As you probably know, the passage of the large budget bill (known to Republicans as "The One Big Beautiful Bill") in July 2025 resulted in significant cuts to the food program known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). It is estimated that five million Americans have lost food benefits in the past 15 months. Possibly because of these cuts, the Food Box on the sidewalk in front of Grace Church has recently seen increased use. The box is often full on Sunday, when parishioners make contributions, but is often empty by the end of the week. If you come to church on a day other than Sunday, please bring an item of food for the box.

Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40)

Tags: Food, Faith in action

Friends,

Last Sunday, I preached about the defiant, loving act of investing your time, energy, heart, and money in a faith community.

In the midst of all the catastrophes happening around us, your being here, your involvement, your financial gifts, are all a stake in God’s dream — God's dream of a wedding feast where everyday people are all invited, where every tear is wiped away, where the lion can lay down with the lamb and that lamb doesn’t have to be afraid of being eaten, where the earth is healed and restored, where death is overcome with God’s power of love.

You can listen to the sermon here.

Here's what you'll find below:

A statement from the Presiding Bishop about public execution

With love,
Susan+

A Message from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe
"The Episcopal Church has long formally opposed the death penalty,
and more recently we have called for an immediate moratorium on its use,"
Rowe said in a statement.
"The idea of live-streaming a firing squad execution is reprehensible in the extreme
and will cause moral injury to everyone involved.
We need to ask ourselves who we have become as a nation
when senior officials decide to make a spectacle of state-sponsored violence."

Read more

Tags: Rev Susan, stewardship, Violence

Friends,

Yesterday I preached on a difficult text in the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus responds initially responds to a woman pleading for his help...with insults.

Thanks to her persistent, dignified, defiant conversation, he seems to change his mind, not just about her, but about the mission he believes God has given him. You can watch the sermon here.

Wait. Did Jesus just... change his mind?

I believe God wants so much for us to drop our scorn that Jesus learns this lesson in public. Jesus learns this lesson in public so that we can see what it looks like to repent, to change our minds, to see the dignity of the human being in front of us whom we have been taught to look down on.

My challenge (challenge!) to you this week is to spend a little time in conversation with God. Ask God to show you where you are like Jesus in this story. Where it’s time to change your mind, soften your heart, see God’s presence in those whom you’d rather not love. And, ask God where you are like this mother in the story, pleading to protect someone or something you love. Ask God to show you where you can lean on the Canaanite mother’s courage, where you can use your persistent, dignified, defiant voice to invite someone in power to change their mind for the sake of God’s love for the whole world.

Here's a little extra inspiration for you, from the Singing Resistance at Brandi Carlisle's Minneapolis concert back in February.

[ video source, https://www.facebook.com/reel/1968157390435530 ]
[ photo credit ]

Tags: Rev Susan, scorn, Persistence, Repentence

[ In a world that seems increasingly chaotic and broken, many of us feel helpless and afraid. We may question what we can do to make a difference. To build collective courage, in this space we will share examples of how individual members of GEC are practicing the way of Jesus, in private action or in the public arena. How might you find inspiration and hope in the small steps others are taking? ]

As we approach the midterm elections you may have heard some discussion around vote tampering and voting interference. Massive in-person voter turn out is one way to mitigate the threat. Simon Rosenberg of the Hopium Chronicles explains why.

According to him, voting early will get you off the Get Out the Vote (GOTV) rolls. This gives a campaign the opportunity to more quickly determine who they don’t need to contact and it allows them more time to focus on people who haven’t voted yet. If you’re off the rolls you should stop getting calls and door knocks and the campaign can focus on reaching lower propensity voters. This is important, especially in a midterm election, as there are more episodic voters who aren’t as sure they are going to vote compared to a presidential year. This helps the GOTV folks to encourage and increase overall voter turnout.

Early in-person voting also gives lower propensity voters an chance to see growing momentum for the election potentially increasing the likelihood that they will actually vote.

So, if you’re looking for an easy way to bring your faith and values into the public arena and help increase turnout, get out and vote early and in-person. (Of course, that may not be an option for everyone so the most important thing is to vote no matter how you do it.)

[ photo credit ]

Tags: Voting, Faith in action

Friends,  On Sunday, I recapped this scene from Derry Girls as a way into the conflict at the heart of the reading from Genesis. In that story, two brothers, Jacob and Esau, begin a foundational conflict that stretches into centuries of violence. But our God is not a binary God; Jesus disrupted binaries in his teaching, and throughout Scripture God keeps on upsetting dualities with God’s Spirit, with God’s love, with God’s invitation to find a third way.  You can listen to the sermon here.  On Sunday, we also blessed Sheila Foster in gratitude for her long years of ministry with us, and sent her into her next chapter with the gift of a quilt and a sung blessing from ECMN camps. It was a holy, hard day. Thank you to everyone who came, shared memories, and otherwise lent their hearts and energy to mark this transition.

With Love,
Susan+

[ image credit ]

Tags: Rev Susan, Duality