The Practical Parson

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.    Speak unto others as you would have them speak unto you.   Speak of others as you would have them speak of you.    Love others as you would have them love you.   Give unto others as you would have them give unto you.   Be a friend unto others as you would have them be a friend unto you.   Care for others as you would have them care for you.    For by the standard that you judge others, you yourself shall also be judged.  If we say that we are above the judgement of man, yet judge other men; how shall we be spared ourselves from the more righteous judgment of God?  We speak ill of those we despise, we treat with contempt those with whom we disagree, we lash out against those who have angered us; forgetting that we ourselves are reflecting the manner in which we desire to be treated by our treatment of others.   Love your enemies, do good to those...

It is not enough for Man to say "I am free"; he must learn to say also "I am responsible." Man is free to choose his way in life; from all manner of little decisions to the bigger ones, such as marriage or employment.  Man has freedom to pray to whatsoever deity he chooses.  In a nutshell- Man is free.   But at what cost?  Can man truly be free if he forsakes all responsibility for his choices and actions?   A man who forsakes responsibility for his actions is no longer free; for he has made himself slave to passion, desire, anger, hatred, and the multiplicity of other emotions that plague the human race.  If we say that man has no ability to control himself, then we give him over to bondage to instinct and desire; degrading him from being a creature gifted with divine knowledge and free will, to that of a mere beast doing for the moment what feels good.  Man is not a mere beast; but a being created in the image and likeness of God.  ...

 Last week the world saw the presidents of the United States and Ukraine clash in the Oval Office of the White House over a proposed deal to continue providing material and financial support for Ukraine in the wake of their ongoing war.  While President Zelensky of Ukraine had promised he would sign the agreement at that meeting, after having promised to do so twice before and reneging on his word; he got the opportunity to leave the scene without signing the agreement, once again.  This clash gave him a boost on the European front, with allies clamoring to give them additional funding for war; despite his protestations about pursuing peace.  While I am not one who will consider it good form to openly antagonize or berate allies; it is true that both sides equally traded jabs during the Oval Office meeting, with President Zelensky hoping that the media's presence would force President Trump into agreeing to additional concessions and assistance that were not agreed u...

 As many Anglicans and conservative Christians have seen in the past couple of weeks, there is a cognitive dissonance between what is correct, and what is personally acceptable; summed up in the ongoing case of Rev. Calvin Robinson.   As I have touched on previously in Rev. Robinson's case, the situation of what transpired was centered entirely around his determined trolling of leftist, liberal ideologues, and their mistaken notions that everyone who thinks other than what they think is a Nazi/ fascist.  While Robinson's actions in and of themselves hold no true transgression against sense or a desire for conversation; they do transgress one of the most important duties of any ordained cleric: which is to defend the church against those who would destroy it, and to protect the people of God entrusted to our care.  While Robinson's actions have had the desired outcome he wished for in the secular scene (inspiring conversation, to some extent); they have had a neg...

 Since there is such a public interest in "Speaking truth to power" among our liberal brethren in the world today, allow me; humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord, to express my own personal testimony of truth to answer.  I have served the church and the people of my community since the day of my ordination as a priest in 2012.  In that time, I have witnessed great good, and great evil; at the hands of conservatives and liberals alike.  As time has passed, I have experienced greater evil and hardship from those who proclaim the supposed Christian virtues of love and understanding; than I ever have from those who hold conservative convictions different than my own.   I have been publicly accosted by people on the left for no other reason than that I am a priest of the church.   I have been publicly humiliated and mocked online by liberal individuals who have sworn to me that they will "destroy" me.  I have been subjected to harassment and ...

Many millennia ago in Ancient Egypt, the Egyptians had a rather complicated and extensive system of belief; mostly in the area of what happened to the soul once the individual had died.  As one who has studied Egyptology on my own and read numerous books and watched countless hours of documentaries, presentations, and debates on the subject matter; there is one particular scene from the Egyptian book of the dead which describes judgement- that stands out to me in the 21st century as a Christian.  That scene was known as the weighing of the heart.   They believed that the god of the dead (Anubis) would take the heart of the deceased, and weigh it in a scales against the feather of 'truth', personified in the goddess Ma'at.  If the heart was heavier than the personification of truth, the soul was judged to be laden down with sin and guilt, and was thus destroyed by a monstrous demon called Ammit.   If the heart was lighter, then it was judged that the so...

 Ever since the Enlightenment period of history, purportedly educated men and women have long been on a crusade to break mankind of its religion and faith in those things that are unseen.  We see it in every facet of life around us, the struggle to break mankind of its ability to believe in something that is not of itself; something greater.  The intellectuals try to break us of our faith by telling us that there is no possible way to prove that the things contained in scripture actually happened; though they fail to acknowledge that they themselves cannot prove that they did NOT happen.  They tell us that we should not submit to blind faith, and should always and only trust our own senses; for there lies our freedom from faith and religion.  Perhaps most intriguingly, is the fact that though the liberal intellectual community has pushed this doctrinal concept of "only believe your senses" for generations, the reality of it is actually quite the reverse.  ...

Having an emotional connection with one's faith is a wonderful thing, but also one that can be deceptive and dangerous. Many people base their entire faith practice on the emotional feedback they obtain from worship or services, and lose hope when they start to lose their emotional "high" from such. Faith is more than a fevered emotional high experienced during church service with beautiful music and moving scenes; it is a day to day battle against the terror and difficulty of this world, towards a world of peace and hope. Faith is not an emotion to be enjoyed, it is as a child; that one straps to one's back at the start of their journey. Either the child grows and eventually takes you by the hand and helps you onward; or you throw it to the side the moment it begins to cause you discomfort. Faith requires dedication, even when we cannot understand. It requires us to press ever forward; knowing that where we are headed is a brighter day, a brighter hope than w...

 Today, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Christian graphic designer who creates wedding websites, that she is not obliged to extend her services to same-sex couples who are getting married.  Of course the instant outrage over "Gay rights denied!" has been noted, with people and the dissent from the liberal justices on the court saying this will "make gay people second class citizens".   But, will it?  When you talk about discrimination, everyone automatically goes "Oh, discrimination bad!", as well they should; but wherein lies the truth in cases such as this?   Was it really a gay couple who so sincerely wanted this designer's services and she was the only person who could do the job; or was it on the other hand, a group of people who wanted to 'prove a point' about supposed equality?   The fact of the matter is that while there are legitimate cases of discrimination which occur every single day; cases such as this one before the Sup...

 In recent months, I have found myself being forced by society to bear witness to an ongoing saga of insanity being played out in the public square.  The debate surrounding the Transgender ideology and its purported rights and privileges have become topic of violence and hatred; truly ironic in light of the fact the people who promote the ideology claim to do everything in the name of "love" and "acceptance".  I have never cared much either way about whether a man or a woman wishes they were the opposite sex, and whether they decided to mutilate their body in order to satisfy that desire for validation; that is entirely within their own right to do so as an adult citizen of the nation in which we live.  However, seeing an increased number of people demanding that children under the age of 12 be subjected to (so-called) "gender-affirming care" in the way of life changing surgeries, puberty blockers, and enough supplemental hormones to damage their brain cel...

Over the past 4 or 5 years, I have sat back from my chapel porch and watched the world go by; as it is wont to do.  I have watched flowers grow, the trees in my garden sprout new branches and fruit, the grapes in my small vineyard grow and produce their first batch of wine.  I have also watched other things around the churchyard which have needed intervention- weeds which needed pulling, peeling paint which needed re-touching, stains on chapel carpeting which needed cleaning.  There has been much that has gone on here, though most of it only noticeable to my own eye as the one who is caretaker of it.  In this, I feel a connection with the eternal Father: who watches over the whole of creation like the great gardener and caretaker of the universe which He is, and I begin to understand the problems of this world through an empathetic place with our Lord. Our world today demands ever-increasing progress: Progress for "rights", progress for technology, progress for moral...

We preach Grace when we have offended. We preach repentance when we have sinned. We preach forgiveness when we have erred. We preach salvation when we have strayed. We preach acceptance when we have excluded others. We preach the Love of God while keeping it from others. We preach the truth of the Gospels while we hide it from the world. We preach the presence of Christ while denying others to it. We preach many things in our lives as Christians, as Priests, as Ministers; but do we do so honestly? The truth is nothing; unless it can change both the recipient, as well as he who carries it. -The Practical Parson

  Welcome, Dear Reader; and a Merry Christmas to you! Each year we commemorate the birth of Christ by church services and age-old rituals at church and home; to welcome the Lord of all creation into our hearts and homes.  However, increasingly I find, that our so-called "modern society" seems hell-bent on trying to undermine and destroy the very foundations of this Sacred Holiday; as though it were nothing more than a mere bootleg copy of pagan celebrations.   The argument over what in our Christmas celebrations is a holdover from pre-Christian traditions has been going on ever since the Puritans ruled England; and is unlikely (sadly) to end anytime soon.   The entire argument about Christmas's supposedly "pagan roots" stems entirely from the Puritanical notion that since the Romans were celebrating Christmas, it must therefore be a pagan holiday; since good, reformed Christians would NEVER celebrate a holiday.  Keeping in mind of course, that the Puri...