Praying the Daily Offices of the Book of Common Prayer, especially Morning and Evening Prayer, has become central to my prayer life. The Offices are very ancient and meant to be prayed in community with others.
I pray Morning Prayer on Zoom with several other men and women Mondays through Saturdays at 7:30 am ET USA, and Evening Prayer on Sundays and Wednesdays at 8:00 pm ET USA.
See my Blog article on the Daily Offices for more information about this ancient form of prayer.
Contact me at dwh323@msn.com if you would like to pray with us. You will need to have Zoom on your device. Join us as often as you are able.
On most Sundays and other major Holy Days, I worship at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Chester, PA. For more information about this wonderful church, visit their website at www.holytrinitywc.org
I also worship with my Quaker Friends every month at Downingtown Friends Meeting. These Friends worship in silence. They have no paid clergy or programed liturgy. When led by the Spirit, Friends stand and share a message with the community. The Quakers complement and balance the Episcopal faith tradition that I was baptized and grew up in. Quakers have a long tradition of non-violence. For more information about the Religious Society of Friends, visit their website at www.downingtownfriendsmeeting.org
The Bright Field
There was a bright light in the field. My early childhood friends and I were playing in the playground a couple of blocks from my home when it caught my attention. I do not know whether they saw it, but I did. The light was mysteriously beautiful and lasted for I know not how long. From time to time, I have remembered that light as a guiding beacon throughout my life.
Many years after I first beheld that beautiful light, a nature poem came to me that perfectly expressed my childhood experience. This is not just any nature poetry, but nature poetry transfigured, all things seen through eyes washed clean by prayer and love. It was written by R.S.Thomas, an outstanding Welsh poet who writes in English. He had been the Vicar of Aberdaron, Gwynedd. It is titled:
The Bright Field.
“I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.”
There are two predicate - “this is that” - statements in all of the Bible. They are both found in the New Testament in the 1st Letter of John. One is “God is love…” (4:8b) And the second is “God is light and in him is no darkness at all…” (1:5b.) Life is shot through with luminous beauty just waiting to be noticed. Be sure to turn aside from your business and notice such things. You will be blessed and I am convinced that your life, like mine, will be changed for good.
My study is centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as found in the four Canonical Gospels with an emphasis on non-violence and self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love.
Below are some of my recent studies that may interest you.
“A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance” by Diana Butler Bass.
In the world but not of the world. What does that mean? Bass helps me understand this common Christian saying by showing me the difference between the world’s understanding of time and the Christian understanding of time. They are not the same. In our western American culture, our calendar is still essentially Roman. The Church Year, which is based on the Gospel story, challenges the assumptions behind the calendar year we use. For more information, check out “YouTube Video Diana Butler Bass, Author of “A Beautiful Year” – Richard Rohr’s “Daily Meditations.”
The chapter entitled “In Memory of Her” introduces the exciting new scholarship on the Gospel according to John by Dr. Elizabeth Schrader Polczer. It looks like Martha was introduced into the story of Lazarus and Mary in John’s Gospel. Martha and Mary in Luke’s Gospel are probably different sisters. Textual scholars unanimously agree that Martha was introduced later in the transmission of the text of John. Polczer’s work would mean that Mary Magdalene plays a more important roll in John than our present Bibles lead us to believe. For more information, check out “YouTube Video Martha was Added! Dr. Elizabeth Schrader Polczer.”
Finally, we are used to thinking that the Bible contains just one voice – God’s. And this goes for Paul’s Letters, too. We read his Letter to the Romans as though there is only one voice – Paul’s. Douglass Campbell is a scripture scholar who teaches at Duke School of Theology. His scholarly work in “The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul” has changed how we understand Paul’s Letter to the Romans. This is a long and scholarly and difficult to read. So, I recommend the more readable “Beyond Justification: Liberating Paul’s Gospel” coauthored by Douglas Campbell and Jon DePue.
If you rather watch a video, check out “YouTube Video Douglas A. Campbell and Jon DePue / Liberating Paul’s Gospel from Justification Theory.”
Here is a video on a different topic related to the Gospels. “YouTube Video “The Case for Christian Universalism” with Robin Parry”.
Some Secular Book Recommendations
Two books by Heather Cox Richardson that have helped me understand our nation today.
"How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America"
and
"Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America"
We certainly can not do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good that we can do.
Here are some of the ways that I serve my community.
1) Little Gidding of Penn's Woods offers two teaching programs to area faith communities. One on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the other on the dangers of Christian Nationalism. See my Blog for more information on these programs.
2) Beginning this winter past, I started serving at the Friday Afternoon Dinners for the street people of West Chester held at Holy Trinity Church. "And the kiong will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'" (Matthew 25:40)
3) From time to time, I preach and celebrate the Holy Eucharist at Holy Trinity, too.
4) I was recently honored to be asked to serve on the Worship & Ministry Committee of Downingtown Friends Meeting.
5) From time to time, I give solo concerts on the Scottish Celtic Harp (known as the Clarsach) in churches and opther venues to raise money for worthy causes.
Jesus said, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist
in the abundance of possessions."
Luke 12:15
"Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich
to enter the kingdom of God."
Luke 18:25
As a child of God, I understand my life to be so much more than being a consumer of goods and services. I seek to live a simple and sustainable life so that others may simply live and our polluted world may be healed. Our children deserve to inherit a world that is just, where the few do not have most of the assets while others live in poverty, and where climate change caused by human activity is reversed.
It is pretty clear that we are in a New Gilded Age here in the USA. The gap between the very wealthy and the poor is the greatest it has been since the first Gilded Age of the late 19th/early 20th Centuries, and the Middle Class is being squeezed out of existence.
So, What Can I Do About This?
In response to this great injustice and in service to my children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors, I have become convinced of Social Democracy as practiced in the Nordic Countries. This seems to me to be the socioeconomic system most compatible with my Christian faith. The new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is proving that Social Democratic economic principles work while the trickle-down neo-liberal principles begun under President Reagan are a lie that benefits only a few. Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are two other politicians who espouse similar socioeconomic systems. Heather Cox Richardson speaks of the very popular four pillars of the New Deal as being 1) Regulating Big Busines, Support for Unions, and Graduated Income Tax, 2) Investing in the Infrastructure, 3) Civil Rights, & 4) A Social Safety Net including Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. I tell my elected representatives all the time that if they want my vote this is what I expect of them. POiur government must work for all us and not just the wealthy few.
I Want A New New Deal Based on the
Socioeconomics of Social Democracy !
I grew up under the New Deal which was in place from the 1930s through 1980. For all of its problems, this was the most prosperous time for the Middle Class in American history. I want a New New Deal for my children and grandchildren.
Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God...
Do not return violence for violence."
Matthew 5:9 & 39 para.
Jesus also said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Luke 6:27
"War is unchristian"
Bishop Paul Allen 1941 Feast Day - September 4th
"The first step to peace is to stand still in the light."
George Fox
Since Christianity became the State Religion of the Roman Empire in 380 CE, the message of the church has drastically changed primarily by abandoning the teachings of Jesus regarding violence. The Christian's participation in the military and war then became acceptable and expected.
Little Gidding of Penn's Woods seeks to return to the teachings of our Lord Jesus by living a non-violent lifestyle and encouraging Conscientious Objection as an alternative to military service. I accept that this will not be a popular position to hold in the general culture or even in our local churches.
But, Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. I will follow Jesus.
I ask myself, "Is the work I do consistent with the teachings of Jesus? Is it meaningful and productive work?" Jesus himself may have been a carpenter, the family trade. Among other things, work may entail raising a family, caring for loved ones, gardening, active ordained ministry or another profession. Work is a part of a balanced and healthy life.
Please visit my wife, Barbara's Face Book/Meta page Corner Ketch Cottage.
She regularly posts photos of the many native plants growing in our gardens and throughout our property.
She is the gardener and I am her "go for."
Barb and I view our humble home as our retreat hermitage where we are blessed to live a simple life with our two dogs - Sassy and Bird, two cats - Elly and Penny, our gardens, and all of the birds, deer, foxes, rabbits, and other wild beasts and angels who call our property and surrounding woods and lands their home.
The beauties of God's very good creation are all around us to enjoy. It is all of our responsibility to be good stewards of the Creation.
A Postulant in the Community of the Gospel
A Religious Community of the Episcopal Church
After forty-five years of ordained ministry as an Episcopal Priest, I am now retired and in the autumn of my life. This offers me the opportunity to live into a balanced, wholistic and healthy life of Prayer, Study, and Service, which are the threefold Vows of the Community of the Gospel. This year 2026, I decided to become a Postulant of this New Monasticism dispersed community. Scroll down to the next page of this website to find more information about the Community of the Gospel.
Introduction to the Community
We are a non-residential monastic community with standing in The Episcopal Church whose members help each other become more Christ-like. We do this by living a monastic life of daily prayer, reflective study, and personal service in the secular world. We seek to demonstrate our faith in unique ways while allowing our lives to be transformed by God. Although we are primarily a dispersed community (we live and work in and across the United States and in the Bahamas), we travel together as one in spirit with Our Lord. Our life together is ordered by “A Common Rule for Monastics of the Community of the Gospel.” We believe that our purpose is to awaken to God’s wisdom and love, and to shape our lives following God’s principles. The expression of our unique personal mission in life is in response to the love of God. We join together in Christ to share our journey and our resources, and to encourage each other’s faith journey. It’s all summed up in our motto:
“Know the Gospel;
Live the Gospel."
I am a life long Episcopalian and have been ordained as an Episcopal Priest since 1981. I retired in 2022 after 41 years of parish ministry, the last 22 years specializing in Interim Ministry. I am remarried and my wife, Barbara, and I have six adult children, two dogs and two cats. We love camping, hiking, recumbent bike riding rail to trails, and gardening. I studied Gestalt Therapy, Message Therapy, and play the Scottish Celtic Harp, otherwise known as the Clarsach.
I would love to hear from you, so here is my email address: