Day One of the Pilgrimage
After months of planning and preparation, it is finally here. The pilgrimage begins this evening in Glasgow as the group gathers for dinner, then tomorrow, we are off for 4 days on the Isle of Iona, that sacred “thin” place
The Story of Death and New Life
Easter is late this year—almost as late as it can occur—and I often find it harder to “walk” the events of Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, when spring is in full swing.
Let’s Dance!
Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter, is thought of, imagined, in various ways: a desert journey, a wilderness expedition, spring cleaning for the soul. This year, though, I have been thinking about Lent as more of a two-step dance, with God as our partner leading us in an infinity loop (figure 8) pattern.
A Season of Simplicity
In this season of Advent, when consumerism is at peak frenzy, the church lives a season of simplicity, simplifying worship and song.
The Gender of God
One of the things we at St. Peter’s have been working on is making the language in our worship services less gender specific (male) and more expansive (using expanded images for God).
Do Not Lose Heart
I have been watching with increasing horror the spectacle of children being separated from their parents at the border of the United States. Families, most of whom are desperate and fleeing violence, arrive on our border only to be separated, the adults jailed and the children “warehoused.”
Rest and Reconnect this Summer
In the middle of the program year at church, often around February, I start to dream of the summer. Those days when the pace of life will be slower, when there will be less going on at church, and therefore more time to get those lists that sit on my desk forever done. This is …
Encountering God in the Churchyard
On Earth Day, April 22, instead of a usual sermon, the Rev. Claire Nevin-Field invited St. Peter’s parishioners to go outside in the churchyard to think and pray about God’s creation. As those of you who have heard me preach a bit know, I am a big fan of incarnation. Not just the incarnation of …
God Created All
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. (Psalm 24:1) Sunday, April 22 is Earth Day, and while that is not on the official Church calendar, the idea behind it is all over the Bible and an integral part of Christian theology. We believe that God created all that exists and declared it to …
The Cross is Not the End
Once again we find ourselves at the beginning of Holy Week; walking the last days of Jesus’ life in our services, watching at the foot of the cross, waiting while he lies in the the Tomb, and finally, joyfully welcoming the empty tomb with the cry of “He is Risen” on Easter Sunday. One of …