Sabbatical

Image: The 1889 Land Run

Dear friends,

It’s almost time for me to load up the wagon and head west! One of the great privileges of serving as a parish priest is the chance to take a sabbatical, and it’s time for mine this year. Because I worked in a part-time church job and an academic administration job before coming to Trinity, this is the first sabbatical I’ve taken since I was ordained 13 years ago. I’m both excited and grateful for the opportunity to spend a summer doing something different. 

My sabbatical plan has three parts. First, from May 12-16 I will attend the Oratory of the Good Shepherd silent retreat at the Community of St. John the Baptist’s convent in Mendham. I will be back for the weekend of the Choir Tea. Then, from May 19-26 I will take a ‘bucket list’ trip across the country on Amtrak. Finally, I will fly back to Newark and load up the car for two months serving as Theologian in Residence for the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. 

From June 15-August 15, I will be living in Tulsa and affiliated with Christ Church, a growing suburban parish with a vibrant ministry to families. I will be present at Christ Church on Sundays and will preach on occasion, but I won’t have any day-to-day pastoral responsibilities.  My goals for the summer are the following:

• Enjoy a time of renewal and come back with new energy and new ideas for Trinity Church. 

• Learn from a successful parish and diocese in a very different context from Princeton. Christ Church Tulsa is a rapidly growing congregation that excels in ministry to young families and in integrating newcomers into active (and pledging) membership. Two of the five fastest-growing congregations in the Episcopal Church are in Oklahoma: Grace Church in Yukon and Christ Church in Tulsa. 

• Serve as a resource for the Diocese of Oklahoma as they witness to Christ in a challenging social, political, and cultural environment. 

• Begin preparation for my second book. This summer will mostly involve reading and thinking about what I want to say. ‘

I’m excited about what this summer will bring, and I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned with you. 

Yours in Christ,

Kara

PS I will not be available by e-mail this summer. During my sabbatical, I will be deleting all e-mails I receive, so please e-mail me again after August 15th if anything comes to mind during the summer. In case of emergency, contact Annie Bryson at the parish office and she can get in touch with me quickly. 

PPS For more on Christ Church, see here:

https://www.christchurchtulsa.org/

https://livingchurch.org/news/progress-in-the-pandemic-christ-church-tulsa/

Easter Blessings

Dear Beloved of Trinity,

As we draw ever closer to the celebration of the Resurrection, I share with you these beautiful words of Easter blessing from John O’Donohue:

"On this Easter morning, let us look again at the lives we have been so generously given. Let us lay down the useless baggage we carry—old pains, old habits, old ways of seeing and feeling—and find the courage to begin again.

Life is so short, and we are no sooner here than it is time to go. We must use to the fullest the time we have been given. We often underestimate the good we can do. A kind word, a listening ear, a helping hand—these can be the light someone needs in a time of darkness.

We weren’t put here to chase wealth or status. We are here to seek the light of Easter within our hearts—and once we find it, we are meant to share it freely and generously.

May the spirit and light of this Easter morning … bless us, watch over us, protect us on our journey, and draw us out from the shadows into the light of peace, hope, and transfiguration."

Easter is a miracle, a promise, and a calling. The truth of Easter is a sacred invitation to reawaken our souls to the gift of life and the infinite possibilities before us. The Easter proclamation stirs us from the slumber of indifference, opening our hearts to see the world with renewed wonder—to feel again the joy of simply being alive, and to walk more fully and freely in the way of the Risen Christ.

May we embrace, with joy and renewed spirit, the days before us. And may the light of Easter continue to guide, sustain, and encourage us for the journey yet to come.

Easter Blessings,

Paul

Holy Week

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

Holy Week invites us to step into the heart of our faith—not as distant observers, but as participants in the mystery of love, suffering, and resurrection. It is a sacred journey that transforms us, not simply through ritual, but through presence. As we walk with Jesus from the palms of triumph to the shadows of the cross, we are called to bring our full selves—our hopes, our griefs, our longings—to the story. This week is not only about remembering what happened long ago; it is about encountering the living Christ here and now, in bread broken, in feet washed, in silence kept, and in light kindled anew. When we fully enter into Holy Week, we are opened to the truth that death is never the end, and love always has the last word. Come—bring your whole heart, and be changed by the grace that unfolds in these holy days.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul

Reminiscences of Bishop Tuttle

Last week I spent a few wonderful days on a pre-Holy Week vacation in Utah. Back in graduate school, I gave a paper at a conference on Kierkegaard at Brigham Young University, an event which sounds implausible but which really did happen. During that trip I didn’t have time to explore the outdoors, so it was a joy to finally be able to do so. 

While I was there, I started reading a book that I came across quite accidentally: Missionary to the Mountain West: Reminiscences of Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle. Bishop Tuttle was a larger-than-life character in the history of the Episcopal Church. After he was consecrated bishop at the age of only 29, he traveled by train and then by stagecoach into the heart of the American frontier. Establishing his home in Salt Lake City, he served as missionary bishop of the combined area of Utah, Montana, and Idaho. By the time he died in 1923, he had been a bishop for an astonishing 56 years. 

Bishop Tuttle arrived in Salt Lake City only 20 years after Brigham Young saw the Great Salt Lake and exclaimed “This is the place’ to build his theocratic American Zion. When Tuttle established St. Mark’s Cathedral, it was the first non-Mormon religious building in Utah. The Latter-Day Saints knew him as a tireless leader who treated them with respect, even as he vehemently and publicly opposed their theology and practices, particularly the practice of polygamy. 

One might expect this lion of the Church to be supremely self-confident, maybe even egotistical. But he was not. In a bout of loneliness while ministering in a particularly rough Montana mining town, he wrote to his wife: 

Ah, dear, do you not see and know that if I leaned on, or trusted in, this community, or in my large audiences, or in aught human here, I would now be plunged in the lowest deep of despair? It astounds me to think of and realize the breadth and depth of wickedness and vice in which this whole community is steeped.

Nothing but God's Almighty power, with His loving, cheering grace, keeps me patient and courageous, or in fact restrains me from giving up in despair and fleeing Eastward across the mountains, scarcely daring to look behind me, any more than Lot upon the cities of the plain. 

The stories of our faith are full of people like this. They were ordinary people with ordinary fears, yet they relied on God who empowered them to do extraordinary things.  They were also people who were empowered by grace to treat everyone with respect and kindness, even when they profoundly disagreed. 

Our own stories may not be epic Western tales like Bishop Tuttle’s. But each one of us is given the same grace as he was to meet our own difficulties and opportunities. 

Yours in Christ, 

Kara 

PS The book is sadly out of print, but you can request a copy through inter-library loan at the public library. You can also find it online here: 

https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofm00tuttrich/page/n7/mode/1up

They'll Know We Are Christians

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

The hymn They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love has been running through my mind lately, and I can’t seem to shake it. Written in 1966 by Fr. Peter Scholtes, a Catholic priest serving on the South Side of Chicago, the song emerged during a pivotal time in the fight for civil rights and equality. Seeking a way to express the transformative work being done by the young people in his parish, Scholtes found himself unable to locate a suitable hymn for a series of ecumenical and interracial gatherings. So, he wrote one himself—giving voice to a movement of faith in action.

I have fond memories of singing this hymn regularly at All Saints’ Camp and Conference Center in Kentucky, where I served as the chaplain for youth summer camps. Its words, rooted in love as the mark of true discipleship, still resonate deeply with me today.

Even though this has that “summer camp song” with a guitar kind of feel, and just because it does not come from our rich Anglican choral music tradition - it should not be discarded.  This hymn is gentle yet powerful and profound reminder of who we are and what we are called to be. 

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand

And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love.

By our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

I often wonder: if you were to ask people on the street—especially those who are not Christian—"How would you describe a Christian? How do you recognize one?" what would they say? Sadly, I fear the responses would not be love, unity, and dignity. Instead, we might hear words like judgmental, divisive, hypocritical, closed-minded, anti-this, anti-that.  Not at all what we are to be. Not at all the message of the one whom we follow, Jesus Christ. 

I believe the way we see ourselves or understand ourselves is radically different from how we are often perceived and experienced in the world. 

One day, I pray, the world will know us by our love.  Yes, They’ll know we are Christians by our love. 

Peace and Blessings,

Paul

Share in the Adventure

Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,

On April 1, Elaine Pagels’ new book, Miracles and Wonder: The Historical Mystery of Jesus, will be released. In the introduction, Elaine writes, “I cannot resist asking not only ‘Who was Jesus?’ but also ‘Who is he?’ What intrigues me is the astonishing persistence of Jesus, both rediscovered and reinvented.” She concludes by saying, “Excited by what I found, I invite you to share in the adventure.”

As a renowned scholar, Elaine deepens our understanding of the historical realities in which the church was formed. Yet her questions also speak to the heart of our ongoing journey of faith. We, too, must continually ask not only “Who was Jesus?”but also “Who is he?”—within the depths of our souls and the realities of our lives.

In this season of Lent, we are invited to embrace this never-ending, life-giving adventure. The Christian life is one of continual discovery, unfolding amid the ever-changing landscape of our lives and the complexities of the world around us. This adventure is not easy. Wrestling with both historical realities and sacred mysteries—the things we can prove and the things that require faith—is a challenge. And yet, I believe without doubt or hesitation that this adventure sustains us, frees us, and leads to life. Life in ways I never could have imagined. With strength I would not have found on my own and joy I would not have known.

I invite you to share in this extraordinary and life-giving adventure. It’s worth it!

Lenten blessings,

Paul

Luther’s Chicken

WARNING: This article contains sermon spoilers. Come on Sunday to hear the rest of the story!

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

wandering from the fold of God;

he, to rescue me from danger,

interposed his precious blood.

This Sunday, we will hear a beautiful passage from the Gospel often called Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem. Warned by the Pharisees that Herod was out to get him, Jesus says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” What a wonderful image of the tender care that God extends to each of us in Christ. It’s also one of the passages in Scripture where God’s love is described in feminine terms, and it had a significant influence on Julian of Norwich’s extensive (and famous) meditations on Christ as Mother. 

Now, my dad grew up on a farm in Mississippi, but I grew up in the suburbs where both eggs and chickens come in a package from the grocery store. In preparing for this week’s sermon, I spent some time doing some extremely intellectual research, by which I mean watching videos of chickens on YouTube. Like this one: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocvs3rKaWiQ

Before I did my chicken research, I read that passage of Scripture as only about nesting, about how the mother hen keeps the chicks warm in the nest. That’s part of the story, but it’s not the whole story. There is something much more dynamic at work. Outside the nest, the mother hen spreads her wings over her chicks to protect them, and in fact places herself between her chicks and any perceived danger. She is willing to come to harm first in order to protect her babies. 

This image also shows up in Martin Luther’s description of what he calls imputed righteousness, where God sees us through Christ, and reckons Christ’s perfect righteousness to us despite the fact that we remain sinners in this life. He writes, “On account of this faith in Christ God does not see the sin that still remains in me. For so long as I go on living in the flesh, there is certainly sin in me. But meanwhile Christ protects me under the shadow of His wings and spreads over me the wide heaven of the forgiveness of sins, under which I live in safety.” (Commentary on Galatians)

I think I’ve shared this with you before, but here’s a video that Sonia and I put together on imputed righteousness and infused righteousness, which is the more Catholic view. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYor6YJMdJA

Thanks be to God that in Christ, we are kept safe from every danger by his own willingness to sacrifice everything for us, in love. Come back on Sunday for the rest of the story!

In Christ,

Kara

The Essential Skills for Being Human

Dear Beloved of Trinity,

Since Kara “broke the ice” on Sunday with her reference to David Brooks, I’m going to follow suit—thank you, Kara! Someone recently shared with me a 2023 article by Brooks, The Essential Skills for Being Human, and I couldn’t help but think: Isn’t this exactly what we strive for every time we come together as the Body of Christ? In worship, formation, and service, we are continually learning and growing in these essential skills.

The Gospel calls us to be more fully human, and to be more fully human is to live more deeply into God’s desire and dream for each of us. To embrace our full humanity is to become more Christlike—to live into the gift of who God created us to be at our very core.

As we begin our Lenten journey, I wanted to share a few of Brooks’ insights that seem especially meaningful for us:

• Be a grower. Always strive to grow—to become a better version of ourselves. Take an honest but grace-filled look at who you are, and then take just one small step forward.

• Be open-hearted. Kindness, compassion, and a posture of openness are essential to our humanity. Be respectful, accepting, and truly present to others.

• Be an illuminator, not a diminisher. Illuminators help others feel seen, valued, respected, and alive. Diminishers, on the other hand, make others feel small and insignificant. Choose to lift others up.

• Be a good listener. True listening requires full presence. When we truly pay attention, we honor the humanity of the person before us.

• Be an accompanist. (Not in the musical sense, but in life!) We walk this journey together. We certainly can’t fix everything, but we can be present with one another amid the realities of our lives.

• Stand in their standpoint. Seek to understand the perspective of another. Ask questions, listen deeply, and receive their story with what Brooks calls “tender receptivity.”

• Live with abiding love. May everything we do—how we see, support, understand, communicate, and respond—be rooted in abiding love.

May this Lenten season be a time of deepening—of growing in these essential skills for being human and becoming more fully who God created us to be.

Peace and Blessings,

Paul