James Derkits

Originally published in the South Jetty Newspaper, Port Aransas  John is out there in the wilderness calling me, calling you. I love teaching our day school children about John the Baptist in chapel. He is such a complex character. John is described as wearing camel's hair, a leather belt around his waist, and eating (I hope you aren't eating when you read this) big bugs with wild honey. I like the wild honey part. I also wonder if he harvested the honey and bugs with his own hands out there. He had plenty of comfortable places to be, this preacher's kid. He probably could have, and maybe he was for a time, an apprentice to his father, Zechariah a priest. He would certainly have learned about the law and prophets from his mother Elizabeth, a descendent of Aaron. The prophets spoke out for God, they stood out against the spirit of the times to call people back to God, away from their greed and neglect of the needy. The prophets of the Hebrew Covenant stood out on the edge of...

I am grateful to have had a therapist to be my guide through some difficult times of life, as well as through discernment in early adulthood. One piece of wisdom my therapist shared with me early on was the blessing and curse of longevity. As we age more and more of our loved ones will die along the way. That realist perspective echos the refrain of Ecclesiastes, "all is vanity." It doesn't make losing a loved one easier, but it does provide some orientation for the journey. In addition, it has helped me to value this life as a precious gift.  I also value memories of those who have crossed over to join the "great cloud of witnesses", those loved ones I call saints who are gathered close to God. Intentionally remembering and honoring the saints, both those with a capital "S" whom we share with the wider church community, or those more personal lower case "s" saints has become more important to me longer I live, and the more loved ones I bury....

  Sunday, September 29: Be Salty for Jesus! Reflection for church while my back heals.  Welcome everyone to another church on the beach. Fr. James is dealing with his back injury, and sent this reflection to read, so here it goes.  I spent Thursday morning planning for the next two weeks, anticipating that I might need a medical procedure. As I did so, I marveled at how many amazing leaders we have within our church. I was focusing on the worship service, and leading worship on Sundays is a only portion of what we do as a church community, but it is an important part of what we do. It is where we gather together to reorient to God, to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and to listen for inspiration from Jesus. How fitting that we gather on the beach today to hear Jesus remind us to be salty. Do we have it easier, here beside the sea? We can hardly help but be salty around here. I want to start with that, which is where Jesus lands his somewhat meandering messa...

In the Christian Bible, there are two prominent stories focused on language, although since the Bible we read is in English, translated from Greek and Hebrew all of which is seeking to articulate the ineffable, you could say the whole Bible is about language, but I digress.  The story of the Tower of Babel is a primeval history of why there are so many language groups in the world, and most importantly, it addresses that all-too common theme of hubris: that is when humans think too highly of themselves. There we were, building a tower up to heaven to be on the same level as God, then the confusion happened. All the people were given different languages so they couldn't continue to build up-up-up. We were humbled and scattered. Unless we read those stories regularly, we are likely to forget to be humble and hope on the hubris train again and again and again. The second story focused on language is that delightful story in the book of Acts, when instead of confusion, the gift of...

I'm looking forward to being part of a college student retreat out at Mustang Island Conference Center next month with students from around the state. It's somewhat nostalgic for me because I was active in our college campus ministry, called Canterbury, when I attended Southwest Texas in San Marcos (know today as Texas State.) I was recruited by the chaplain when I was carrying my guitar across campus, and their musician had just graduated.  I still keep up with a number of my Canterbury friends, even though we live across the state and country. In the last century, when I was in college, we would gather every week at St. Mark's, right on the edge of campus for a home cooked meal, worship, and conversation. Sometimes it was just a game night to let our brains rest during finals, sometimes it was learning about contemplative prayer, or having Eucharist with our visiting Bishop. I attended a few retreats with other Canterbury groups, and at one of those we heard from a speake...

Reflection for Morning Prayer July 28, 2024 Trinity by the Sea Some of you may not remember the first time you stepped onto a boat, or more to the point, the first time you fell out of a boat. Most of my falling-out stories are from the San Marcos River misjudging an eddy around a bend, the bow pulled suddenly in the opposite direction from what I expected, then pushed sideways up against a submerged root that gives loft to the bow sending two paddlers into the drink. Fortunately, all of those occasions eventually ended with laughter. Then there are those moments of non-commitment, like standing one foot on a log that had fallen across the river, foot in the canoe, and quickly realizing the mistake. A similar thing can happen on the docks here, at least with smaller boats. Stepping into a boat takes commitment. One foot on land and one in the vessel is a short-lived exercise in balance and stretching beyond the ability of most yogis. Be on land or in the boat, not in both places at o...

A friend was recently serving as chaplain at Mustang Island Conference Center and someone from his church asked to be baptized in the gulf while they were here. He called to ask for advice, and I talked about my experience with beach baptisms and gave a few pointers. It reminded me of when I first moved here and called Pastor William Campbell to ask him the same question before my first beach baptism. Now, I have lost count of how many beach baptisms we have celebrated now. Some still prefer to be sprinkled to being dunked (baptism literally means to be dunked), but either way, standing just off shore on the edge of the gulf which connects to the oceans is a profound place to be initiated into an intentional life in the Body of Christ.  There is an early church text simply called the Teaching , or in Greek, the Didache  which describes baptism in the first century church. The preference is for "living water" such as a stream or sea. If that is not available, it recommends col...

 A refleciotn written for Trinity by the Sea while I was on pilgrimage to Navajoland, Dine Bikeyah,  July 7, 2024, we did not gather because there was a Hurricane making landfall that morning. We missed the worst of it. ( Proper 9, Year B )   One’s hometown is possibly the hardest place to change. I heard about one of our local graduates who recently attended orientation. His parents talked about all the new people he had met, and I immediately thought about the friends I made when my parents moved me to San Marcos for college. Stephen had a Beastie Boys patch on his backpack. Colby invited us to his dorm room for Sunday night feast: a potluck of pitiful presentation of the contents of our door room fridges. Justin, Jim, and Billy the trickster trio from Cypress Texas. I still keep in touch with all of them. They all moved from their hometowns, too, and we grew and learned together. The experience changed us all forever. Mike Tocci, Fr. Mike Sells, Sr. Warden Marietta, an...

This is an election year, as well as an Olympic year. I'm glad we have the Olympics to draw our focus toward that amazing human achievement, as I don't feel as proud about the way campaigns leading up to elections take place. I would like to invite those of you who consider yourselves people of faith to be intentional about how much power and authority you give to the divisive national politics arena in your life. You get to elect to focus your attention on God and your spiritual life. What's better is you can cast that vote right now!  When Jesus is asked by Pontius Pilate by what authority he is acting, Jesus will not make a defense to the worldly authority. Instead he deflects and asks Pilate a question about John the Baptist that Pilate cannot answer. Jesus' focus is on the kingdom of God: that invisible kingdom bound by no geography, earthly government, nor term limit. God's kingdom is present whenever we give the authority of our lives to God, when we pray for...

I did not grow up in the church of the 1950's when, "Father knew best" or at least that was the collective myth. I never knew a time when absolutely everyone attended the Christian Denomination of their family heritage. I came of age in the 1980's, and started attending church on my own in the late 90's. The cultural revolution of the 1960's was still echoing around as the Charismatic movement of the church brought flower-child-inspired guitar music into the church, and the Episcopal Church even let go of some of the King James English from our worship services.  More tragically, it became public knowledge that sexual misconduct and abuse took place even within the presumed safety of the church. Along with other established institutions, the church and clergy lost immediate trust of our society. I have been fortunate, experiencing the church to be a generally loving place. I have experienced the love of Jesus through imperfect people who modeled how to be them...

Mothers' Day Sermon 2024 Trinity by the Sea, Port Aransas I’ve got two mothers. One birthed and bore me. She raised me to be dressed for church, before the Christening.  Danced at our weddings bright shimmering. Childhood memories, holy remembering. Corduroy rocking chair, well earned silver hair, she played like the vacuum was a robot. She'd set me free to roam woods, so that she could, get the 5 kid household chores done. I was still the littlest one. Another mother I met in college,  after I met her daughter who cleverly lifted my heart. Different from my birth mother: in-law-Mom, city wit country charm, rodeo aficionado, from arena to cantina, like my birth mom: broken hearted. I’ve got 20 mothers who’ve all helped me along: boy become man; man needing mom. Maybe cook or nurture, weave or show virtue.  mothers listen and teach--not all good mom’s lets each acknowledge that pain, but not snag on the grain we’re still shining our own little flames! I write by one’s guid...

This is teacher appreciation week,  when we as a community are invited to express our sometimes unspoken gratitude to those blessed souls called to the vocation of teaching. I am fortunate to get to witness the art of teaching at Trinity by the Sea Day School at least once a week, and I hear and see how my son's amazing teachers at the Middle School care for, correct, and educate those changing teens. Teachers are amazing people and closely follow the Way that Jesus taught his followers.  Did you know that the first time Jesus was addressed after the resurrection, he was called "Teacher"? When Mary, his faithful follower, goes to the tomb, she does not recognize Jesus at first, but when he says her name, she recognizes her, and responds: "Teacher!"  Jesus called Mary by name; she was known by him, her teacher. A teacher knows the students they teach, they learn what motivates them, and even what frustrates them. When Mary called Jesus Teacher, she acknowledged t...

 A classic Easter Hymn begins, "Welcome happy morning, age to age shall say..." The words to the hymn were written in the 6th century, and it was translated into English with modern music in the 19th century. It is traditionally sung on Easter morning and is a celebration of Christ's victory over the forces of hell, death, destruction, and the path of darkness. With the ages of Jesus followers who have sung this hymn, we are invited anew to welcome the happy morning, allow Christ to transform our worldview from that of despair and loneliness to one of resurrected hope in holy community.  Many people look out into the world and fear that the Devil has won the world over, to those folks, I would say stop main-lining bad news on your screen and pick up your Bible, preferably with a group of friends. We are certainly not the first ones to live in difficult times. For example, the writing about following Jesus that came from the adversity of the World Wars is still standard re...

When I think back across my life, both to the big decisions, and the day by day choices, it is often the seemingly difficult path that is the best one. Those decisions are difficult mainly because they are uncomfortable, or make others uncomfortable in the short term. I disappointed one of my best High School friends by choosing to attend the college that really seemed like the best fit for me. He and I had talked about going to one college together and dreamed of what might happen with our band at the time. Then the day came when I had to make the decision and let go of that dream myself. I know I upset his expectations as I had that uncomfortable conversation about my decision. He and I are both relatively successful in the paths life has taken us down, and I for one am so thankful to have found my way to the college where I met my wife, Laura, and got to know the church in this part of the state.  Years later, when I left a comfortable life in Houston, again, I had to weigh what...

The first Sunday of this month, Black History month, our congregation belted out that beautiful hymn Lift Every Voice and Sing, which remembers God's faith for us even through the most difficult and oppressive years of our struggle to live as members of God's kingdom. In that hymn as in many of the psalms, we remember together, that God calls us to lift every voice, not just voices of the currently powerful and privileged, not just the voices of the downtrodden and suffering, but all of us together are called to lift our voices as if we are one human family, because we are.  In God's kingdom, we celebrate a vast diversity of saints from our history. We remember those who have stood out, often because their loving care for those in need in their generations. People such as The Rev. Absalom Jones, the first black priest in the Episcopal Church (our little corner of God's kingdom), and Dr. Artemisia Bowden, who in 1902, formed a school for African Americans in San Antonio,...

     Earlier this month, I did a bit of time traveling. It happens to me everytime I return to Camp Capers to some degree. I worked there one summer during college, so I cannot help but drift back in my memories when I return to that familiar place. Besides that usual experience of drifting back in my mind to those earlier times, on this trip to camp, had a theme from that movie that was so popular 35 years ago:  Back to the Future.     The retreat weekend called Mid-Winter is a mini-camp session, and I was invited to be part of the leadership team for teenage campers from across south Texas. We did usual camp things like sing songs, eat and play together, and spend time in prayer and cabin devotions. The teaching teaching was where we really got to dig into the theme. We pondered the question: What would we, the teachers and leaders of the camp, tell our Jr. High Selves if we could travel back in time?      As we worked on the theme, we brou...