Welcome our bishop, the Rt. Rev. James E. Waggoner, Jr. on Sunday, Feb. 7 @ 10 am. Bishop Waggoner will preach and preside at Holy Trinity and will install Kris Christensen as missioner.

(There will be no 7 pm service on Feb. 7 due to the Superbowl. Instead, we invite you to gather with friends in celebration or protest of this American high holy day.)

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. Luke 5:10b-11.

Buckle up, my friends. We’re gonna talk about the e-word.

Edification? Nope. Enlightenment? Bzzzzz! Episcopalian?! Sorry. But thanks for playing. . . .

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. Luke 4:28

What is your image of God? . . .

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:17b – 19.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 1 Corinthians 12:14-15

Every so often, someone gives you just the pastoral response you need. Mine came from a visiting priest. As we were vesting in the Holy Trinity sacristy, he asked me about my then-tentative call to the diaconate. I said, I wasn’t really sure I could be a good-enough deacon. He asked me when I was going to drop the false humility and get on with it. . . .

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” . . . When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” John 2: 4-7, 9-10.

Mary as stage mother. Not exactly the scenario we’re expecting for Jesus’ first semi-public miracle. Semi-public, because the only ones who really know what’s going on are the servants. The steward is clueless, the bridegroom plays along, and the party guests–we presume–just go on partying. Hardly a magical first-cotillion moment for the Savior of all humankind. . . .

The earthquake, rather than evidence of the random and senseless nature of human existence, provides for Robertson evidence of God’s existence and ongoing, partisan involvement in human history. Robertson’s theology provides comfort, too, in its categorization of the victims of this tragedy as deserving of their fate, insulating Robertson from the agony of identifying too closely with these wounded, mourning, homeless, and hungry fellow humans.

Classical music aficionados are invited to experience a unique and intimate performance in one of Spokane’s historic neighborhood churches. Blending the classical guitar of David Isaacs with vocal work of soprano Chelsea Camille, Chanson du Soir will grace the century-old sanctuary of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on Tuesday, January 19. Net proceeds from the concert will go to Our Place Ministries to help low-income people in West Central.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened . . . Luke 3:21.

Until she was 19 months old, Helen Keller was like any child. She could see and hear. She learned to speak: words like tea and water. Then an illness left her blind and deaf, and she began to forget. One by one, the words slipped away into the dark silence that engulfed her . . .

. . . and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen as its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. Matthew 2:9b, 10.

This is my last week of alleged vacation before I start “for real” at Holy Trinity. So, even if it meant missing my daily routine in the YMCA therapy pool, I was determined to sleep in this morning. Naturally, I woke up at 4:50 a.m. . . .

Prothero notes that at their best, the denominations that had long sustained memberships offered different visions of the good life. “Absent a chain of memory that ties us to these religions’ ancient truths, these visions are lost, and we are left to our own devices, searching for God with as much confusion, as we search, in love, for the next new thing.”

Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke, 2:10-11.

When I was a little girl, I loved the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. From one of these stories, I learned my first bedtime prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord, my soul to keep,
If I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Well. That’ll keep a kid up all night.

Welcome to Cop15, the UN Conference on Global Warming being held in Copenhagen. Denmark is not easy to forget. In the first place, every school child knows the tales of fearless, seafaring Danes. In the second place,every traveler remembers Copenhagen as the city of $20.00 hamburgers and $40.00 seven minute taxi cab fares. Copenhagen is, in fact, the second most expensive city in the world, just slightly less expensive to live in than Oslo. But that will be nothing compared to the price the world pays for this conference.

. . . blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45.

One of the first things I learned about pastoral care was to be very, very careful about making promises. The few times I did, it seemed like everything in my life conspired to make me break them. Better to be vague-I’ll see you next time-than to promise someone who’s lonely, or sick, or depressed that you’ll be back tomorrow, then stand them up because the water heater blew up or the car won’t start. And for the dying woman, even the off-hand “see you soon” has the weight of a sworn oath. Do you really want her to linger in suffering to fulfill your expectations of a “next time”?

As we prepare for the arrival of Emmanuel–God-with-us–we also prepare for a transition in our life together at Holy Trinity. I want to share with you some of the details–what January (and beyond) will look like when Fr. Paul begins his full-time position serving the diocese as congregational developer.

Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Luke 3:8.

I finally figured out why I like John the Baptist. You don’t have to wonder where you stand. He doesn’t call a spade, a spade. He calls it a damn shovel. As abrasive and unpleasant as John can be, he’s nothing if not direct. Yet, all that honesty can be exhausting. Here we are, halfway through Advent, still being chastised by a crazy guy in animal skins. Could we get to the Good News already?