Not long before the pandemic began last year, some fantastic Epiphanites loaned me three books before we knew what would unfold during these intervening 12 months. “A year later, these three books (kept in Ziploc bags as I do since I worked in a bookstore where we could read any book for free as long
Pilgrimages From Home
Confrontng Evil When it Lives in the Light
I’ve finished a book recently called The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It’s a story of a young girl whose brother dies and mother abandons her into foster care. It takes place in Germany during WWII. The town she lands in is Molching, with a family living on the wrong side of the tracks, barely
Aunt Maria and Zeal
“Zeal for your house will consume me.” That is a word I get excited about, zeal. It is a word that gets a bad rap—a zealot, a person blindly compelled by an idea, irrespective of its costs, particularly cost to relationship. I believe zeal means just the opposite. I believe zeal is all about relationship.
A Perfect Season for Consideration
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” In some ways, the words of Charles Dickens capture the essence of this pandemic for our nation. Indeed, it is easy to chronicle the Tale of Two Cities-esque blight of COVID-19: poverty, unemployment, depression, increase in suicide, ruptured education, malnutrition…all the things that
Full Connexion | SANCTUS III, Feast of John & Charles Wesley
Today, we celebrate John and Charles Wesley as Episcopal Saints, which is a little weird, because the Wesleys are generally known as the founders of Methodism. I don’t know a ton about John and Charles Wesley, but I do know that Methodists and Episcopalians don’t tend to worship in the same buildings… And yet, for
The Bigger the Hair, the Closer to Jesus
Good Morning Christians, Seekers, and Friends! Good mornin’ and Howdy! Are you prepared for our big fast on the 29, 30th an 31st of February? Ha ha! Sorry, feeling a little extra joyful today as I’ve been thinking a lot about last week’s Have a Heart and what a wonderful night we had with you—even
Holy (Re-)Placement | SANCTUS II, Feast of Saint Matthias
Today, we’re meditating on holiness with Saint Matthias. He’s a lesser-known saint and a lesser-known apostle, in fact–in many ways, the lucky number 13. Saint Matthias is such a marginal figure in our imagination that even his feast has been moved around like a box of old books. Today is his traditional feast day, but church
Lenten Day of Quiet
Begin your Lent with a Day of Quiet contemplation of what God might be doing in your life. Join a peaceful, beautiful space to relax, pray, stare out the window or at the fire, journal, create art, meditate or try out prayer exercises. Feel free to drop in and out, for as short as 30
It’s Okay to Feel What You Feel
Good morning Christians, seekers, and friends! How are you doing this first Sunday in Lent? This time I ask this not as a nice segue way into my sermon – be nice to the people Ruth Anne so they’ll want to listen—but because in my experience, in the average Christian year, we seem to really
