Our Easter adult formation series this year will be a series called The Hard Questions: Parenting with Doubt, Faithfulness, and Wonder.  It’s a program I created a few years ago because parents were always asking me how to answer their kids’ hard questions.  Throughout the five weeks, the course is designed to create a space to engage in those hard questions, and…

Last Sunday we gathered and waved our palms while letting Hosannas ring, and then stood in the shadow of the cross as we read the story of the last time Jesus came to Jerusalem.  I am always thrown by the swing of energy in that service – and wondered to a mentor once why we do it, why not just celebrate Palm…

This Sunday we enter the holiest of weeks in the Christian calendar with Palm Sunday.  It is the time we set aside every year to walk Jesus’ last steps, that we may know some piece of the unimaginable love of God. It begins on Sunday when we gather outside for the Liturgy of the Palms.  We tell the story of Jesus’ triumphal…

This Sunday we enter the holiest of weeks in the Christian calendar.  It is the time we set aside every year to walk Jesus’ last steps, that we may know some piece of the unimaginable love of God. It begins on Sunday when we gather outside for the Liturgy of the Palms.  We tell the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem…

The Triduum – the Three Great Days – has for centuries upon centuries been a time for Christians to gather and retrace the last steps of Christ.  From Maundy Thursday to Good Friday to Holy Saturday, we as a community at St. James’ engage each year in profound and meaningful liturgies, many of which speak to children, but which are not always…

This year our Sunday School kids and families are creating a set of Stations of the Cross will be hung around the church in the next week.  The practice of praying the “stations” grew out of the early church practice of walking the Via Dolorosa, or Way of the Cross, in Jerusalem, as a way of remembering the final footsteps of Christ. …

Tabernacling is the practice of setting aside and creating sacred space in your home or office.  Do you have such a space already?  I have a few different ones in various places, but below is a picture of the little altar I made on my desk at church.  If you don’t have one, I encourage you to try it out!  Whether it’s…

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. These words are from the Invitation to the Observance of a holy Lent in the Ash Wednesday service.  Usually, and for good reason, we focus on penitence,…

Last Sunday in my sermon I gave some homework – and a few folks have followed up with me either to share their thoughts or ask me for the assignment again!  Part of what I shared in the sermon was a reflection on the Vestry retreat last weekend and our belief it’s time to begin the work of discerning our core values…

Next week we will gather to feast on Shrove Tuesday, closing the night by burning last years’ palms to make the ashes we will use to mark our mortality the following evening on Ash Wednesday, which will mark our entrance into the holy season of Lent. Lent is a time when we are invited into self-examination, repentance, and works of mercy.  It…