Dear Friends in Christ, “The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.” Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote these words from prison. They have been on my mind as we engage in our visioning work, and I think they tell us the next step in the process. As we think about our future,…
Dear Friends in Christ, It’s 2035. Grace Church has made the newspaper headlines. (Or—this being 2035—it’s the top of your Instagram feed.) What does the headline say? This exercise is just one of the many ways to engage with the vision process underway at our parish. If you come to the auditorium this…
Dear Friends in Christ, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32) These words have been on my mind and in my prayers this week. I am so aware of how tender our hearts are. In the church office, we have been…
Dear Friends in Christ, During Easter season, the lectionary takes us through the Acts of the Apostles. The evangelist Luke (who wrote Acts as the continuation of his gospel) wants to tell us about the exponential growth of the new church in the wake of Jesus’s resurrection. The book is full of dramatic conversions,…
Dear Friends in Christ, The sacred and secular calendars intersect in a beautiful way this year. Sunday was Easter Day, when we celebrated the power of the resurrection and the renewal of all creation. Nature adorned the day with dogwood and azalea blossoms, with sunshine and warmth. Tuesday was Earth Day, when…
Dear Friends in Christ, Deathbeds and birthing rooms have something in common. Time does not stop in them, but each moment becomes an eternity unto itself, painful and precious at the same time. The world outside falls away. There is nowhere more important to be. Today we are in the midst of the…
Dear Friends in Christ, “ . . . are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour?” Jesus says these words (Mark 14:37) to his friends in the garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion. He also says them to us, this week. It is tempting to sleep through Holy…
Dear Friends in Christ, I will never send you an email asking you to go out and buy gift cards. But it’s interesting to see what happens when someone else uses my name to do so. Unfortunately, scammers frequently impersonate me and the other clergy. They send phishing emails—emails intended to lure the…
Dear Friends in Christ, This coming Sunday bears many names—Laetare Sunday (from the first word of the Latin introit, meaning “rejoice”), Rose Sunday (from the special pink vestments worn in some churches), or Mothering Sunday (from the tradition of returning to visit the church of one’s baptism, or the “mother” church). This year,…
Dear Friends in Christ, Our altar has become a parable for me during this season of Lent. You have probably noticed that we don’t have flowers on the altar in Lent. You may have noticed that we don’t have a lot of candles, either—only two instead of the usual eight. What is…