Nicodemus first visits Jesus in the dark of night as he does not want to be seen with Jesus. But the encounter with Jesus changes Nicodemus. In the end, he steps out of the shadows and into the light. It is Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who go to the... read more →
May
30
May
23
How do you hear God’s voice? Sometimes we hear God in bold, miraculous ways, and other times, we hear God in the still, small voice. The message of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit dwells within us and speaks to us constantly. Learning to listen is difficult, but when we... read more →
May
16
We can learn a lot about how to pray by looking at how Jesus prayed. The longest and most detailed prayer of Jesus is found in John 17 and is known as the ‘High Priestly Prayer.’ In it, Jesus prays for his disciples, and for all who will follow after... read more →
May
09
Love isn't actually something that comes easily to us- not the kind of love the Gospel is talking about at least. Christian love goes beyond compassion, or the bonds of friendship, or even deeper intimacy. Christian love is about sacrifice. Love means giving up ourselves, our pride, our possessions, even... read more →
May
02
Jesus says he is the vine, we are the branches, and God is the one with the pruning shears. God pruning us sounds painful. I don’t think that pruning is so much something that God does to us as it is a process that God invites us into. I’m not... read more →
Apr
25
When we hear the parable of the Good Shepherd, we immediately identify with the sheep, which is a good thing. After all, Jesus is the shepherd. But we should also identify a little bit with the one who cares for the sheep because we have a Christian responsibility to care... read more →
Apr
18
Saying the word ‘evangelism’ in the Episcopal Church is an easy way to make people uncomfortable, but evangelism isn’t scary. We share all sorts of things with those around us—why not our faith? Evangelism is about building relationships, valuing community, learning to listen well, making room for all of God’s... read more →
Apr
11
Frederick Buechner describes faith as “not being sure where you're going, but going anyway.” In times of doubt, we don’t come to a full stop. We continue on. When we worship anyway, when we pray anyway, we are at our most faithful. It’s not hypocrisy to do these things anyway.... read more →
Apr
04
Each Lent, Episcopalians remove the word ‘Alleluia’ from our worship. At St. Peter's, the kids even make an ‘Alleluia banner’ and bury it in the church yard to be dug up on Easter. Why is that word such a big deal? It means ‘praise the Lord,’ but it’s more than... read more →
Mar
28
Jesus spent the last week before his Passion and death in the Temple. The image of the Temple is an important one for Christians because through Jesus' death, we were reconciled with God and he chose to dwell in us. We are the Temple, the image of God's love and... read more →