Category Worship

Coming Up With Different Answers

Dear Friends, I remember my eldest son’s history teacher explaining to the parents at orientation that if she said something was a certain way then it was the truth, even if she was wrong. She later proved the veracity of…

Where’s the Wine Gone?

Dear Friends, I think the people of St. Paul’s would have loved to have been the guests at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. We love food, we love a good time, we love to be together, and we…

Beloved

Dear Friends, Last Sunday, on the feast of the Epiphany, we left the infant Jesus lying in a manger being adored by wise men from the east. This week, we assemble to greet Jesus on the day of his baptism…

Traveling Light, Creating “Holy Space”

Dear Friends, This coming Sunday, we remember the travelers who visited the infant Jesus at his birth. They came bearing gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh – and came from a far place following a distant star. They came seeking…

Be Truth, Be Love, Be Mercy and Justice

Dear Friends, In the pause after the mystery of Christmas Day, we pay little attention to the feast days that follow immediately after: that of St. Stephen the martyr (depicted above), the first to die for our faith; that of…

“God Becomes a Helpless Child”

Dear Friends, In the church in which I grew up, I recall being fascinated by the church crèche. We didn’t have any kind of nativity scene at my home, so this immense crèche, dragged out from storage each year, was…

Advent: Steady, Decent, Kindly, Brave

Dear Friends, We’re almost there. The air is charged with excitement. Children can barely contain their anticipation. Cookies are flying out of stoves. Wrapping paper and gifts are coming together. Salvation Army bells ring out to remind us to care…

Advent: Building the Dream in the Wilderness

Dear Friends, God has put a dream in our hearts. It is a dream of a world where hatred, prejudice, conflict, and violence will have cease. A world where the “enough for all” is actually shared among all. A place…

Advent: Abandoning Illusion for the Real

Dear Friends, Advent is about expanding our vision. It is about aligning ourselves with God’s dream for the creation. Amidst the rush of our lives, it is all too easy to imagine there is no alternative to the daily struggle.…

Advent: The Stone in Our Shoe?

Dear Friends, In a world in which the rhythm of life is no longer dictated by the movements of the church year, Advent sounds a strangely discordant note. Amidst the buying of presents, decorating homes, parties, and preparing for family…