Author: Sweet Tea and Front Porch Storyteller
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The Sin We Often Forget
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection Tomorrow I will stand before the bishop at St. James Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri, and be confirmed as a member of the Episcopal Church. Today, during our confirmation class, we discussed the definition of sin found in the Book of Common Prayer: “Sin is the seeking of our own will…
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The Living God and the End of Dead Works
A Curious Pilgrim Daily Office Reflection Daily Office Readings: Psalm 107, Ezekiel 43:1-12, Hebrews 9:1-14, Luke 11:14-23 One verse stood out to me in today’s readings: “How much more will the blood of Christ… purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God.” (Hebrews 9:14) For much of my life, I understood this…
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The Divine Dance of Love
Rediscovering the Trinity A Curious Pilgrim Reflection One of the most transformative ideas I have encountered in recent years comes from Richard Rohr’s book The Divine Dance. Rohr suggests that many Christians have spent centuries trying to explain God while missing the invitation to experience God. For many of us, faith began with learning doctrines,…
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Choosing the Better Part
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on the Daily Office Readings Daily Office Readings: Psalm 100, Ezekiel 34:17-31, Hebrews 8:1-13, Luke 10:38-42 Life has a way of filling our calendars, our minds, and our hearts with countless responsibilities. There are bills to pay, meals to prepare, jobs to complete, relationships to nurture, and problems to solve. Many…
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God Desires Life
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on Psalm 105, Ezekiel 18:1-4, 19-32, Hebrews 7:18-28, and Luke 10:25-37 One of the blessings of praying the Daily Office is discovering how seemingly unrelated passages of Scripture often weave together into a single message. Today’s readings come from different centuries, different writers, and different circumstances, yet they all point toward…
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Daily Office Readings
At first glance, these passages seem disconnected. We move from a king’s personal commitments, to exile and restoration, to a mysterious priest-king, to disciples returning from mission. Yet a common thread emerges when we ask: What does God want us to see that we often miss? Psalm 101: Seeing Character Before Success The Psalmist repeatedly…
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Rejoice, Wake Up, Hope, and Go
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on Psalm 97, Ezekiel 7, Hebrews 6:13–20, and Luke 10:1–17 Daily Office Readings:Psalm 97 • Ezekiel 7:10–15, 23–27 • Hebrews 6:13–20 • Luke 10:1–17 Some days the Daily Office readings seem to move in different directions. One passage is filled with joy, another with warning, another with hope, and another with…
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The God Who Remains Faithful
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on Psalm 89, Ezekiel 4, Hebrews 6, and Luke 9:51–62 Today’s Daily Office readings seem, at first glance, to pull us in different directions. We encounter a Psalm celebrating God’s eternal love, a prophet acting out judgment, a warning passage in Hebrews that has troubled Christians for centuries, and Jesus challenging…
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Why My Pilgrimage Led Me Home
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection On Sunday, June 7, 2026, I will kneel before the bishop and be confirmed as a member of St. James Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri. At seventy-six years old, some might wonder why anyone would make such a change. Others will understand immediately. Life is a journey. More importantly, life is…
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Fear Is Not the Final Word
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection for Sunday, May 31, 2026 Daily Office Readings: Psalm 66, Ezekiel 3:16-27, Ephesians 2:1-10, Matthew 10:24-33, 40-42 The Bible is a collection of books written over hundreds of years by people who lived in different lands, spoke different languages, and experienced very different cultures. Yet beneath all those differences runs a…
The Curious Pilgrim 