Families have split in the past couple of years over vaccines, mask mandates, conservative vs. liberal politics, racial justice, and recently over banning books in schools. The politicians of our nation (and perhaps world) explicitly use the strategy of dividing us against one another to win our allegiance and support. Nixon introduced abortion as a…
There will be fire. There will be prayers. There will be a bucket of water too, just in case. Each year we do a little ritual, usually privately, where we burn the palm fronds and palm crosses from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration to use the ashes in our Ash Wednesday rituals. Ash Wednesday…
On Sunday morning at the 10:00 AM service we will baptize baby Michelangelo. It has been a pleasure to have the sounds of a baby in our worship these past two weeks, and to meet the parents and family in worship and in my “virtual” zoom meeting room. This welcome opportunity for a baptism came…
Six years ago, the Rev. Catharine Reid came to St. Dunstan’s Church to see if this might become her worshipping community; a place where she could contribute as a priest and teacher, and a place where she could worship. A mutual friend of ours recommended she come and we have been graced with Mother Catharine’s…
This morning I engaged in one of my daily rituals and looked at the COVID-19 Key Indicators in King County to see what is happening with the infection rates. At the end of last week, the rate rose to 2000 cases per 100,000 residents, a staggering number when you consider that anything over 100 is…
Epiphany tells the story of Christ being revealed to the world. This is a season of revelation and discovery. When I was a child, we lived in a small mining town in Peru and our home had a view west, across the Pacific Ocean. Every night we could watch the sun set on that horizon. About once a week a large ship…
On the first Sunday after Christmas the parking lot was full of ice and snow, the roads had not yet been plowed, and we were already seeing a huge surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the new Omicron variant, so we were pleased to have even 5 people in our worship service. On Sunday, a…
The most important thing I have to say this week is, “thank you.” Thank you for all you do to make this congregation so vital, so beautiful, so loving. Thank you for your continued support and participation through wave after wave of pandemic. Thank you for your prayers, your voices raised in song, and for…
In my youth, I dreamt of adventure and of things. I dreamt of airplanes and fishing, new cars, and sailboats. As I got older, I dreamt of meeting someone to love, and of a career and a family. Now, as a grandfather, I find that my hopes and dreams have changed. I’m not as interested…
We all hurt. We all suffer. We all experience loss and grief and shame and failure. Pain, even emotional pain, exists in our bodies, so we can name the physical location and nature of the pain. Pain, like loss, also seems to weigh on our sense of who we are and what we are feeling.…