The vibrancy of life here at St. Peter’s makes my service on our staff a joy and privilege. Visitation, teaching and preaching are the ministries that feed my pastoral identity, as together our staff and lay members share in our missional calling … Building a community of faith by God’s grace.
The picture heading this devotion is not awaiting our trash pick-up this morning as you read this devotion. No, it is actually an important protective spirit in my household. It is the box which has housed the Christmas wreath that has hung above the front door to our home since we moved into it in…
New Day Sermon advent 1 With a story by Cynthia Rylant entitled “For Being Good”, as the foundation of the sermon, we explore our relationships and how Jesus always invites us to strive for greater depth and connection with those we love.
Everyone is decked out in their uniforms for their morning responsibilities. They gather in a circle and create a bit of sanctuary amid the chaos that surrounds them … laughter, movement, local urchins running around, and beverages being consumed. Their leader offers up ritual words for the task before them, invoking God’s blessing on their…
Let’s have a little chat, shall we? It will be a chat about these bizarre eight verses from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 13. Those who get paid to research and interpret the Bible make reference to the 13th chapter of Mark’s Gospel as “The Little Apocalypse.” You can read a slightly edited version of…
New Day Sermon Pentecost 25 A modest glitch in our recording software lost two minutes of the sermon introduction. The introduction simply set the table for why this pastor loves when the story of the Widow of Zarepheth shows up as one of the assigned lessons for a Sunday service in stewardship. The sermon picks…
Baruch dayan ha’emet ברוך אתה ה’ אלוהינו מלך העולם, דיין האמת It is the phrase that is spoken among Jews when a fellow Jewish person dies. Translated it means “Blessed is the true judge.” A fuller version of the phrase is “Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, dayan ha-emet” which means “Blessed are You, Lord,…
