I’m continuing to follow news from Morocco through Kristi Roberts’ Facebook page. For those of you who missed the news, Kristi, Clark and Annelise are safe in Rabat. One of our preschool teachers is a native of Morocco and she also reports that all of her family is safe.   As you probably know the damage in the most af…

Did you know that most weekdays (except for Fridays) we worship in our sanctuary at noon?   On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, we pray Noonday Prayer together. This simple service is found in the Book of Common Prayer on pages 103-107. If there is a saint’s remembrance assigned to the day, we substitute that psalm,…

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi   You may have noticed a change to my name in the service bulletin. That is because I have joined the Religious Community of Francis and Clare, and have started the journey to be a Franciscan Friar.   What is a f…

For anyone interested in exploring their faith more deeply, read on!  Education for Ministry (EfM) is a program to help laity deepen their “book learning”–in Scripture, church history, theology, and ethics–and to explore how it all relates to contemporary life through the process of theological reflection.  Participants e…

In one of my recent trips down the YouTube rabbit hole, I happened upon some clips from Dr. Aaron Higashi, a biblical scholar who is active on social media, seeking to present scholarly takes on scripture in a way that is digestible to those of us lay people who are not in academia. His videos take on many different topics…

This week, I encountered a book that was published last summer. It’s called Hope: A User’s Manual by Maryann McKibben Dana.     The book title caught my attention because I’ve been thinking a lot about hope. In many ways, I’ve struggled to feel hopeful in the last year or so. I’m worried about so many things. I fe…

Revival and renewal are the aim of an Episcopal Church festival taking place in Baltimore during July 9-12.  As we continue to move past the pandemic, we aim to rediscover God’s love, guidance and power so that the church looks, lives, and loves like Jesus.  In addition to revival services, the festival will feature worksho…

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, fo…

I want to talk about Benjamin Franklin. That’s right. I have always admired this “founding father,” to the point of dressing up like him in Elementary school for history week (and thank God my mom indulged me with her sewing!) Now, imagine my delight to hunker down in a blanket with tiny dogs and a Ken Burns film about my F…

When you come to church on Sunday, you’ll notice that Hudson Hall has undergone a transformation. Our stage will look more like 16th century Italy than 21st century McLean. Shakespeare Opera Theatre has, once again, taken up residence at St. Thomas, and will be here from now until mid-July.   Here are three reasons why…