the rigid boundary of the stone by passing through it--and beyond. ... Continue Reading →
