Library Bookwyrm

It's Banned Books Week! Now more than ever, it's vital to take a stand for your right to access information, speak your mind, and hear the voices of the vulnerable.

Censorship and the Bible Chapel Reflection

I had the opportunity to give a reflection in today's chapel service. For those who are interested: open.substack.com/pub/libraryb...

Building Walls, Digging Chasms Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year C

For those who are interested - the sermon I preached yesterday (and my first at my internship site)! open.substack.com/pub/libraryb...

Idols Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost Year C

I had the opportunity to preach again this morning. If you're interested, you can read my sermon here -> open.substack.com/pub/libraryb...

Look what I got today! Thank you, @biggcaz.bsky.social - I think it looks amazing!

YouTube video by Heather Cox Richardson What is Juneteenth and Why Does it Matter: A Short History | Journey to American Democracy

youtu.be/E7UaaAyPqPY

Rose quartz Catholic rosary

Rose quartz Catholic rosary made for a commission.

Anglican prayer beads - agate cruciform and invitatory beads, angelite week beads, and a cross of nails.

Catholic rosary - agate and angelite beads and a cross of nails.

Anglican prayer beads and Catholic rosary - with mirrored patterns of agate and angelite beads.

Prayer beads inspired by Coventry Cathedral. One set of Anglican prayer beads, and one Catholic rosary.

Gregory the Great vs. Hugh of Lincoln | Lent Madness And...we're back for the first full week of saintly action as Gregory the Great squares off against Hugh of Lincoln!

Not even Canterbury Cathedral can keep me from Lent Madness! My vote goes to Gregory, who didn't introduce Christianity to England (Roman Britain had Christianity before the Pope sent missionaries), but did send Augustine to become Archbishop of Canterbury.

www.lentmadness.org/2025/03/greg...

Elizabeth of Hungary vs. Felicity | Lent Madness

For today's Lent Madness match up (the only Saturday match up), my vote goes to Elizabeth of Hungary!

www.lentmadness.org/2025/03/eliz...

Athanasius of Alexandria vs. Richard Meux Benson | Lent Madness

Lent Madness is starting off with a tough choice! I voted for Benson; if prayer doesn't lead to loving others, you're talking with someone other than God. Probably yourself. Athanasius is amazing, too! I'm happy to see either saint move closer to the Golden Halo. www.lentmadness.org/2025/03/atha...

Accepting the gift of Lent | Lent Madness

"...[O]ur annual Lenten tournament of saints can remind us that God has transformed all kinds of people, and that maybe God can transform us, too. The saints who went before us didn't give up in the face of evil, and neither should we."

www.lentmadness.org/2025/03/acce...

Ash Wednesday meditation from Episcopal Relief and Development. Find it at: https://www.episcopalrelief.org/church-in-action/lent/2025-lenten-meditations-march-5-8/

Ash Wednesday meditation from Episcopal Relief and Development. Find it at: www.episcopalrelief.org/church-in-ac...

The Trilateral Process: The United States, Ukraine, Russia and Nuclear Weapons When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine had the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal on its territory. When Ukrainian-Russian negotiations on removing these weapons from Ukraine appeared to ...

The reason Ukraine is dependent on the US for protection is because we made a deal: in exchange for surrendering all their nuclear weapons (when they had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world), the US promised to secure Ukraine's sovereignty and territory.

www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

Today's sermon might be the hardest one I've ever written, emotionally. And it's taken me forever. I just changed part of it again ten minutes ago. It still feels unfinished; it might be one of those lifetime things.

Celebrating our 20th anniversary with sushi and sashimi. Also, fried Oreos. Seems appropriate.

Trump Fires Nation’s Archivist in Latest Round of Personnel Purge “No cause or reason was cited,” wrote the archivist, Colleen Shogan. But the National Archives had been deeply involved in the classified documents case against President Trump.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/u...

"Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy." - Captain G. M. Gilbert, the Army psychologist assigned to watching the defendants at the Nuremberg trials

EMAIL YOUR REPS: Don't Ban Books in the United States Proposed censorship measures in several states could deny your right to read some books in our Nation's libraries and lead to librarians facing criminal charges for the books on the shelves.

Proposed censorship measures in several states could deny your right to read some books in our Nation's libraries and lead to librarians facing criminal charges for the books on the shelves.

action.everylibrary.org/nationalaccess via @everylibrary.bsky.social

If your message is bad news to the poor, enslavement to the captive, refusal to care for the sick and suffering, persecution to the vulnerable, a time of hatred and exclusion, it is not Christ's mission or message.

Tomorrow, across the Episcopal churches, we will read Jesus's own understanding of his mission here on earth: "to bring good news to the poor...to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

That is radical empathy - to feel in your own body the attacks on others, to take their pain personally; and that is the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

When Saul became a follower himself, when he became Paul, Jesus said he would show him how much he would suffer for Christ's sake - that is, Paul would feel the pain Christ feels, which is the pain others feel, as though it was his own.

Today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. It's important to point out that when Jesus confronted Saul about his activities in hunting down and killing believers, he didn't say, "Why are you killing innocents?" or "Why are you hurting my people?" He said, "Why are you persecuting ME?"

On the other hand, I clearly remember reading that the one and only unforgivable sin is attributing the works of the Spirit to Satan - that is, calling the will and movement of God an evil. Like naming empathy a sin, for instance, maybe?

"Sin of empathy"? I can't help but remember that the Incarnated God is named "God With Us" - that the Christian message is about God's extraordinary love for humanity, to the extent that They became human to live with us and die for us. If that is not radical empathy, I don't know what is.

Well, that's not great... www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-wh...

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour WATCH: Episcopal bishop asks Trump 'to have mercy' on LGBTQ+ communities and immigrants

This is Bishop Marianne Budde at post inauguration services. Her bravery is nothing short of inspiring. Bishop Budde is 🔥 💙

A taupe cat's face peeks out from under a couple fluffy blankets.

Chairman Meow haaaaaates the cold, so now she has demanded covers while she sits on my lap. (She's also been tunneling under my blankets at night and while I'm at work. She really dislikes winter. All her fur is decorative.)