Urban Anglican Initiative

Padre's World: Today the Church celebrates Corpus Christi or The Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Though not all churches recognize this feast, one could h...ave easily connected the theme with today's Gospel text in Mark 2: 23-28 where Jesus connects the Sabbath, Grain, and the Bread of Presence with his Lordship and St Mark connects this story with Feasting, Fasting, and New Wine. Therefore New Covenant, New Grain, and New Wine where folk from all walks of life are invited to the Feast where Body and Blood (the essence of life) become Bread and Wine where we again and again receive the Presence of Jesus and we enter into Relationship and abide in his Rest and live transfigured lives in the world. #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #shalom #wholeness #realignment #retreat #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spiritalive #corpuschristi

Padre's World: Today is the Feast of the Holy Trinity and the Good Vicar preached on The Holy Trinity: Relational and Missional. I said that the Holy Trinity: ...Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is a Communion of Love within Himself. In creating humanity, the Triune God reaches out beyond his boundaries and invites us into the Percheorisis (the Divine Dance) of the very Life of the Trinity. Yet we pulled back and again Abba reaches out to us through his Son and His Spirit to draw us in. Again we pull back because perfect love cast out fear and perfect love is what we fear the most. In our own communities, we are a communion of persons and yet we say: Us Four and No More! If the Triune God reaches out beyond his boundaries to invite us into the very Life of Love of the Trinity, what more are we called to do than to reach out beyond the boundary of our four walls and invite the community into the very Life of Triune Love of the Church! Come Holy Trinity, Come Communion of Three, Come Tri-Hypostatic Light, Come and Transfigure Me and My Community! #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #shalom #wholeness #realignment #retreat #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spiritalive #Trinity See more

Padre's World: The Good Vicar wants to wish everybody a very Blessed Pentecost! This weekend I co-led a weekend retreat for my Spirit Alive Eucharistic Communit...y. The theme was the Power and Presence of the Spirit. I led most of the sessions where I taught on the Seven Stages of Spiritual Transformation, the Story of Naaman, and a Pentecostal Sermon on: The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me.....We did a guided meditation called the Jesus Walk and we laid hands, prophesied, and anointed folk with oil. We were truly a Pentecostal gathering with folk from Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran, Catholic, Non-Denominational, Christian Church Backgrounds. #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #shalom #wholeness #realignment #retreat #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spiritalive #Pentecost @ Luther Glen See more

Padre's World: It has been a hectic twenty four hours for the Good Vicar. Last night, at the Mission, I thought I had put my phone in my pocket as I was sittin'... on a bench in the lobby. I got up and came back and realized I didn't have it and it was not on the bench. We think it was one of our guests, but Praise the Lord; I was able to get a new phone and an upgrade at that. While I was in T Mobile, I get to meet one of my Facebook friends from South Africa: Fr Michael Lapsley. Fr Michael is an Anglican priest who heads up the Institute of the Healing of Memories, a ministry birthed out of apartheid that seeks reconciliation through shared stories around the table. If my phone had not been stolen, I would not have been in TMOBILE and met this great man of God and man of peace! #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #anglican #reconciliation #healing

Padre's World: TBT for the Good Vicar to this past Sunday at All Saints Anglican Hawthorne. We baptized Baby Joseph and gave thanks for his birth. Baptisms are... a big event at All Saints; they come with great fanfare and feasting! I average a Baptism every 2 1/2 months. What better way to celebrate the Feast of Ascension than to post pictures of Baptism, the very act that positions us sitting with Jesus at the right hand of the Father and being empowered by the Spirit to live out that position as our posession in the world. #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spirituality #baptism #ascension #allsaints @ All Saints Anglican Church

Padre's World: The Good Vicar is tired. All Saints Anglican Church in Hawthorne had a visit from our Bishop, the Rt Rev Keith Andrews. He preached a powerful s...ermon on trusting God and sharin' the Good News with the community. He also celebrated Communion as well as Confirmations and the comissioning of Lay Readers, Women's Guild, and Mother's Union. It is always a great time when we hear the fatherly wisdom and counsel from our Bishop. We also had great food and fellowship. WHO ARE THE SAINTS? WE ARE THE SAINTS! #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spirituality #allsaints #bishop #anglican @ All Saints Anglican Church

Padre's World: About six years ago, the Good Vicar met with a group of African American Pentecostal and Baptist Churches and put them in dialogue that would lay... a foundation for what is now the Jubilee Movement in the ACNA. Out of this group of churches, the now Miracle Center Anglican Church and now Fr Antonio Herndon Sr was the only one that saw the process through. Fr Antonio is not only a fellow priest but truly a brother who I'm so grateful that he came this far by faith in a dream that at times was not certain to become a reality. But can we say But God.... #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #anglican #africanamerican @ All Saints Anglican Cathedral, Long Beach, CA

Padre's World: The Good Vicar is tired! Between last night and today I had three Easter/Pascha Services. It started on Saturday Night with a Easter Celebration ...Service at the Los Angeles Mission where eight of us gathered to hear the Story and celebrate Communion. Then Sunday morning at All Saints Hawthorne, I hit my Pentecostal whoop preaching on the Resurrection of Jesus as God's Veto to our No and that though God tarries, things dramatically change in his suddenlies! I finished my evening at Spirit Alive Eucharistic Community with my older ladies talkin' about how the women gave us the Good News of the Resurrection! #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #passover #easter #holyweek

Padre's World: On this Good Friday, God becomes enthroned as King of the world in Jesus. God reveals the fullness of his Glory in the nakedness and shame of a ...bloody figure lynched from a tree! God disrobes in dishonor so that we may receive the dignity of Deity! We as broken and despised humanity have the assurance of God who is Abba holds us up, cradles us, in the midst of our sufferin’ even though we feel abandoned by the One who is silent. The same God who held his Son on the cross is the same God who holds us up in the midst of our sufferin! -The Good Vicar #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #holyweek #passover #goodfriday

Padre's World: Tonight the Good Vicar commemorated Maundy Thursday at All Saints Anglican Church in Hawthorne CA. This was there first Maundy Thursday service. ...I peached on: Why is this Night Different than any Other Night? I compared John 13 and Philippians 2 and talked about how Jesus is the Passover Lamb who gives his Body and Blood in the form of Bread and Wine. #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #passover #holyweek #maundythursday

Padre's World: The Good Vicar has been very busy. Four days a week I get up early in the morning to be at the Mission to teach my 8am on Expericing God Class at... the Mission. For the past two weeks we have been studying Philippians 2 and what it means to be a son (and daughter) of the Father and live out the servanthood of the Beloved Son Jesus by the power of the Spirit in the world. This week I also had the privilege to show some students from Biola University what we do at the Mission and what I do on Skid Row. My evening shifts have been full of adventure as we have dealt with such situations such as one woman from the community who came to one of our events and began to tweak, speak incoherently, and took her clothes off. We had to bring a sheet to guard her dignity before situation was fully taken care off. Isn't that we are called to do, to be our brother and sister's dignity and cover their nakedness? #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spirituality #servant #student

Padre's World: The Good Vicar has been reflectin' on Race and Reconcilation and how it correlates with Revivalism, Revolution, and Reformation in and through th...e Kingdom of God. These are some seminal thoughts with an illustration from last week. My ministry and vocation has been to try to bring folk together from various denominations and various cultures; to sit and listen, to challenge the systems and society and to preach the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus and manifest the Kingdom by the Spirit. With reflectin' on the legacy of Billy Graham and watchin' Black Panther; we need both Revivalism and Reformation to start a Revolution that brings the Reconcilation of Races through the Kingdom. We need Revivalists who calls for conversion, speaks and listens to individuals, stirs the faithful and inspire all folk to come into the Kingdom. We need Reformers to challenge the status quo both in Church and Society, call forth justice to roll down like a mighty flood, and call forth the transformation of society through the Kingdom that reflects the common good. Yet sometimes I need to be put in balance in being both a Revivalists and a Reformer. As a Reformer, sometimes you feel like you ain't doing enough because progress is slow and because of social media, you may not feel like you awaken enough to all the issues around you. But this week, I got back to my Revivalist roots. I gave two crucifixes to the ladies who serve me at my local Vitamin Shoppe and I got to give a Big Print KJV Bible to older African American gentleman who comes and sleeps at the Mission. It was these individuals who reminded me that behind every Reformation, behind every Revolution; there is a Revivalist inspiration that is present in individual lives who need to be met with the Kingdom. #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #spirituality #reformation #revolution #revival

Padre's World: After much reflection, the Good Vicar would like to share his perspective on the life and legacy of Evangelist Billy Graham. I was steeped in th...e southern revivalism of Billy Graham. I was born and raised in Palatka FL where Billy was ordained a Southern Baptist. We have murals, plaques, and a church dedicated to his life and ministry. Though Pentecostals and Baptists claimed no written prayers or rituals, we all knew the Billy Graham altar call: If you were to die tonight...every head bowed; every eye closed. I was told growing up that I could be Bob Graham (politician) or Billy Graham (preacher). Billy Graham was the gold standard of the scandal free ministry. Yet when one passes away we either idolize one or demonize one but never humanize one. Is Billy Graham's legacy complexed and mixed. Did he make mistakes in laying a foundation for the marriage of politics and religion, making a conversion about decision without discipleship; and did he struggle with supporting the Civil Rights Movement on one hand and support candidates unreserved who may have not? Did he bring Catholics and Protestants together reach out to Muslims and Jewish folk and yet say some disparaging things about Jewish folk behind closed doors. Yup! Did he repent to the best of his ability and allow the Spirit to transform him into the image and likeness of Jesus? Yup! I pray that the next generation will have mercy on us who claim to be most fully awake to theological and social issues. This time of soul searchin' has made me confront my own racism, self righteousness and down right sin that needs the forgiveness of God, the grace of Jesus, and the empowerment of the Spirit and the forgiveness of my brothers and sisters. Pray for me, Pray for Billy, Pray for the Church, for we are all sinners! #padrepower #gangstapriest #kingdomofgod #god #jesus #holyspirit #vicarofskidrow #mystic #charismatic #contemplation #inspiration #intergrated #intuition #imagination #recovery #addiction #homeless #transformation #fitspiration #shalom #wholeness #realignment #eucharisticcommunity #stmichaelsinthecity #thelamission #poor #billygraham