Blog

Another Chance

December 29, 2020
Alleluia! A new year begins! 2020 certainly was way-up on my weird-o-meter! For the first part of 2021 things will be much the same as they have been for the last ten months or so. But, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel; perhaps by June 2021 we will be learning and p...

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Here I Am

December 16, 2020
The original Christmas story, beginning in Luke chapter 1, verse 26, tells how the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a small town called, Nazareth (many of my generation remember a rock band by the same name). Gabriel told Mary, a virgin (See Matthew 1:24-25), that she would c...

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Different

December 02, 2020
I was watching the old movie, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” featuring the voice of Burl Ives the other night. One of the main principles of the movie is the rejection of Rudolph because he is not like the other reindeer. Although it wasn’t until later in ...

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Start Here

November 24, 2020
The Bible book of Proverbs is a collection of the wise sayings of King Solomon, the son of King David of Israel. Solomon was writing instructions for living into the will of God and into the great potential God implanted in the human race. For Solomon, the prayer that God&rsq...

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Final Act

November 18, 2020
In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus’ disciples ask Him, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Jesus describes what the world will be like when the “end” comes: “… many will fall away [from the faith] and they w...

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What is Love?

October 28, 2020
As I ask that question, I discover how difficult it is to answer. How would you describe love? If you think love is a feeling, think again; that could be heartburn. If you think love is like a fantasy, that can be dangerous; fantasy is almost always better than reality. What ...

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Turbulence

August 12, 2020
Marla and I were out in the boat last weekend and I always enjoy looking back and watching the turbulence behind the boat. I don’t know what it is that appeals to me about it. Last weekend as I looked at the prop turbulence, I noticed how the water remains stirred-up fo...

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Empathy

August 04, 2020
I used to get sympathy and empathy confused. Sympathy is when we feel bad for someone; empathy is when you try to understand how someone else feels. The following scripture from the Letter to the Hebrews is from The Message Bible: “Regard prisoners as if you were in pri...

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Loved?

July 29, 2020
At John 13:34, Jesus is quoted as saying, “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another.” (The Message Bible) This advice is to recognize how much we are loved and to love others the same way. That is often the...

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Kindergarten

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
July 22, 2020
I remember seeing a poster many years ago that said, “I learned everything I needed to know in life in Kindergarten”, then went on to list the most important life lessons: 1. Be Nice 2. Eat your vegetables 3. Wash Your Hands 4. ...

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Chosen Flesh

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
July 15, 2020
“The Word became flesh and stayed for a little while among us …” (John 1:14a; TIB) Christians understand the “Word” as being the pre-incarnate Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. The first verse of John chapter 1 tells us, “… The Word was...

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Abba and the Chosen One

July 08, 2020
“Abba God the loved the world so much that Abba God sent the Chosen One, so that everyone that believes in the Chosen One would never die, but live forever.” (John 3:16; The Inclusive Bible) The gift of love, intended for all humankind, comes from Abba God, the Cr...

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Cool Water

June 25, 2020
Do you remember the Marty Robbins song, “Cool, Clear Water”? The first verse reads: “All day I've faced a barren waste, without the taste of water, cool water. Old Dan and I with throats burned dry, and souls that cry for water. Cool, clear, water.” At...

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I Saw God

June 11, 2020
The words below were sent by email to me under the pen name, “A Simple Man”. I am so impressed by these words that I need to share them with you. I will warn you that the punch line may surprise you, but I believe God often has a way of reaching us when we are not...

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DWJWD

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
June 04, 2020
I remember when the catch phrase, WWJD, became popular. It was a great concept; to ask yourself how to act or react based on what you believe Jesus would do. But does that mean we actually did it? My good friend, Carl Dunlap, asked me if we could use the acronym DWJWD = &ldq...

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Partners

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
May 28, 2020
Words have meaning, but the meaning of words is often contextual, and meanings change based on societal changes in usage. For example: “Awesome” can mean, large, mighty, intimidating, etc. But in the 1980′s “Awesome” meant, great, cool, or neat. Now...

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Inspiration

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
May 21, 2020
As I sit at my desk hoping for inspiration to write this article, I realize that is what I should write about; Inspiration. Webster’s Dictionary defines it, in part, as: “An awakening, quickening, or creative impulse, especially as manifested in artistic achieveme...

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Tails Up!

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
May 06, 2020
You may have noticed the “ritual” involved with two or more dogs meeting for the first time. Of course there is the obligatory butt-sniffing (which has a scientific purpose, look it up), but long before that is the first impression response. Some dogs assume othe...

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After

By The Rev. Dr. David L. Bridges, Priest
April 29, 2020
There are events in life that cause us to measure time in terms of “before” and “after”. We clearly mark time in our stories as one or the other. For example: “Before 9-11, we didn’t have as much security at airports.” Or, “after...

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The Cocoon

By The Rev. Dr. David Bridges
April 15, 2020
The Corona Virus stay-in of 2020 is also being called “The Great Re-Set”. Nothing seems the same as before, and things may never be the same again. It that bad? I’m not sure. I have noticed more people talking about faith and spirituality. I have noticed mor...

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Spiritual PPE

By Fr. David Bridges
April 08, 2020
Lately we have been hearing and learning a great deal about PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). Many people are making their own face masks and hand sanitizer. We are taking great precautions for our own safety and that of others. One of those precautions is to shelter-in-p...

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The Garden

By Fr. David+
April 05, 2020
In the Book of Genesis there is a narrative describing the time before creation when “… no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to...

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Stay In

By Fr. David Bridges
March 25, 2020
Here we are at the “Stay In” learning how to work from home. Funny how many of us have dreamed of working from home, but now that we are staying home out of necessity, it may not be as much fun as we thought. What is most difficult for me is not having &ldqu...

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Independence

By Fr. David
July 03, 2019
This July 4th the United States celebrates 243 years as a nation. I was reading the Declaration of Independence and noticed a few very significant phrases. Our founding fathers believed that this Nation should be formed to assume “the separate and equal station to which the...

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Beauty

By Fr. David
June 26, 2019
Have you seen those TV programs or on-line collections of advertisements and fashions from past decades? Sometimes the styles and fashions of the past look funny to us now. Other times, those styles and fashions return to popularity. Or perhaps you have seen advertisements from t...

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Behind the Scenes

By Fr. David
June 20, 2019
We can’t always know what is happening behind the scenes. Often, years later we hear the story-behind-the-story. Macrina (340-379), a monastic and teacher, is at the heart of one of those stories. Macrina founded one of the earliest Christian communit...

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Toil & Trouble

By Fr. David
June 12, 2019
We have all known someone that seems to have a dark cloud over them. The weirdest and least-likely disasters happen to these people. Even when things are going well for them, they may make choices that bring more trouble into their lives. It seems that some people have had so muc...

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Preserve Us

By Fr. David
June 05, 2019
This prayer appears in the Daily Devotion section of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer: “Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversi...

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ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
555 E. Third Street | Grove, OK 74344
(918) 801-2203

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