Late Thursday afternoon, when I left church, the sky here was incredible. There was a storm east of us, and in the direction of Atascadero the sky was a heavy, dark grey-mauve – and there was this short section of rainbow schmeared across the storm clouds that looked like it was being raked by rain bands, and kind of above us, here, was the edge of the system, the sky off to the west was blue, and here the sun…
My first Sunday here with you marks the end of a whole heap of work by a lot of people in this community. As part of the effort of finding your new priest, a tremendous amount of thought, love, intention, and creativity went into compiling and writing the Parish Profile, which was posted to St. Ben’s website during the search process. This Profile was the way you all shared with the world ‘who you say you are,’ who you understand…
Once again, I stand before you humbled and honored to open God’s word and share it with you. Now may our Creator and the Creator of the universe who holds all things together show us how to apply these scriptures this morning to our daily lives. Please be seated. I learned a few weeks ago that September was creation care month. My first response was I can’t preach this month. What are the new scriptures passages? To my surprise the…
Today, we encounter the final installment of the Bread of Life discourse in John’s Gospel. We see many of those following Jesus leave as they give in to their doubts about his teachings. Those remaining affirm their belief in Jesus, deepening their commitment to follow him.
