James Derkits

"Was an old man, no child of his own, his skill was in his hand." So begins a song I wrote last year for Christ's Incarnation, and recorded this year for the Port Aransas Museum's "Sounds of the Season. The song takes a look at all the characters around Jesus' birth like Mary, who was only a girl by our current cultural expectations. Mary who was pregnant when she wasn't expected to be. My song also considers the donkey who smelled hay and led them to the barn where Jesus was born.  We don't really know a lot about Joseph, except he was established as a carpenter and he was righteous or followed the justice of God. That is an important theme in Matthew's gospel. In my song, I pondered how Joseph's expectations must have been shattered when he discovered his beloved was pregnant and he didn't participate. Knowing the severity of the law's punishment for such a situation, he seemed to have a plan that would honor Mary's dignity and d...

Hip Hip Hooray for Christmas Vacation      Clark W. Griswold, after a series of unfortunate and hilarious experiences with his extended family gazes up from his front lawn at the "Christmas star" and opines: "It means something different to everyone." Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite movies of the season and has made it into a couple of Christmas sermons. However, the main character's assessment of the "meaning of Christmas" expresses the cultural spirit of individualism, and so the movie seems to land on the illusion of individualism.       Most of the movie and the meaning of Christmas point to a different reality. That is that we are community people. Yes, we are each unique, and each have our own journey to become the people God has created us to become, but we cannot do that without one another. The meaning of Christmas and other winter religious festivals for that matter is about remembering our interdependence.       ...

Thanksgiving is a family holiday for me. While we do have the Turkey Trot Day School fundraiser the day before, Thanksgiving day and following is a time I enjoy stepping away from church activities. Since Christmas and Easter are very much church holidays and my energy is focused on our church family, it is nice not to have a church event during this American tradition, to slow down, and spend time with my family.  That doesn't mean it is not a religious or spiritual day. Whether we are with my side of the family or Laura's, there is usually time to name thanksgivings. Those annual gatherings are markers in time, a way to pay attention to what is important in life. While we cannot slow down the swift passage of years, we can be present right where we are with family or friends and give thanks together.  My extended family is awaiting the birth of a child. I can remember my nephew's first Thanksgiving in his parent's arms, then years at the kids table, and now he is beco...

 Sermon preached at Trinity by the Sea  November 19, Proper 28, Year A Several years ago, I set out on an intentional journey in my own psyche with some studious guides. I was following in the footsteps of many who have gone before me. The writings of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and other Jungian authors were helpful guides. This intentional inner journey started when, in a clergy support group, my mentor Pittman McGeehee told us that when his first son was born, he thought he’d better learn to understand masculine psychology. So, after being married with no kids for 10 years, when we learned Eli was to be born, Pittman’s words came back to me, and I dug in. I am in some ways still on that journey, but I’m far enough along that I can send this postcard from my travels. The word psyche is the Greek word for soul. So any psychological work we do is soul work. The psychologists I have been in touch with over the years remember that. Another great quote that has guided my par...

After Jimmy Buffett died, I wrote to some clergy friends who, like me, have the fortune to serve churches in gulf coast towns. I proposed having a Sunday School class for adults reflecting on the music of the Havana Daydreamer. "If not us, who?" I've personally had quite a journey as a fan, first hearing him on a boat cruising around Bolivar and the Galveston waters, and covering his songs, then later being resistant to his music and the whole scene surrounding it, and then digging in deeper to his music, starting with a record a friend gave me after the storm took most of mine.  My rebellious side didn't want to play his music when I first moved here because, a colleague told me I had to, "learn Jimmy Buffett music because they only want to hear Margaritaville." Alas, we do hear that song quite a bit in this island town. That's also what started me thinking about that lost shaker of salt, and why the song so captivates our imaginations; even the non-mar...

  25 Years of Children's Ministry Walking down the hallway of five classrooms of 70 children and 14 teachers, it is bizarre to imagine it all started with five children in a once-a-week mother's day out program. Port Aransas was a different place back then, yet Nana Ward had a vision; she saw the need for a children's ministry not just on Sunday mornings, but a daytime offering of care and teaching for children. It is, of course, also a ministry to parents who work in our community.   Our imagination is one of humanity's greatest gifts. It is the realm of faith, of hope, of seeing beyond problems into potential. It was not easy at first to get others to see the vision of a Port Aransas day school. Yes, imagination is the realm where God reveals new possibilities, but some of us cling to the illusion of our own certainty, of what might go wrong; some of us focus on the our limitations. We are tempted to hide our little light under a bushel.  Throughout scripture, when...

This summer one of my colleagues challenged her congregation to read the Psalms daily for a month. In our Book of Common Prayer, there is a schedule to read all 150 Psalms over 30 days (morning and night.)  Years ago, I kept that daily practice for a while, but have gotten away from it, so I accepted her challenge. It put me back in touch not only with the Psalms, but with our schedule of daily scripture readings along with praying Morning Prayer, Rite I.  I usually get back into a more regular rhythm of prayer this time of year, and the Psalm challenge gave me a little head start. Around here, summer has its own fast pace when our streets, bay, and beaches are packed with visitors coming to get their time in this paradise where we are so fortunate to live.  School has begun and the crowds thin out, and we have the opportunity to fall back into a new rhythm.  As our days grow shorter, even while the heat persists, we can feel that seasonal shift toward autumn. Just a...

At a recent Tuesday 4:45 service, I was given a beautiful new cross made of silver, and created by artist Jody Foshee. She is a member of the Creek Nation, which is where we get the Creek Nation Alleluia chant we just sang, and use often in our service. The cross is based on our altar cross, which has me thinking about Roy Fridge, the artist who made that beautiful cross out of found pieces of driftwood.  If you aren’t familiar with our crosses and candle sticks, I encourage you to stop by and take a look at them sometime; meditate with them. They are beautiful and uniquely Port Aransan, not another set in the world. Roy fridge , the artist who made them, was living in a hermitage he built on property owned by the Sharp family in the 60’s. He paid $1 a year for rent. When we built the church in 1964, Milly Sharp approached Roy about making the crosses and candle sticks. His other works of art that I’ve seen are captivating--he was interested in boats and shamanistic ritual. ...

For the past three years, I have preached the Gospel Easter Morning including a pop song. The first year it was Widespread Panic's Diner . Last year Prince's I Would Die For You , and this year, the Grateful Dead's Ripple. Music is so inspiring to me, and it is an easy connection to relate to God, Resurrection, and new life through some of my favorite songs, even when they don't use traditional church language. Easter Morning 2023 My earliest impression of the Grateful Dead was as a pre-teen, staying the night at long time friends of my parents and sharing a room with Monroe their son. Earlier in the day Monroe had sent me down a fairly steep hill on his old bike which had no brakes. I managed to stop by veering off the road into the open arms of a magnolia tree. Monroe was so cool. So that night, after having some Neapolitan ice cream we watched MTV. If you remember MTV, you’ll understand how excited he was that a music video of one of his favorite bands, the Grateful ...

 Let us pray. God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. I intended to refer only to a small part of this prayer, but the whole prayer, from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979 , is so rich I decided to share the whole thing. Whether you have children living in your household or not, it's a good prayer to use as our world continues (generation after generation) to be unsteady and confusing.  On a recent Sunday, we celebrated our Day School ministry. I want to continue that theme, and say thank you to our teachers who incarnate the love of Jesus Christ in caring for and teaching the childr...

Growing up in Southeast Texas, spring brought with it flowering trees like dogwoods and magnolias as well as an amazing array of azaleas. My parents cultivated azalea beds all around out house, and on Sunday morning they would help my sisters and I collect flowers from around the yard for the Easter Cross. The Easter Cross was a pretty ugly cross that stayed in a dark closet most of the year. Then the altar guild would put the cross out, and as families showed up, children of all ages would rush in and tuck their flower stem through one of the little holes that were all over the dark green cross. By the time the service started, the ugly cross would be covered with flowers; a colorful symbol of resurrection; a beautiful announcement that Jesus is risen!  Symbols of resurrection are all around us, and sometimes it takes such a sweet gesture of a beloved community to help us see them. Resurrection doesn't come until after the crucifixion and sometimes we get stuck sitting at the empt...

Published in the South Jetty Newspaper While the saint word has fallen away from that mid-February holiday of Eros-Love, I am grateful we have held onto it for this month's celebration of St. Patrick's. Dear St. Patrick did more than the legendary snake-drive, and I don't think it was he who asked people to wear green (or drink green). As a young man of 16, Patrick arrived in Ireland as a slave, kidnapped from his home. There he tended sheep and in that pastoral setting he learned to pray and as he wrote, "felt God's love fill my heart and strengthen my faith." He escaped on a ship, but later returned to Ireland after a series of mystical experiences persuaded him his mission field was there. St. Patrick may be the most popular of the Irish or Celtic Saints , but he is not necessarily the most interesting.  Consider St. Brendan , who like other monks of the region, launched himself off in a small boat, letting the Holy Spirit direct his course to carry the Goo...

Once a week, I get to lead chapel for our Trinity Day School students. We usually gather in the church to sing, pray, and hear scripture. It is a delight each week to see those sweet little faces, even the ones with runny noses. Like in adult church we have some children are really tuned in, singing the songs with the hand motions, screaming "NO!" they will not hide their little light under a bushel. Some are eager to raise their hand, even before I finish the question, "Who here has been in the belly of a whale? Oh really??"  We have others who are enjoying the wonders of imagination, and staring off at some of our stained glass images, or just daydreaming about being anywhere, but in chapel. I know their little brains are soaking it all in anyway, or at least the important stuff...just like the day-dreaming adults on Sunday.  The chapel service is the most consistently attended of our weekly services. While it is adapted for the little ones, we still use elements ...

When Jesus sends his disciples out to do ministry he advises them to stay where they are welcomed (and to shake off the dust and move on where they are not.) He also advises them: "Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.  Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you;  cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”" From Luke Ch. 10 Since I arrived in Port Aransas in 2012, I've mostly "stayed in the same house" aside from a few short term lodgings the year after the hurricane. More than that literal stability of my dwelling place, I have found such deep meaning in the stability of living in one place and with one church for ten year, and anticipate it will only become a richer experience the longer I am here.  On a recent Sunday, I got to baptize a third generation member of Trinity...

Some of you may be getting tired of Christmas Carols, the red and green palette, and white-bearded reindeer racer already. Some of us have been finding ways to wait and watch in eager preparation before we welcome the Christ Child on the first day of Christmas. Then for 12 Christmas Days we keep the party rolling until the the arrival of the Magi from the East. They came to welcome the newborn king, which was more than a little disturbing to the nearby authority who was in the habit of calling himself king.  There are a variety of estimates of how long the Magi, or wisemen, or three kings traveled, following yonder star to pay homage to the child of Mary. They all agree it was a haul; probably more than 12 days, but it helps us to tell the story this way. Our Magi figureines are already making that journey. Now they are settled near the doors of our church and they will hop from the oblation table to the piano, then to the baptismal font, and finally to the nativity scene set in ou...