Blog & Pastor Letters

There are times I wish I had no obligations. It would be great to take my wife’s hand, hop in the car, and drive into the sunset. Where we were going would not maer as much as the fact that we would have nowhere we had to be. There would be nothing we had to do. No bills. No commitments. No problems. Freedom!

Can you imagine what kind of response I would get if I asked my three children, “Who would like to volunteer to clean up the kitchen after dinner today?” Six eyeballs staring at me like I had two heads! If I couch my request in terms of volunteerism, I have suggested that they don’t have any real ownership in this matter. Perhaps they do sometimes think that their mother and I are simply hired hands to take care of them, but rest assured, I have not received a paycheck for services rendered lately.

I used to lead an RCIA session on baptism, where I would bring in my Kermit the Frog toy from when I was a child and pretend to baptize it. It was a session I especially made sure I led when we had children preparing for Easter sacraments. You would think Kermit would have become super holy having been baptized so many times, year after year. But, if he had been real, he would not have been any holier due to multiple baptisms than he was after the first baptism. He couldn’t be re-baptized. (Not to mention, of course, he is a FROG.)

God’s glory, now, is kindled gentler than candlelight under the rafters of a barn: Eternal Peace is sleeping in the hay, And Wisdom’s born in secret in a straw-roofed stable.*

When I was younger, I wrote music to and recorded Thomas Merton’s poem, “Epiphany Carol.” If you have never read it, search it out on the internet. Merton’s words are profound and paint a picture of the awesomeness of Jesus, the newborn King of Kings, lying in a simple straw bed. The shepherds and Wise Men are drawn to pay homage to the One who has been born above all others and brings with him hope for a broken world.