Trinity Episcopal Church Staunton, VA: Recent Episodes
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In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. When I first met Shannon, she was teaching English at an all-girl Catholic prep school. One thing became immediately clear: given the work she did and the hours she devoted, she was not being paid nearly enough. In addition to grading an endless stack […]
Happy Pentecost! Happy birthday, the birthday of the church! Happy baptism day – happy day of endings and beginnings, as Father AJ talked about last week – we approach the end of 50 days of Easter and celebrate the season to come. And today we are telling the story of the beginning of our Church, wearing […]
Theological Truth: The Reign of God is both here and coming; already and not yet; trustworthy and true. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Have you ever been asked whether a glass is half-full or half-empty? Or questioned if a photo of the sun hovering over the horizon, is of a […]
In this morning’s lectionary readings we are experiencing a bit of time travel – here we are, six Sundays into the Easter season, and we’re reading about, in Acts, the Apostles’ travels to Macedonia and Neaoplis and Philippi, which take place after Jesus’s Ascension (which happens next week) – and then hearing the Revelation to John, […]
May 20-22, Rev. Cara traveled to the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio to serve as chaplain for the Diocese of Ohio’s clergy retreat. This is the sermon she gave on Thursday. The day I was ordained as a deacon, I was driving down Route 11 in Virginia toward Lexington and Grace Episcopal Church, formerly […]
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! I assume you’ve heard by now that Chicago-born, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, is now Pope Leo XIV. As an American, that delights me. Just imagine, someone who pulls for the White Sox and knows the Pledge of Allegiance, is speaking on the world stage and […]
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord. Happy Mother’s Day! A few weeks ago I was in York, England visiting the cathedral there. The Minster is set atop a hill, rising high above the Victorian roofline straight out of a Dickens’ novel. It […]
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. As Father AJ reminded us last Sunday, we are still celebrating Easter – we celebrate it for 50 days, more than a week longer than we journey through Lent. […]
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! It’s important to keep saying that for a couple of reasons. First, it reminds us that Easter lasts fifty days. Celebrating Easter for seven weeks, all the way to the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (and ten days longer than Lent!) emphasizes that […]
Hallelujah!Praise God in his holy temple; praise him in the firmament of his power.Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.Amen1 Happy Easter, everyone! So many things happening in this morning’s lectionary readings, as is often the case. And so many things happening in these last few weeks – we’ve gotten through Palm Sunday and […]
Theological Truth: Giving out of our scarcity opens us to God’s abundance, transforming our emptiness to fullness. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. I was tempted to use the second […]
Theological Truth: We can find common ground as recipients of God’s steadfast, loving mercy, Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. Shortly after joining St. James Episcopal Church, Baton Rouge, I […]
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You […]
Theological Truth: Jesus’ Law of Love prioritizes what is loving over what is legal. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and weshall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. There are some weeks, I look at Sunday’s Gospel and I […]
Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard. […]
Theological Truth: Gratitude and humility lead to Godly wisdom and Christ-like greatness. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and weshall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. I recently had the pleasure of meeting a retired Roman Catholic priest who […]
But who do you say that I am? This morning’s Gospel is one of those top 40 Bible readings – familiar sentence after familiar sentence, phrases that make their way to coffee mugs and Lenten devotionals:Get behind me, Satan! What will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Take up […]
A Children’s Sermon Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. I’m going to need three volunteers to help me this morning. Would you please line up here? One of you […]
We’ve been spending a lot of time talking about food these last few Sundays – and even though we’ve finally left the Gospel of John and his fixation on bread for a while for the Gospel of Mark, we can’t quite escape the topic of eating. This morning, the Pharisees and the scribes, once again, […]
Theological Truth: Regular, daily, dedicated prayer is required for “eternal life” just as certainly as food is for our physical life. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. Ana, our Parish […]
Theological Truth: The bread of life come down from heaven offers us a living relationship with God that satisfies all that we hunger for. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. […]
The Gospel is so, so beautiful, and it was very tempting to preach on that this morning, but Ephesians has been running through my head. And a certain theme has been running through our Sundays for a few weeks now, as we’ve been reading our way through the letter to Ephesus. It’s a letter that’s […]
Now to the one who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine – to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Those are words from today’s Epistle, which you may recognize […]
Theological Truth: Life with Christ means going beyond our comfort zones bringing the Gospel of Love into unfamiliar places and uncomfortable spaces. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. Shannon and […]
It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to your Name, O most high; to tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning and of your faithfulness in the night season. Amen. Years ago, my mother gave me a pendant she had had as a girl. Some of […]
So many things happening in today’s readings. It was rather difficult to choose among which story to wrestle with – the question of who family is, which is a surprising moment in Jesus’ teachings – but I kept coming back to the Old Testament reading, to Genesis, partly I think because the figure of Eve has […]
Years ago, I was invited to go caving in West Virginia. The cave we visited some of you may know – it was called Organ Cave, though it does not have the Stalagpipe Organ that’s found in Luray. The trip was not just a tour through well-lit caverns full of stalactites and stalagmites and other cave […]
Theological Truth: The Holy Spirit brings the power and presence of God’s love to light and life in the present of our lives. Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. My […]
Theological Truth: The work of discipleship is to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ known, not ourselves. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Do you ever wonder what became of some of your childhood friends or former classmates? Did that middle school class clown become a stand-up comedian or a convicted […]
Clinical pastoral education, or CPE, is one of the most challenging experiences for someone who is training to be a chaplain, or a deacon, or a priest. I’ve talked before about the summer I spent up at Rockingham Memorial Hospital, day after day walking into the rooms and the lives of complete strangers, offering a […]
Theological Truth: Our work is to abide in Christ, neither going too far ahead, nor lagging too far behind. And definitely not taking matters into our own hands. You’ve probably heard Mark Twain’s advice, “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” That’s not only excellent advice for individuals, […]
Happy fourth Sunday of Easter, and happy Good Shepherd Sunday! When my sister and I were children, our parents would drive us on Sunday mornings out of Harrisonburg, north on 81 or Route 11 to New Market, and then we would take the curving road over the mountain at New Market Gap to Page County, […]
I love the post-Resurrection stories, those mornings and evenings when Jesus starts re-appearing to his disciples in unexpected places, almost as if he’d never left. They are moments of unlooked-for joy, especially after those last, terrible days following Palm Sunday, when it felt like the world had ended – the death of Jesus, the betrayal of […]
Theological Truth: The Resurrection invites us into new way of living. How will we respond? Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! “So they went out and fled from the tomb … for terror and amazement hadseized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid … (dot dotdot).” I […]
Good morning and happy Easter! Thank you for being here this morning, thanks for all of the music, and everything that so many people have given to this morning, this celebration of the Great Vigil, one of most beautiful and ancient of liturgies, and all the caffeine that requires! Those of us who lived a […]
BREAKING NEWS: Nearing the village of Bethphage, Jesus just sent two of his disciples ahead to look for a donkey.UPDATE: Crowds are gathering. They are spreading cloaks and palms on the road and are singing “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Last year, I […]
Theological Truth: By dying to self we find our true identity rather than losing it. In the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. In the film version of J.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gandalf the Grey — wizard and sage — is fleeing with Frodo and the other members of […]
Theological Truth: In the upside-down kingdom of God in Christ, what may seem like foolishness is wisdom. What seems like weakness is strength. In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Hosting the Noon Lunch program provides the chance to meet people from all over our community. This week, I encountered a […]
We know wilderness by so many names. We often equate wilderness, especially Biblical wilderness, with desert – dry, wide open spaces, very hot or very cold, and with very little shelter or water, places you don’t want to be lost in without supplies or shade or food. We think of wilderness as dangerous, unfamiliar – places where […]
Theological Truth: Lent is a season of hope founded on the voice that beckons to us, “You are my beloved” In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. The Great Wall of China… over 13,000 miles. The Great Barrier Reef… over 1,400 miles. The Great Litany? Over ten minutes! Fifteen when it’s […]
Theological Truth: We all have God-given gifts, and we are all called to use them for the good of God’s people. Sixty years ago tomorrow, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, the speech that changed a nation and continues to […]
“Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon,” the woman yelled. Cried. Pleaded. But Jesus did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” Jesus tells his disciples: “I was sent only to the […]
This morning’s Gospel story, the story of the Transfiguration, is theologically rich and complex. It’s told in the three synoptic Gospels, in Matthew and Mark and also in Luke, which is the telling we are reading and hearing this morning. We always read the story of the Transfiguration at the end of the season of […]
Theological Truth: The Love of God, made known in Jesus Christ, works through seemingly small and insignificant things…like us. There’s something about the character Ted Lasso that appeals to the best of human nature. In case you’re unfamiliar with the show, Jason Sudeikis plays an American football coach from Wichita, Kansas, who is hired to […]
When I heard Cara’s sermon last Sunday, I considered filing mine away for another day. Because both are about parables, both about planting, both with agricultural themes. And Cara had an illustration—that beautiful tree by the old Hebron Church. But then after I thought about it for a while, it seemed the Lord’s lesson in […]
A few days ago I had the opportunity to visit Hebron Presbyterian Church, an old church here in Staunton. Some of you may be familiar with it; I had never been there before. It is a beautiful drive out there through the hills and then you arrive at this church that was founded in the […]
Theological Truth: Following Jesus means more than admiring or observing him; it means accepting his invitation to walk with him in his way of Love. When I was growing up, our next-door neighbor was an airline pilot. I can remember him arriving home in his cool car, wearing his cool pilot’s uniform, and of course, […]
Very recently I was asked what I love about travel, especially travel beyond our borders. What was at the heart of my experience when I go somewhere else, somewhere new? I hadn’t been asked that question before, at least not exactly in that way. I enjoy many things about travel – trying local restaurants, visiting beautiful […]
Theological Truth: Embracing that which scares us (even death) frees us to walk the way of Love. It’s awkward, isn’t it? In this season of summer vacations and family reunions, here’s Jesus predicting son against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of […]
Theological Truth: Faith is more than knowledge or beliefs. Faith is action that leads us into knowing—not only about God but knowing God and being known. In a recent article, New York Times writer Jessica Grose boils down the 7,000 answers she received to her question about why people had left their faith. From her […]
One Saturday morning, nearly a year ago, I’m pretty sure I saw the Holy Spirit crossing Route 11 somewhere south of Staunton and north of Lexington. I was on my way to Grace Episcopal Church in Lexington, to be ordained, along with two friends and fellow seminarians, as a deacon in the Episcopal Church, wearing […]
Theological Truth: The stresses of this life are inevitable. How we handle them is up to us. In my days of fishing on the Gulf Coast, I learned a little about using a cast net. Well, to be honest, I watched more than I learned. For the uninitiated, or possibly the uncoordinated, a cast net […]
In today’s reading, we have learned about love. And I would like to share with you my experience with God’s love through Trinity Church in the past 17 years. Many of you may know me as Cullen’s little brother. Cullen served many roles at Trinity church and left impossible shoes to fill, yet he did […]
Theological Truth: Because Christ lives, the Church lives—the body of Christ for the life of the world. “Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” As you may know, five of us from Trinity (Rebecca Greeley, Kay Buchanan, Kathleen Garcia, Stephanie Otteni, […]
Theological Truth: The Resurrection empowers us to walk the unexpected way of God’s love. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Not long after Shannon and I arrived in Staunton, in the darkness of winter and Covid lockdown when we were still meeting you under porch lights hidden under hats, scarves, and […]
Were not our hearts burning within us? No one is sure where Emmaus really is, or where it was, 2,000 years ago. There are three ancient sites that scholars point to as possibilities, located anywhere from three and a half to twenty miles west of that city that all Jewish people of the day, including […]
Do not doubt, but believe. The verse in this morning’s Gospel reading that resonates with me most – perhaps my favorite verse in it – is probably not what you might think. My favorite verse is not the moment Jesus appears among his frightened disciples, having walked through locked doors, and says, “Peace be with you.” […]
After he said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples and crossed over to the other side of the Kidron Valley. He and his disciples entered a garden there. Judas, his betrayer, also knew the place because Jesus often gathered there with his disciples. Judas brought a company of soldiers and some guards from […]
Cast your mind and heart and soul back two millennia to Jerusalem this week, there where sheer bedlam reigns this week. The narrow streets are crowded, full of people hurrying along, pushing and shoving, bargaining for Passover provisions, getting ready for the holiest day of the Jewish year. The bleating of lambs and the stench […]
Theological Truth: By accepting that death is inevitable but not insurmountable, painful but not permanent, we can join Jesus in the difficult work of healing the world. The Staunton clergy gathered last week to hear Pastor Lee Reid speak about “Shepherd’s House,” the recently opened, low-barrier, cold weather homeless shelter that he, along with Rev. […]
Why do we tell this story over and over? Every year, we arrive at this Sunday morning – we wave palm branches, we process through the church or through the city streets, not just telling the story in words, but participating in it, re-enacting it, as if Jesus were right here with us. For a […]
“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me – I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.” “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” You can hear the exasperation in the man’s voice in today’s Gospel which is an […]
“The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” At the core of today’s Gospel reading is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible, one […]
Theological Truth: Lent provides the opportunity to remember we are called to follow Jesus—the way of the cross and the way of life. I remember the first time one of my elders yelled at me as an adult. It happened when my grandmother-in-law entrusted her famous salad dressing recipe to me. In her earlier years […]
We have come down from the mountaintop. On Sunday, we experienced Christ’s Transfiguration, saw him through the eyes of his disciples, unveiled in glory, his face shining like the sun, even as his friends have just learned that he will go to Jerusalem soon and he will be arrested and killed there. Last night, many […]
Well, here we are. February is already nearly past. The day after tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday and then Ash Wednesday, and then we dive headfirst into 40 days of Lent. We will enter the desert, that heavy journey to the cross, feeling it with us, week after week, that time of the liturgical year when […]
Theological Truth: To be disciples of Christ means bringing about God’s kingdom. We don’t have to be more than we are, but we do have to share what we’ve received. At Diocesan Convention last week, Bishop Mark played a talk on evangelism given by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell at the 2022 Lambeth Conference. This joyful and […]
We’ve been talking a lot about baptism the last few weeks. We’ve been doing some baptizing the last few weeks. In our Sunday readings, we’ve been following the story of Jesus past Christmas, and he’s gone from being a baby in a manger to a fully grown man in the first-century world. We’ve met John […]
When I was in my early 30’s I had two experiences that changed my life and shook my trust and my faith in God.
Theological Truth: God became human so that humans could unite with God. There’s a wonderful scene from O Brother, Where Art Thou? where Delmar, one of three escapees from a 1920’s southern prison, gets caught up in the spirit of a riverside revival, wades into the water, and is baptized by the preacher. He comes […]
Witness. Tell. Ponder. Praise. Name. Today’s Gospel, seven familiar verses from the second chapter of Luke, feels a bit like an epilogue to the Christmas story, a sort of postscript. We’ve just missed the heavenly host – the angels have gone back home again, their singing is finished. The next visitors to Mary and Joseph and […]
Today we read one of two Annunciations in the Gospels. Of the two, it is not my favorite. In the first chapter of Luke, the passage we generally mean when we refer to the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, speaking to her with respect and encouragement – “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with […]
Happy New Year! Don’t worry, it is still November – you haven’t missed weeks of baking and Christmas shopping, and I haven’t forgotten what month it is – but today is the new year, at least in liturgical time. It’s that Sunday when we start again to tell the story of the life of Jesus Christ […]
This time of year is what some call a thin place – a thin space or a thin time. You may or may not have heard that term before. Eric Weiner calls it that place “where heaven and earth come closer.” Jocelyn Sidecar calls it “the space between, where I end and you begin, where day ends […]
Theological Truth: Our worth is grounded on who God is and what God has done in Christ. Good morning! Glad to see you here. And may I commend you on your choice of Sundays to attend? “Why?” you may ask? Because we get to hear from the prophet Joel today! It’s a big deal: The […]
Oh, how I love your law! all the day long it is in my mind. The psalms contain some of the most beautiful language in all of Scripture – some of the most human, some of the most honest, some of the most desolate and the most joyous words in our liturgy and prayer. The psalms […]
Theological Truth: Seeking and serving Christ in all people starts with seeing them. You may have noticed a few visitors in town this weekend. Hopefully a few here this morning, too! Welcome! This weekend marks the return of the Queen City Mischief & Magic festival which has gotten me thinking a lot about Harry Potter […]
Theological Truth: Money is powerful; handle with care. If you’ve ever been to Sun Spots Studios, you may be familiar with how careful glassblowers have to be. I remember watching a demonstration with some friends who came to town. We were far enough away from the heat source to see the wondrously molten glass. It […]
Theological Truth: The Gospel reorders our relationships and reimagines our status quo. In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whose works are wonderful, and we know it well. Shannon and I visited the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, NY this past summer. It was here in 1848 in the […]
When I was growing up, the word church had just one definition for me—a building where people went on Sunday mornings to hear and talk about God, to pray and sing hymns and listen to sermons. My version of that church building was small, with stained glass windows, a balcony no one sat in, wooden […]
Theological Truth: The compassionate love of Christ cures us of our shame and “straightens out” our lives. “In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; let me never be ashamed.” – Psalm 71:1 There was a woman who worked in a downtown city. Her walk from the parking lot to her office building required her […]
Theological Truth: God’s passion for humanity cries out for justice, demanding our urgency and agency. Have you ever been yelled at for no reason whatsoever? I experienced it at a public swimming pool as a young boy. I had just passed my swim test, so the lifeguard had allowed me access to the “deep end.” […]
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen… By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. There is something about being out under the night sky, especially somewhere far […]
Theological Truth: Greed is idolatry—the replacing of God with material things. It destroys our relationship with God and one another. In New Orleans, one of the city’s largest cemeteries lies right alongside the interstate. While driving by it one afternoon, an ostentatious and incongruent collection of things almost caused me to drive off the road. […]
Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray with words, and with silence when words fail us. Remind us to pray with persistence, even and especially in the middle of the night.Help us remember that you are the source of all good things. Amen. Last summer, the first time I stood in this pulpit, […]
Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke is one of those Biblical stories that captures a wonderful, complicated, and very human moment in time. Jesus is visiting his friends – three siblings, though we only see two of them in this particular story – Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (yes, that Lazarus) – who share a home together. […]
Theological Truth: Loving our neighbor is more than an entry requirement for heaven. It’s a way of life (of living) that leads to eternal and abundant life—now and forever. In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. While in seminary, an aging friend, who had recently returned to church and was particularly concerned […]
Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you. Amen. Today’s opening collect is a particularly wonderful one. Like all collects, it gathers together – it collects – our prayers and concerns as a people; like all collects of the day, it leads […]
Theological Truth: The Holy Spirit brings the power and presence of God’s love to light and life. Come Holy Spirit…fill our hearts and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. You may remember the old […]
So if Jesus prayed that we would be one, consider it done. This union is not something for us to hope for, it’s something for us to accept. This isn’t a prayer that may someday be answered, it’s a prayer request that has been granted, and now it’s up to us to live into.
Theological Truth: The faith of Thomas is to be emulated, not criticized because it connects the head to the heart. The Faith of Thomas Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! I’m often asked, “Why do you go by AJ?” The answer says more about my parents than it does about me. It’s […]
Theological Truth: The Resurrection invites us into new life in unexpected places. Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is an enormous structure which encompasses many of the most sacred sites of Jesus’ final days on earth, including the site of his crucifixion and the stone […]
Theological Truth: The Cross illuminates the questions we ask in the midst of suffering: Why? And Where? My God, my God…Why? Why have you forsaken me?Why? Why are you so far from our cry?Where are you? Why don’t you answer me? (Silence) Starkness in Darkness One of the things I’ve learned since moving to the Shenandoah Valley is […]
In Jerusalem this week, there is sheer bedlam. The narrow streets are crowded, full of people hurrying along, pushing and shoving, bargaining for Passover provisions, getting ready for the holiest day of the Jewish year. The bleating of lambs and the stench of other animals fill the air. Jesus and the disciples, as good Jews, […]
Theological Truth: The peace of God comes through the sacrificial love of God in Christ. Let us pray: Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Could we […]
Theological Truth: To be “in Christ” is to live with an entirely new way of seeing and being; a way that loves and forgives as God in Christ loves and forgive. In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Transplanted with a New Heart The telephone request took by my surprise. A […]
"Humans have always grappled with this correlation between sin and suffering, evil and death. But here's the gospel truth: we don’t get what we deserve. And thanks be to God for that!"
Theological Truth: “First-fruits” giving helps keep us connected to who we are and whose we are. In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. When you’re paddling a kayak in open water, it’s easy to get off course. The slightest breeze will push you just ever so slightly on a different trajectory, […]
"Knowing we’re going to die allows us to truly live. With this ever-present good news, we can ask today, throughout Lent, and always: What’s Now?"
"Mountaintop moments are memorable, even life-changing, as is the Transfiguration." From the Rev. Deacon Shirley Ruedy's sermon on the Transfiguration.