Chris Yaw

Welcome! I’m an Episcopal priest serving a congregation in Metro Detroit... With a passion for gun safety... A zest for online Christian formation... A zeal for video blogging... A budding writer... A heart for those who have unintentionally harmed... A commitment to workforce housing... A love for marrying people... And a wonderful wife, three kids, and a cat... If we have common interests or not, I'd love to connect with you.

It Starts with a Twinkle

It starts with a twinkle.

A perk. A pause. An aha.

We sense certain realities we can’t prove – that have to do with the good, the beautiful, and doing the next right thing.

It’s God. And we know it.

God’s presence, as miniscule as it often seems, is poised to become much larger than we will ever be able to perceive. It is like a tiny seed that grows into a huge bush, a pinch of yeast that turns a sack of flour into bread, a small pearl that’s worth more than the whole back forty.

Your job and my job is to embrace the twinkle of God in ways that will make it grow, develop, and mature. And grow it will, into the work, the relationship, the career, that delights our hearts – and God’s.

So let’s ask these questions: What’s twinkling in your life? What’s that perk, pause, and aha that has been on your heart? How do we nurture it? How do we give it more of us?

God isn’t known for being brash and bossy, but unassuming and unpretentious. It starts with a twinkle.

What Is Heaven?

Ever wonder what heaven's like?

I think it's a place where all the resistance is gone. What I mean by resistance is everything that gets in the way of doing the good and the right, enjoying the beautiful, helping, forgiving, and having compassion. It's a place of everlasting health - free of suffering, violence, and pain. And it's clear that this place is not that place.

In Sunday's gospel Jesus talks about this. He uses a story about a farmer who plants seeds of wheat and an enemy that sneaks in and covers the field with seeds that produce weeds. Later, when the servants alert the farmer and offer to weed the fields, the farmer tells them to wait for the harvest. That's when all those pesky weeds will be separated from the valuable wheat.

So here we are in the middle. Trying to grow, flourish, and do the next right thing while we're surrounded by all these weeds. Take heart, says Jesus, it won't last forever. One day the resistance will all be gone.

Until then, use that resistance to affirm the validity of your work. Bask in the joy of every right thing you're doing, for it is a slice of heaven. And take heart, what you're doing has eternal significance.

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Reading
Reinvention - Josh Linkner
We Make the Road by Walking - Brian McLaren
Learning to Dream Again - Samuel Wells

You Are Awesome

You’ve been brave this week. You did something new. You didn’t know if it would pay off but you tried it anyway. You might do it again. You might not. But you stepped out, danced on the wire, confronted fear; you were courageous.

You forgave someone this week. Ya, they were wrong. You had every right to hit back, withhold, pout, and let the stale tension of unresolved hurt simmer. But you didn’t. You swallowed, resolved, and pulled that pot off the stove before it boiled. It was tough, but you did it.

You took the risk to love this week. You opened up. You know you can’t love unless you’re vulnerable yourself. And you did. It may have paid off, it may have blown up, but you risked, and that has its own reward.

You made somebody’s day this week. Maybe on purpose, maybe not. But you brightened a moment, an hour, a day. Ya, it was a hassle. You thought about them when you’ve got plenty on your own plate. You spent what you had. You powered through. You brought it home.

My dear ones, you are soldiers in the service of joy. You are messengers of shining hope. You create, step out, you take on, you show up.

And I am proud. I can’t wait to see what you, and Christ in you, is up to next.

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Reading
Fail - JR Briggs
Learning to Dream Again - Samuel Wells
We Make the Road by Walking- Brian McLaren

Fast, Easy, Guaranteed

Watch out for ‘fast, easy, and guaranteed.’

Think of fast food, cartoons, and bank CDs.

They instantly satiate hunger, keep kids occupied, and offer you a better interest rate than your savings account. But that meal won’t be memorable, the kids will still crave your attention, and you will make a rather measly return on your investment.

Instead, consider the slow, difficult, and risky. These are indicators of real value. Nothing we have done that is memorable, significant, or of great worth was void of at least one if not all three. Ultimately, these are forms of resistance, and resistance is a validator.

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus addresses a crowd that’s been pushing the ‘easy button’ for a very long time. Jesus is trying to point out that the fast, easy, and guaranteed just don’t deliver. And the irony is that the slow, difficult, and risky not only pay off – but following Jesus is actually an easier journey than the one they’re on.

What’s the ‘fast, easy, and guaranteed’ trap you’re in? What’s the ‘slow, difficult, and risky’ that you need to congratulate yourself for undertaking?

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The Road to Reinvention – Lindner

Fail – Briggs
We Make the Road by Walking McLaren

Chris Yaw

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Chris Yaw

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Chris Yaw

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