Weekly Reflections
Love Came Down at Christmas
Looking back over Advent, I count over 50 different St. Paul’s gathering events where we’ve participated in prayer, reflection, socializing, and giving. In addition, many of you have continued to check in on one another weekly and sometimes daily. In this way we have been able to reach out, connect, and care for one another […]
Continue Reading“Finding joy and blessings in cooking for others” by Margaret West
I am baking again this Advent, as I have ever since I can remember. Dozens of batches of cookies with the extravagant holiday aromas of spices, chocolate, mint, nuts, fruit or candy added to the basic butter, sugar, eggs, flour, leavening and salt. What began as early childhood helping turned into a competency that by […]
Continue ReadingA Reflection on Middle Collegiate Church by Fr. Daniel
Many of you may have heard of the tragic fire that destroyed Middle Collegiate Church in New York City this past week (read Pastor Jacqui Lewis’ post here). Middle Church is the oldest continuously gathered congregation in America, dating from the earliest Dutch settlement on Manhattan. The church building was historic and beautiful, and its […]
Continue Reading“Connection” by Sandy Bria
This past week we celebrated the Thanksgiving Holiday. For me, suffice it to say, the week was like no other as my family was forced to quarantine under the threat of Covid. While test results eventually came back negative, we were not able to celebrate in person on the holiday. I discussed my disappointment with […]
Continue Reading“Staying Grounded in this Time of COVID” by Ann Russell
Rituals can be powerfully grounding, inspiring, transformative…when mindfully conceived, authentically communicated, artistically executed. Or they can be repetitive OCD behavior, pretty much devoid of lively, meaningful metaphor and depth, disconnected from the very real challenges of life. At best, perhaps a comforting superstition Since my first experience of Compline at St. Paul’s in 2004, I […]
Continue Reading“Room for that and more” by Terri Polley
I so want to be a better person. A more Christ-like person. Every morning when I wake up and drink my coffee, read my morning readings and say my morning prayers, I resolve, again, to be just that. I will remember today, I tell myself, that in every encounter with another living being, I will […]
Continue Reading“The Day After, and Beyond” by Fr. Daniel
The day after the General Election has been less decisive than the parties had hoped. What IS clear is that the results so far confirm how deeply divided our country is. While robust differences are healthy for a democracy, no one would argue that this is a healthy time in ours. This goes beyond any […]
Continue Reading“Your Vote Gives Us Hope” by Gail Bindley-Taylor
NO, I am not voting in this election. “Why,” you may wish to ask, “knowing all that you do about the importance of this election, in a country you now call home? How could you not? This is unconscionable, you, a black woman at this very polarizing time, would dare not to vote?” The truth […]
Continue Reading“One Person at a Time” by Ginny Balser
When I joined the Race and Social Coalition after retiring from teaching two years ago, I had no idea how important that group would become in my life, particularly in the last six months and particularly in the days of Covid. It has been sustaining to meet with the Coalition every Wednesday to discuss the […]
Continue Reading“Letting the Anchor Down” by Fr. Daniel
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been part of several conversations across the range of the political spectrum. The sides have convictions that run deep, sometimes even hot. In one conversation my friends remarked that they were fine with political differences, but that politics did not belong in church. I am deeply familiar with this […]
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