Published on Substack 30 July 2025
The Art of Paying Attention: Part 2
Published on Substack 30 July 2025
Category: Trinity Way of Life
A congregation tries out a set of common spiritual disciplines.
The Art of Paying Attention
Part 1
The new post on Substack: https://apprenticepriest.substack.com/p/the-art-of-paying-attention-314
The Art of Paying Attention
Read it on the Apprentice Priest Substack
https://apprenticepriest.substack.com/p/the-art-of-paying-attention
Fursey’s Four Fires (redux +1)
I would love a day to come when this article, first written eight years ago, would be irrelevant to our times. Unfortunately, that day is not today. The following article was written for the parish newsletter of Trinity Episcopal Church, Greeley, Colorado in 2016. I posted it again in 2020. I thought about updating it then and now, but aside from references to my former parish and the “Trinity Way of Life” it is unfortunately as relevant in 2024 as it was in 2020, and 2016, and every year in between.
So who in the world is Fursey? He’s a rather obscure Irishman who gets a mention in Bede’s History of the English Church and People. I read that book in seminary and for something written in 731 AD it’s quite readable. Bede mentions quite a few Irishmen for a book devoted to the development of Anglo-Saxon England. Each year I get a reminder of Fursey for a week during the second week of Advent in the prayers Dorie Ann and I use at the lighting of our Advent wreath at home. One section of the devotional tells of a vision of “four fires through which unclean spirits threatened to destroy the earth.” They are listed as the destroying fire of falseness, the destroying fire of greed, the destroying fire of disunity and the destroying fire of manipulation. And each year, but particularly this one, we comment on how contemporary this feels.
Fortunately, the devotional doesn’t end there. It continues: But Fursey urged everyone he met to do as the angels told him: to fight against all evils. He encouraged them with these words he had heard: “The saints shall advance from one virtue to another;” and, “The God of gods shall be seen in our midst.”
At first the encouragement Fursey offers seems pretty pale against a set of destroying fires. In a world that seems beset by falseness, greed, disunity and manipulation we might be excused for wanting stronger stuff that what is on offer. Yet implied in these messages from the angels is a charge to follow the Jesus path as the means by which God overcomes the destroying fires.
The first charge is to fight against all evils. The first all too human reaction is to take up arms, whether political, economic or military, meeting might with might to set things right. This is not the Jesus path. If we fight fire with fire, fire always wins. There are other ways to fight against evil than to use the tools of evil. Paul enjoins the Roman Christians to follow the Jesus path in these words: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21) To confront evil with good seems anti-intuitive to us, but only because the Jesus path is not the path that we were taught either by the world around us or even, sadly, by the church much of the time.
To fight against all evils means that wherever we find cursing in word or action we respond by blessing in word and action not only the victim but even the perpetrator. In the orbit of our reach, no evil done to others is irrelevant to us. We are God’s agent of blessing and that is our first duty.
The next word to Fursey from the angels is that “the saints will advance from one virtue to another.” We dare not turn this into an inward concern about building our own character. Virtue has substance only in so far as it is demonstrated by word and action in our relations with others. Advancing from one virtue to another means that our growth in Christ and therefore in virtue is a continuous journey. The primary function of a spiritual discipline, whether the Trinity Way of Life* or any other set of disciplines is to keep and guide us on that journey. Therefore, it is never enough to simply come to worship, listen to teaching, receive nourishment in the Sacrament and then drop back to spiritual passivity for the remains of the week. What we receive we are to apply through the tools of our spiritual disciplines until we rejoin the worshiping community the following Sunday to build one another up, to share the stories of what God has done, accept the divine strength given in Holy Communion and return to the fray growing in the good works God is preparing for us.
The final word from the angels is that the God of gods shall be seen in our midst. In late November we began a preparation for Christmas in Advent and we are just now completing the 12 days of Christmastide. The birth of Jesus is the story of the God of Israel joining Israel in the midst of Israel. The God of gods is seen in their midst even though many do not recognize him. John’s Gospel notes that “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:11-13) This adoption by God in Jesus is done through our baptism and its significance extends far beyond our personal salvation.
It cannot be said often enough that Christmas is not the end of the story of God’s redeeming work but its beginning. Jesus’ life, works and words covered a period of 33 years. The culmination of those years was traumatic and dramatic. But even that was not the end of the story. In fact, the Jesus story is still going on, acted out by generation of generation of apprentices of Jesus. The God of Israel entered Israel but now moves beyond the community of Israel into the gentile world. Wherever we are faithful, the God of gods is seen in our midst.
This past year has been a difficult and painful year all over the world and also in our local community. There seems to be an encroaching darkness that fills millions and even billions of people with anxiety and fear. But as John the evangelist also notes: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) In 2017 the challenge to the community at Trinity (and to Christian communities everywhere) is to be bearers of that light. In times of anxiety and fear we have a mission to carry out. If we take that mission seriously and execute it prayerfully and faithfully the destroying fires of falseness, greed, disunity and manipulation will never have their way.
*As of 2018 the Trinity Way of Life included Pay Attention (prayer), Show Up (community), Serve Others (service), Learn the Story (study), Give as you receive (generosity), Check In (accountability), Practice Gratitude (thankfulness), and Tell the story (witness).
Fursey’s Four Fires (redux)
The following article was written for our parish newsletter in 2016. I thought about updating it but aside from references to my former parish and the “Trinity Way of Life” it is unfortunately as relevant in 2020 as it was in 2016:
So who in the world is Fursey? He’s a rather obscure Irishman who gets a mention in Bede’s History of the English Church and People. I read that book in seminary and for something written in 731 AD it’s quite readable. Bede mentions quite a few Irishmen for a book devoted to the development of Anglo-Saxon England. Each year I get a reminder of Fursey for a week during the second week of Advent in the prayers Dorie Ann and I use at the lighting of our Advent wreath at home. One section of the devotional tells of a vision of “four fires through which unclean spirits threatened to destroy the earth.” They are listed as the destroying fire of falseness, the destroying fire of greed, the destroying fire of disunity and the destroying fire of manipulation. And each year, but particularly this one, we comment on how contemporary this feels.
Fortunately, the devotional doesn’t end there. It continues: But Fursey urged everyone he met to do as the angels told him: to fight against all evils. He encouraged them with these words he had heard: “The saints shall advance from one virtue to another;” and, “The God of gods shall be seen in our midst.”
At first the encouragement Fursey offers seems pretty pale against a set of destroying fires. In a world that seems beset by falseness, greed, disunity and manipulation we might be excused for wanting stronger stuff that what is on offer. Yet implied in these messages from the angels is a charge to follow the Jesus path as the means by which God overcomes the destroying fires.
The first charge is to fight against all evils. The first all too human reaction is to take up arms, whether political, economic or military, meeting might with might to set things right. This is not the Jesus path. If we fight fire with fire, fire always wins. There are other ways to fight against evil than to use the tools of evil. Paul enjoins the Roman Christians to follow the Jesus path in these words: “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21) To confront evil with good seems anti-intuitive to us, but only because the Jesus path is not the path that we were taught either by the world around us or even, sadly, by the church much of the time.
To fight against all evils means that wherever we find cursing in word or action we respond by blessing in word and action not only the victim but even the perpetrator. In the orbit of our reach, no evil done to others is irrelevant to us. We are God’s agent of blessing and that is our first duty.
The next word to Fursey from the angels is that “the saints will advance from one virtue to another.” We dare not turn this into an inward concern about building our own character. Virtue has substance only in so far as it is demonstrated by word and action in our relations with others. Advancing from one virtue to another means that our growth in Christ and therefore in virtue is a continuous journey. The primary function of a spiritual discipline, whether the Trinity Way of Life* or any other set of disciplines is to keep and guide us on that journey. Therefore, it is never enough to simply come to worship, listen to teaching, receive nourishment in the Sacrament and then drop back to spiritual passivity for the remains of the week. What we receive we are to apply through the tools of our spiritual disciplines until we rejoin the worshiping community the following Sunday to build one another up, to share the stories of what God has done, accept the divine strength given in Holy Communion and return to the fray growing in the good works God is preparing for us.
The final word from the angels is that the God of gods shall be seen in our midst. In late November we began a preparation for Christmas in Advent and we are just now completing the 12 days of Christmastide. The birth of Jesus is the story of the God of Israel joining Israel in the midst of Israel. The God of gods is seen in their midst even though many do not recognize him. John’s Gospel notes that “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:11-13) This adoption by God in Jesus is done through our baptism and its significance extends far beyond our personal salvation.
It cannot be said often enough that Christmas is not the end of the story of God’s redeeming work but its beginning. Jesus’ life, works and words covered a period of 33 years. The culmination of those years was traumatic and dramatic. But even that was not the end of the story. In fact, the Jesus story is still going on, acted out by generation of generation of apprentices of Jesus. The God of Israel entered Israel but now moves beyond the community of Israel into the gentile world. Wherever we are faithful, the God of gods is seen in our midst.
This past year has been a difficult and painful year all over the world and also in our local community. There seems to be an encroaching darkness that fills millions and even billions of people with anxiety and fear. But as John the evangelist also notes: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) In 2017 the challenge to the community at Trinity (and to Christian communities everywhere) is to be bearers of that light. In times of anxiety and fear we have a mission to carry out. If we take that mission seriously and execute it prayerfully and faithfully the destroying fires of falseness, greed, disunity and manipulation will never have their way.
*As of 2018 the Trinity Way of Life included Pay Attention (prayer), Show Up (community), Serve Others (service), Learn the Story (study), Give as you receive (generosity), Check In (accountability), Practice Gratitude (thankfulness), and Tell the story (witness).
The Wrong Ask
I’ve noted that a few churches I’m familiar with have been struggling with income significantly below expectations. There could be several reasons behind that this year. The rise in the minimum standard deduction was predicted to have a negative effect on charitable giving for one. The economic uncertainties of the current trade wars could be another. And some of the reasons may have to do with local circumstances unrelated to national economy. But whatever the reason, I believe there is a fundamental flaw in our approach to giving which needs to be addressed in times of abundance or times of scarcity. It comes down to why we give and how we give. Once those are addressed, only then can we talk about where we give.
Considering the common complaint that all churches do is ask for money, it is remarkable how reluctant many clergy are to preach on the subject. One would think that is all we do. But all too often when we overcome our reluctance it is because our preaching on money is time-sensitive; i.e., it’s timed to coincide with our annual funding campaign. The primary exception seems to be those times when income is significantly below expectations. In our reluctance to address giving, save in those times of institutional need, we miss significant opportunities to engage our congregations in practices of spiritual formation whose benefits extend way beyond the exercise of financial stewardship.
Generous DNA?
Over a dozen years ago, a study on altruism linked certain variants of a gene called AVPR1a with altruistic practices. [WARNING: before we get too exercised about this, I offer my favorite maxim: For every study there is eventually an equal and opposite study.] The scientific press cautiously observed “Genes affecting generosity may be found.” A reductionist might see this as evidence that behaviors we regard as uniquely human are nothing more than the result of evolutionary biology. But anyone who believes that there is a creative intelligence behind our genetic makeup would see this as God “hard-wiring” generosity into humanity, perhaps even that this genetic connection to generosity is some element of the imago dei that still resides in us. When we invite people to give, we invite them to exercise that image of God in practical action.
The Roots of Generosity: Giving to God
The ancient world which the first books of the Bible describe was one mostly free of the illusion of self-sufficiency. The inhabitants understood, in ways we no longer do, the very chanciness of life and the miracles of provision. Our modern understanding of the mechanics of life have quietly robbed us of both wonder and gratitude. That ancient world in the pages of Genesis was sprinkled with acts of thanksgiving to God. Those occasional spontaneous acts of giving to God in Genesis (the offering of sacrifices and building of altars and pillars) gave way to a structured set of instructions on giving found in the rest of the Pentateuch. Those instructions are focused around giving in general gratitude (thank offerings), in gratitude for harvest and in gratitude for the increase of herds. Whether the giving was prescribed by law or offered spontaneously, they served to remind us of our contingency. Acts of generosity in thanksgiving still have the power to connect us to God.
Why First – Then How – Then Where
If giving is to be more than fund raising, it needs to start with why we give. First of all, it is in our divine makeup to give (the DNA part). Second, giving reminds us that all we have accomplished, all the wealth we have created, is possible only because of what God has provided for us. This includes not only our very lives, but our intelligence, our upbringing, our opportunities, our education. “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17) This is our first message and it can be given any time of the year. When it is time to preach on giving from the perspective of church income, the why of giving in our preaching serves as a reminder of what has already been proclaimed and not a new concept to be wrestled with.
The how of giving is as important as the why. In order for generosity to become a spiritual discipline that draws us closer to God it needs to remind us of what God has given to us. The key to how is in proportional giving. Under the law, giving was tied to both the first fruits of produce and animals and the tithe – the tenth belonging to God – was the model. If we focus on the tenth rather than the return of a proportion we will find our teaching to be as ineffective as various denominational declarations of the tithe as the standard. If we have $10,000 of income, giving $100, one percent, is as effective a teaching method as giving $1,000, the tithe. In a former parish we called this “Give as we receive.”
Once the why and how have become part of a congregation’s ongoing narrative we can come to the where. While why and how can be challenging as they need to be addressed throughout the year, where is more challenging for the preacher as it involves both courage and risk. In order to underscore the why and how of generosity, we need to be able to let go of our desire to seek financial security for our congregation. Where gives permission to give outside of the congregation. This becomes a teaching point as we can examine those potential recipients whose work is overtly Kingdom related (feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless, etc.) and those whose work may be beneficial to the community but doesn’t ’t come under that category.
When we do address the local church as the potential where of giving we are also required to give good reasons beyond “we need to support our church.” Key elements of this are transparency and accountability in the handling of finances and assuring that the values reflected in the allocation of funds align with the values of the Kingdom.
Obviously, this approach is not a quick fix for our balance sheets. It is, however, a long-term investment in the long-term health of a Christian community.
Plugged In
A couple of decades ago I was doing some freelancing computer troubleshooting. One small consulting company had run into trouble when a relative had tried to upgrade the memory in one of their PCs. After the “upgrade” it no longer worked. A memory error. It turned out to be an incompatible DIMM as apparently the helpful relative assumed all DIMMs worked in all PCs. I found the correct match, opened the PC, switched out the memory and fired it up. The power light came on, the beeps from the POST (power on self test) were audible as was the whirring of the hard drive. Unfortunately, the screen was still black. Nothing. I pulled the plug to shut the PC down (not recommended practice) and opened it up again in case I’d unseated the video card, but all was well. Fired it up and again the screen was black though all else seemed functioning. And yes, the monitor was showing power. Repeat shut down and restart and then I noted that in putting the case back together I had neglected to plug the monitor cable back into the PC. Fortunately, none of the employees were around to witness my embarrassment.
The memory of that absent-minded moment comes freshly to mind each time I encounter Jesus statement: “I am the true vine.” The monitor was in perfect working order, but without the connection to the PC it was just an overpriced door stop. Jesus said: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) It is an imperfect analogy as the unplugged monitor was indeed useless; apart from Jesus, human beings can do quite a lot of things.
What then did Jesus mean by that sweeping statement, “apart from me you can do nothing.”? Was this another case of exaggeration for effect like the camel going through the eye of a needle? I think it may relate to part of his opening statement in this passage: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1-2) The issue comes down to what “fruit” the Father is expecting. For nearly 20 centuries Christian community in some form or another has been let loose in the world. In those centuries that community has blessed our world in countless ways. In those centuries that community has harmed our world as well. We can safely assume that the acts of the Christian community that have caused harm are not the “fruits” the Father expects. The more difficult question is whether the good done by the Christian community represents those fruits.
After all, good can be done and blessings given by all sorts of human beings of any faith or of none. Human communities and organizations, regardless of belief or lack of belief, have accomplished much that is good in our world. If the fruit of which Jesus speaks is simply doing good works, then the statement “apart from me you can do nothing” makes little sense. Perhaps the fruits, i.e. the lifestyle and efforts of those connected with Jesus, are different from other human good works in that they are part of a greater understanding from God’s point of view.
Great chess players have the ability to “see” the possible consequences of each move several moves ahead. But no human being can truly grasp how our actions will reverberate in the lives of others. If we had that ability there would be no such thing as the “law of unintended consequences.” By abiding in Jesus, Christians are intimately connected to the Creator’s universal vision and understanding. Our deeds in Christ therefore serve a divine strategy that we cannot grasp.
However, that then raises the question of what it means to “abide” in Jesus. Going back to my adventures with the computer monitor, that monitor had power flowing through it from the electrical outlet. But without the video cable attached to the PC it could show nothing as there was no channel of communication. Abiding in Jesus is our means of clear communication with the Father and therefore with the Father’s purposes, projects and directions. If that is the case, then Jesus’ words about abiding in him are a challenge to several common concepts of Christian discipleship.
Instead of discipleship as a personal improvement regimen where our behavior looks more and more like what the New Testament expects, discipleship becomes the daily exercise of abiding, being connected to, Jesus moment by moment. The measure of our success therefore is not how much more patient and loving and generally nicer we become, but of how many seconds of each minute and minutes of each hour and hours of each day we are consciously connected with Jesus.
That may sound suspiciously like abandoning Christian engagement with the world and focusing entirely on my own spiritual condition. But if I am connected with Jesus, do we really think he will be content to let me rest in my “me and Jesus” cocoon? In contrast, abiding in Jesus may propel us out into the world in actions of blessing and building in places comfortable and uncomfortable. It may even propel us to giving rebuke to the greed and abuse and neglect that haunt human life.
At my former parish we had a set of spiritual disciplines we called the Trinity Way of Life. The first of those disciplines was Pay Attention where we were encouraged to spend brief moments throughout our day giving our whole attention to God. One thing we discovered was that when we got our attention focused, God frequently directed our attention to people and situations around us. It seems anti-intuitive in our culture, but according to Jesus’ image of the vine and branches the way to healing engagement with our world may be to turn all our energy to connecting with, and staying connected to, Jesus.
The Ecclesiology of Inigo Montoya
Ecclesiology: noun, \ i-ˌklē-zē-ˈä-lə-jē, plural ecclesiologies. The meanings given refer either to the study of the doctrine of the Church, or oftentimes the study of church adornments and furnishing. It’s the former definition I’m about in this post and this is where the waters get muddy to the point of opaqueness. There seems to be a nearly infinite number of ecclesiologies floating about in Christian circles. Some of them refer to forms of church government, some to church membership, some to forms of worship. Lately I’ve been reflecting on a rather different approach to ecclesiology, that of Inigo Montoya. If you don’t know who he is, read the next paragraph; if you do, skip that and read on.
In the fall of 1987, the movie The Princess Bride hit the theatres and soon became a cult hit with a number of memorable lines. Perhaps the most frequently repeated came from Mandy Patinkin in the role of the swordsman Inigo Montoya. The leader of the outlaw group (Wallace Shawn as Vizzini) keeps responding to every unexpected event with the word “inconceivable!” Eventually Inigo Montoya confronts Vizzini: “Inconceivable? You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.”
The useful thing about Inigo’s line about misusing the word “inconceivable” is that so many terms will do just as well, such as: “Church? You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.” In reading the New Testament to examine the direct and indirect references to the Church led me to the conclusion that the first definition of Church against which all other uses must be tested is that Church is a community. It is not the leadership, though leaders are obviously part of that community. Nor is it buildings, nor denominations nor any other of the manifold uses of the word church in our common speech.
Perhaps a better way of phrasing it is that many of the uses of the word church may well be accurate but at the same time when addressing the question “What is the church?” those uses are at best misleading and at worst, useless. I am not offering a definitive answer to that question, only suggesting that a) the question is important and b) that the answer may be more complex and challenging than we think.
I know that this questioning puts me at odds with my own tradition, and in fact with centuries of consensus. From An Outline of the Faith in the Book of Common Prayer:
Q. How is Prayer: Church described in the Bible?
A. The Church is described as the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head and of which all baptized persons are members….
Since the Reformation there have been alternative descriptions offered, each of which can make some appeal to the Bible for support. While I lean towards the description from the Book of Common Prayer my concern is that a quick acceptance of that or any of the alternatives pulls us away from the Biblical emphasis on how the Church functions (or fails to function) as a community.
That’s enough for now. Next (maybe) I’ll share my reflections on how that community is supposed to function and what that means for the way the culture of religion helps or hinders us.
The Apprentice Priest 