James Derkits

Just a quick note about my quick trip to Camp Capers. It was good to catch up with fellow clergy, hear from our Bishops, and to be in such a beautiful place. I was on the summer staff at Camp Capers in 1998, but started going there a couple of years before with our Canterbury from SWT (That's a college ministry from what is now Texas State University...in case you missed that.) On one our trips, probably to the college gathering we did each winter, a friend taught me how to fly fish. I was hooked. (haha) It was nice to get back on the Guadalupe and catch a few perch. I threw them all back, they had great meals for us...  I also went for a nice run on the new property that is completely undeveloped. It is beautiful out there. It is more river-front property where they have some trails and take small groups to camp out during the summer. It is certainly a different feeling to be under a canopy of cypress and oaks, than to be in the wide open environment of our coast. I love ...

originally published October's Trinity Day School Newsletter Trinity by the Sea Day School is off and running! In chapel we are beginning at the beginning, the Genesis. We are taking it a few days at a time, and imagining what it was like when God created the Universe. The Creation Story of the Bible is a poem that uses parallelism to reflect on the amazing existence of the world as we know it. We get a double 1,2,3: The first three days God sets boundaries: light is separated from darkness, water above is separated from water below, seas are separated from land. (And God sees that it is good!) The next three follow the set pattern: sun, moon, and starts (Lights); birds (sky) and fish (sea); then animals (finally on land) and finally, the best-for-last, humanity (male and female,) The Hebrew people who first told that story did not have access to the science we have access to today, by which we understand the universe to be 14 billions years old. There’s no date listed in Gen...

I have had the privilege to be in the presence of Bishop Desmond Tutu a few times, and I have heard the Dali Lama speak once. They beam with an inner light and the memory of being near them brings a smile to my face. I knew they were personal friends, and that they given lectures together, and I recently learned that they have co-authored a book about Joy. I can't wait to get my copy, and read what these two amazing spiritual teachers, who have lived lives wrought with persecution, have to teach us about joy. They are transforming lives around the world, as they themselves have been transformed. I want to share this good news with the handful of you who read the Pastor's Pen column, because bad news seems to get more air time than good news.  (I'm ever grateful to our South Jetty for including so much good news!) This is the season of harvest, and the season of reflecting on stewardship in many churches. I am inviting people, in some way, to do a self assessment of wh...