Church Pulpit Posts

When Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes, he is not speaking in abstractions. He is speaking into a world marked by deep inequality, political oppression, and religious complacency. The crowd before him know hunger, violence, and exclusion. Jesus dares to say: Blessed are you…..

Our Director of Operations has a book on her desk titled Death by Meeting. The book presents itself as a “leadership fable” about one of the common realities of all organizations: the need to gather for the purpose of disseminating and processing information. Which, as the title of the book suggests, can be a burdensome—if necessary–expectation for the people in attendance.

We at Holy Apostles had a meeting scheduled for this coming Sunday. Because of the impending winter storm, we have rescheduled our Annual Meeting for next Sunday, February 1st…..

There is so much going on in our world and especially in our country today that is frightening. I am a bit of a news junkie, but these days I am finding that I need to disconnect a bit more — and to instead spend more time with the fundamentals of our faith. I especially find it useful to come back to the baptismal covenant, which we renewed last Sunday as part of our service marking Jesus’ baptism….

We are now in the season of Epiphany; a time to mark the gradual lengthening of daylight, and to carry our celebration of God’s manifestation to us in the Christ child forward into a new calendar year. This year—as in every year—we face many unknowns. In all that will unfold during 2026, we are called to remember God’s companionship with us. God’s ongoing conversation with us, God’s loving presence, abides. It is not contingent on the choices we make or the details of the world we inhabit.

Matthew’s Gospel shows us that faith begins not with certainty but with seeking. The Magi do not understand everything. They misstep in going to Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem. They ask questions. They rely on grace. Yet God guides them still – by the star, by Scripture, and finally by a dream.

When they find the child, they fall to their knees. The Journey ends in worshiping the Christ child. Matthew then tells us something beautiful: “They went home by another road.” Encountering Christ does not leave us the same. It changes our direction, our loyalties, our way of seeing the world….

There are a lot of music lovers in our family, which means that at some point during this festive season discussion about favorite Christmas pop songs gets introduced. The responses are similar from year to year: someone always says Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You.” Another likes Bruce Springsteen’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” My response is always the same. It’s not Christmas for me until I hear John Lennon and Yoko Ono sing their “Happy Christmas” song….

Over the last three Sundays in the Adult Forum we have explored a book called Discernment: A Path to Spiritual Awakening, by Rose Mary Dougherty. In the course of the short book, Dougherty discusses the importance of prayer, self-knowledge, and developing discernment as a habit of life.

She concludes her book with this lovely poem by Sister Maura Eichner, about a particular journey of discernment. May it guide your own Advent journey and beyond!….

John the Baptist steps onto the scene like a sudden trumpet blast in a quiet valley. There is no warm-up, no polite throat clearing, just a voice crying out in the wilderness, calling Israel to turn back toward God. His message is simple, startling, and bracing: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.”

Repentance, in this passage, is not merely feeling sorry or privately regretting our missteps. It’s a turning, a reorientation of the heart, much like a traveler realizing the path has been bending away from the destination, and deciding, at last, to pivot. John stands in the desert as a guidepost, urging God’s people to change direction because God’s reign is approaching….