Our Adult Forum conversations during Lent focused on poetry as a way into seasonal themes. The conversations shared over five Sundays were insightful and generous, and although we will be moving on to a series exploring Stewardship this Sunday, I offer one more poem to contemplate during Eastertide: Miracles by the 19th century poet Walt Whitman…
A “threshold” is commonly understood as a strip at the bottom of a door, over which one must cross in order to enter a different space. We cross a threshold from room to room, or from indoors to out. But there is a secondary definition to this word: a magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result or condition to occur or be manifested.
We are at the threshold of Holy Week. We are about to relive the events that steer the momentum of this story toward Jesus’ death. The liturgies of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday pull us into God’s time and space. Our worship this week is structured differently. It has a unique rhythm. It highlights a unique reality…..
Of all the events contributing to the powerful and many-faceted legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the speech he gave at the March on Washington in 1963 is probably the most famous. The dream he articulated to and for our nation has echoed among us ever since he described it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The challenges posed by the truths he shared that day remain with us, and many acknowledge it as one of the most influential orations of the 20th century….
We’re getting closer to the end of our church year. In fact in a few Sundays, it will be the beginning of the Advent season. The Church’s New Year.
In our Gospel lesson for this Sunday Christ disciples make reference to the large buildings, temples if you will, to which Christ tells them “not one stone will be left here upon another, all will be thrown down.” The end of things as they see them or as some would say the end of times as you know them….
When one has a selfish heart, one will do whatever they need to do to get what their heart wants. When we are ruled by selfishness, our minds will allow us to justify anything and everything so long as we get what we want, so long as those selfish desires are...
June is a month of many celebrations. It is Pride Month, of course. Tomorrow is Juneteenth. Sunday is Father’s Day. Lots of high school and middle school graduations happen in June, and this month in the church calendar is filled with commemorations of saints, martyrs and disciples. The Church of the Holy Apostles gathered for our own celebration last Sunday, as we returned to worshipping together in our beautiful, sacred building….
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.”
These words are attributed to Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor. No one seems to be able to find the exact citation for this quote, but even if she didn’t actually say or write it, the words sound like hers. O’Connor was a storyteller who ripped away the sentiment that can find its way into faith….
When Mary and the other women approached the tomb after Jesus’ death, they saw an amazing sight. They expected to see the stone still blocking the tomb, and they needed a way to enter the resting place of their beloved Master. The stone represented a barrier to their...
Tomorrow our church remembers Absalom Jones, the first African American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. Jones was born into slavery in Delaware and at sixteen was sold to a shopkeeper in Philadelphia. He married at age 20, bought his wife’s freedom and then bought his own in 1784, when he was 28 years old.
Happy 2021! And Merry Christmas! And a Blessed Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus! We often think of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as purely secular affairs. If we haven’t already put away our decorations, we are starting to make plans to do so. All the “best of” lists have been published (something of a challenge for 2020 in all categories) and the holiday music has been shelved for another year. Maybe we are starting to commit to resolutions and look ahead to post-holiday business. The party, whatever it looked like for us this year, is over….