James Derkits

In November, I traveled to Florida, where I delivered the generous donations our church and community gave for Hurricane Ian relief. After that storm, I looked up Episcopal Churches in the pathway of the hurricane, and reached out to All Souls' in Fort Myers. Sunday, November 13, I preached at their church, sharing some of our experience of Hurricane Harvey recovery. I encouraged them to take care of themselves, their community, and to persevere. It was a powerful experience, and my eyes leaked to match theirs as they sent their thank you back with me to deliver to you.  Outside Westminster in London That is what I love about our church: we are connected with churches across the country and globe who share a similar piety and style of worship. In a small church across the Gulf that I had never visited before, I led the familiar service nearly from memory because we pray Common Prayers. I had a similar experience years ago in South Africa, even though one of the churches I atte...

 My Favorite News Channel I have visited a lot of hospital rooms, sometimes before or after a surgery, or to pray with someone drawing near to death. It is a sacred privilege, and while often uncomfortable to deal with the realities surrounding those visits, it always feels holy, and sometimes I bear witness to the holiness with tears on my way out.  When I was first learning to go on those visits, sometimes I'd be surprised to walk into a hospital room with Extreme News!!!  blaring in the corner. Here in a place of healing, where energy should be put into recovery, people succumbed to their addiction to constant information, adrenaline inducing headlines, and the onslaught of commercials that is part of that whole circus. As a people pleaser, early on, I was reluctant to dare ask them to turn off what they obviously wanted to be playing. But that didn't last too long after enduring a blaring viagra commercial during through the Lord's Prayer. Now, I go straight for the r...

I love the scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation when Uncle Eddie is talking absently, wandering around, and Clark is following him around making snide remarks that Eddie misses completely. At one point Uncle Eddie approaches the Griswold's Christmas carousel and swipes at the delicate fan blades sending the wooden pieces flying. Clark rushes in to pick up the pieces, and Eddie lumbers on, ready for another glass of egg nog.  We received one of those Christmas carousels several years ago, and we keep it stored away with our stockings and ceramic Advent wreath. I think of those items this time of year especially when the weather turns cold. Soon we will take the Advent wreath out of the attic, as well as the church's Advent wreath from the closet. We will begin to build the nativity scene across the season of Advent, and finally place Jesus in the manger on Christmas eve.  So far, no one has taken swipe at our Christmas carousel, and no one has mistaken our nativity...

I have had the honor of officiating several funerals this month of people I knew fairly well. October also marks the one year anniversary of my own dad's death. It is a month, following the agricultural harvest, when many cultures remember those beloved who have died and rest in God's eternal presence. We conclude the month with All Hallows Eve, then All Saints and All Souls days. Some recognize funerals and the remembrance of ancestors as the earliest expression of religious practice. It certainly draws me to ponder my own existence, what I have to offer the world, and what I will leave behind.  At the root of trusting in God is an awareness of our mortality. God is immortal, and we are not. That which we call "soul" we give over to God, and in that way practice a sort of death-before-dying. It is not we who will carry our own soul across death's gate, it is God. Entrusting our essence to another we must die to that illusion of control we think we have. That tran...

Originally Published in the South Jetty Newspaper Sometimes when I wonder about the surf conditions right here in Port Aransas, I sit on my couch and pull up an app on my phone that offers me predictions. It may or may not motivate me to load up my board and paddle out. It may or may not be accurate. Sometimes I have planned a day around the prediction only to be disappointed, or hear the classic, "shoulda been here yesterday," from a friend who ignored the app. Other days I drop off my son at school and drive home by the beach looking for the best place to paddle out. I may judge the waves unworthy of my efforts, or too mushy to delay the start of my day. On the other hand, some of my best days that left me with a smile, have been the times I just threw my board in my truck, and drove down to paddle out. I may not even see anything catchable from the beach, yet, usually there are at least a couple of ankle biters out there. Some days when I paddle in from mediocre surf I...

I was in college when a priest I knew started experimenting with this new technology called electronic mail in his ministry. He worked at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, and he started sending out what he called the "Digital Cathedral" email with a sermon and church announcements. It was cutting edge stuff.  I knew Fr. Paul from youth retreats I attended and he was a hip, creative priest. It was not surprising that he adopted email as a ministry resource so early. Through that email I felt connected to him and other friends I knew through our Episcopal youth community, even though I lived away from them. It was in one of those emails that I learned one of my first Greek words: Koinonia.  Koinonia was what Fr. Paul called his High School youth group. They would get together and watch 90210 together (that was a popular television show, from the days when one had to watch such things at scheduled times.) After they watched the show, they would talk about the issues the charact...

The following is an edited sermon preached at the closing Eucharist at Mustang Island Family Camp and then at Trinity by the Sea, Sunday, August 14. The Reading was Luke 12: 49-56 Build one another up! Bishop David Reed asked to reflect on how we build each other up---he’s obviously a camp kid turned counselor turned staff turned director. So, maybe not everyone who starts as a camper becomes a priest or a bishop, but it does raise up loving leaders for our church and for the world. Camp makes leaders who think about building one another up because that is what camp does in so many ways. Laura, Eli, and I spent the weekend at Mustang Island Family camp for our eighth year, and the new construction is beautiful, and will work well for retreat groups. The chapel has just been completed except for the furniture…but we stood around a surf board altar to celebrate Eucharist in that beautiful space. There are more camps than Mustang Island, Camp Capers, Duncan Park, and Camp Allen. I’ve part...