wnknisely

wnknisely, 4 days ago to random

Ascensiontide: The Apostles act on their own, taking a step in faith

What I find fascinating in this week’s reading from Acts is the way the gathered Apostles decided to chose the next Apostle, and the faith that they displayed in so doing. First, they began to prepare for the future. (Twelve was an important number, but it stopped being the defining number. Apostles were killed, or died. New Apostles emerged or were elected.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/05/11/ascensiontide-the-apostles-act-on-their-own-taking-a-step-in-faith/

wnknisely, 6 days ago to random

The Conversation: Political polarization may resolve itself

Polarization may phase out of American politics as younger generations shift into power: The sharp increase in political polarization in America over the past 50 years has been driven in part by how different generations think about politics. But the rise of younger generations to political power may actually erase the deep social divisions associated with polarization. That’s one of the strong possibilities…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/05/09/the-conversation-political-polarization-may-resolve-itself/

wnknisely, 11 days ago to random

What does it mean to be a Friend of Jesus?

Perhaps you’ve heard someone describe themself as a “Friend of Bill”? That doesn’t mean they’re literally a friend of a person named Bill, they’re not in a relationship. It means that the person is a following the 12 Step program that Bill W had a part in creating. It means that the person is working on overcoming their addiction and trying maintain their sobriety.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/05/04/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-friend-of-jesus/

wnknisely, 15 days ago to random

The quality of holiness

This surfaced in my daily review of highlights from books I’ve read over the past couple of decades. I hope we still have space in our common life in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion for the irrational holiness of the numinous.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/04/30/the-quality-of-holiness/

wnknisely, 18 days ago to random

Jesus is the vine, it all depends on him

All nourishment, all life comes from him. We use that nourishment and that life to bring forth fruit and seeds. Fruit that will feed others. Seeds that will plant new vines, with roots that go deep into the dark rich soil and bring forth everything that is necessary for more fruit and new seeds to be created. That seems simple and clear, but I don’t think we generally think about what it means.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/04/27/jesus-is-the-vine-it-all-depends-on-him/

wnknisely, 25 days ago to random

A new kind of Shepherd

Describing the ruler of the people as a shepherd of the people is common in Mediterranean cultures. The Pharaoh is often depicted holding a flail and a shepherd’s crook as a sign that he was both a war leader and a shepherd to the people of his Empire. The rulers of Babylon and Assyria were described in the same way. King David was a shepherd before he was the King.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/04/20/a-new-kind-of-shepherd/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

The Wounds Remain. They point to something important.

My apologies again this week. I’m writing this from our diocesan Camp and Conference Center (ECC) where I’m spending the weekend on retreat with the deacons of Rhode Island. It’s an incredible blessing to spend this time with them, to get reacquainted after being dispersed around the state and from each other for over a year, to hear their stories, and to pray together.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/04/13/the-wounds-remain-they-point-to-something-important/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

Binding and Loosing; the role of the Church in a post Resurrection Cosmos

It’s been quite the week for me. We had a wonderful celebration of Easter Day at Trinity Church in Newport RI, and then I jumped headlong into a long list of chores and tasks that got put off during the last weeks of Lent and Holy Week. I say all that to ask for your understanding that I’m not posting a new sermon, but rather reposting one from three years ago.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/04/06/binding-and-loosing-the-role-of-the-church-in-a-post-resurrection-cosmos/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

Easter Faith Brings Hope Into the World Today

There’s good reason to be worried. There’s good reason to be pessimistic. There is little reason to be hopeful. But Easter brings hope in the midst of doubt. For those who have eyes to see, or hearts to discern; Easter changed everything, though only a small group of people understood that at the time and that might well be true now too.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/30/easter-faith-brings-hope-into-the-world-today/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

To human eyes, an upside down triumph

What we think of success and power is not how God thinks of them. God who has everything, all success and all power, gives it all up to save us and to transform who we are, and to remake the Creation that had gone sideways. Jesus, stages the “anti” Triumph when he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He comes as saving victim, who forgives us while he is dying, a death that happens because of our rejection and turning from God.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/23/to-human-eyes-an-upside-down-triumph/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

Success!
https://www.threads.net/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

Able to follow myself on Threads here on Twit.social Mastodon. Now if the big news agencies turn on sharing, and they keep posting to Threads, I can access all the stuff I want to access in good old comfortable Ivory!

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

The Return of Sacral Rulership?

The Divine role of Emperor or King seems to be making a comeback. The Return of Sacral Rulership?: Ancients would learn, and our Founders too, that the language of sacral rulership is incompatible with a functioning democracy or republic. In 1787 Ben Franklin famously declared that with the Constitution, the founders had given America “a Republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin knew well the perils faced by republics because he had an…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/18/the-return-of-sacral-rulership/

wnknisely, 1 month ago to random

The Cross was not the end, but it was the point

Jesus came into this world, specifically to die on the Cross of the Roman Empire. He came to be die a death of humiliation and dehumanization. And he came to live again after that happened. The Easter moment is the overthrowing of the violence and horror of the cross. It is God’s emphatic rejection of violence and alienation from one another.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/16/the-cross-was-not-the-end-but-it-was-the-point/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

Please pray: An Update on Haiti – from The Episcopal Church

An Update on Haiti – The Episcopal Church: First and foremost, we call on all Episcopalians throughout the Church to pray for the Diocese of Haiti and for Haitians everywhere. Pray for peace and stability in the diocese, that a way forward may be found towards clear and healthy leadership. Pray for peace and stability in the country, that there may be a peaceful resolution to the governance crisis.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/14/please-pray-an-update-on-haiti-from-the-episcopal-church/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

The rise of authoritanianism – a return to our past

If you haven’t read “American Schism” by Seth David Radwell and Jonathan Israel, I recommend that you do. It’s been a popular recent choice for book groups. It’s a study of the different currents present in the Enlightenment movement and how those were present in the shaping American Politics in the 18th century. I came across this quote this morning when I reviewing my notes:

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/12/the-rise-of-authoritanianism-a-return-to-our-past/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

Jesus must be lifted up so that we can see the truth and have a chance to reject the lie

When the people are murmuring in the wilderness, dreaming of returning to captivity and oppression, God sends the seraph, the “dragons” to lead them to a change of mind, a metanoia, a repentance. Moses makes a bronze serpent and lifts it up - so that people, looking up, changing their vision, their perspective, by viewing a bronze serpent, like the one on Pharaoh’s headdresss and…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/09/jesus-must-be-lifted-up-so-that-we-can-see-the-truth-and-have-a-chance-to-reject-the-lie/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

One Step at a Time

I am at the House of Bishop's Spring retreat and am not able to post a sermon, and I didn't want to try to repost the one from three years ago... we're in a different context now than we were then, and I don't think it speaks to this moment. As I mentioned in the sermon filmed last week, one of my favorite preachers and writers in the Episcopal Church is the Rev.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/03/03/one-step-at-a-time/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

Sometimes we have won when to everyone else it seems we have lost

This week’s Gospel reading tells of Jesus surprising teaching to his disciples that the Messiah must suffer and die. He told them this just outside the gates of the seat of Roman power in the region, a place that the Hellenistic conquerers of Palestine used a cultural center to spread the Greek cult of Victory. It’s not surprising, given the context, that the disciples argued with him.

https://entangledstates.org/2024/02/24/sometimes-we-have-won-when-to-everyone-else-it-seems-we-have-lost/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

What’s your absolute favorite Bible verse?

Maple Anglican (@mapleanglican.bsky.social) over on BlueSky posted a question this afternoon asking people to share their favorite verse in the entire Bible. What a great question. Mine is "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). I can barely read that without tearing up at Christmas each year. What’s yours? Is there…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/02/19/whats-your-absolute-favorite-bible-verse/

wnknisely, 2 months ago to random

We are able to triumph, in the end, because of the life of Jesus that lives within us.

We begin our Lenten journey this, as is customary, by reading the Gospel story of Jesus’ trials and temptation in the Wilderness. But this year, the middle year of our three year lectionary cycle, we read this story according to St. Mark. And Mark, in his unique way, compresses the narrative. So instead of reading the details of the temptation as we do in other years, this year we…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/02/17/we-are-able-to-triumph-in-the-end-because-of-the-life-of-jesus-that-lives-within-us/

wnknisely, 3 months ago to random

We need candor in public discourse

There’s a great discussion in this morning NYTimes newsletter on why we’re seeing such a divided and divisive response to vaccination. The short version is that the CDC and public policy issued strict guidelines in what is actually a much more nuanced situation. The piece discusses what it means to US culture that our national guidelines for children’s COVID vaccinations were a global outlier - with the CDC taking a much more…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/02/13/we-need-candor-in-public-discourse/

wnknisely, 3 months ago to random

Rewilding the church yards

‘Places of the living’: bishop of Norwich calls for churchyards to be rewilded | Anglicanism | The Guardian: Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich: “My dream is that churchyards will be places of the living, not just the dead.” A paper submitted to the synod meeting in London says there is “noticeable biodiversity potential” within churchyards. However, it adds, “these places carry significance for the communities that surround them … Their…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/02/11/rewilding-the-church-yards/

wnknisely, 3 months ago to random

How do we see learn to help other people shine with the bright light of God’s love for them?

In David Brooks new book "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen” he speaks about the process of illumination - how someone can so totally see another person so that the viewer glimpses the light that shines within the one at whom they are gazing. He talks too about people who are naturally, or who have learned to be, “illuminators” who, by…

https://entangledstates.org/2024/02/10/how-do-we-see-learn-to-help-other-people-shine-with-the-bright-light-of-gods-love-for-them/