Loosed Canon

  Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial." (Luke 11:1-4) If you're coming to St. Michael's during the summer, you know that for the months of July and August, we have been using the Enriching our Worship liturgy.  There are, of course, many differences in language from the familiar words of the Book of Common Prayer liturgy.  One difference is the words of the Lord’s Prayer.  Many assume that the words of the Lord’s Prayer found in the Enriching Our Worship liturgy is a new fangled way of bringing contemporary language into our services. However, EOW uses the Lucan Lord’s Prayer rather than the fam...

Pentecost 4  July 7, 2019 St. Michael's Church, Bristol Gospel: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July celebration.  It truly lived up to all the many layers of expectation that had been built up around it since I arrived.  The spectacle and pageantry of the Fourth of July Parade here in Bristol, RI is almost indescribable.  For me, it really affirmed a deep love for Bristol and the community here.  What fascinated me, however, were the thousands of moving parts and the sheer number of folks who came together to make it all work. I’m sure there were some glitches, but from the perspective of a newbie, it was practically seamless, down to the day after the parade.  I swear, I woke up and thought the rapture had occurred and I had missed it – the streets were empty, and the town was immaculate.  Not a piece of rubbish to be seen.  It’s as if it all were a dream.  ...