June 2025
Press on with Yet More Courage
Jun. 18, 2025 13:33 Filed in: Commentaries
Friends,
Here is the prayer we opened our worship service with on Sunday.
God of shalom, we lift up this city and state and country.
We are awash in fear and hatred and violence, and we long for the healing and hope and justice only you can offer.
We pray for Melissa and Mark Hortman; receive them into the arms of your mercy.
We pray for John and Yvette Hoffman and their daughter, that they will be filled with the healing power of the Holy Spirit, that they may be able to recover and be raised up as signs of your love for the world.
We pray for the person who did these acts of violence, that he too will know the healing power of your justice.
We pray for all those tempted to violence, and for those who stoke the flames of hatred, that their hearts will be turned to your way of love.
And we pray for those who serve in positions of public trust in our legislature and everywhere, that in the midst of such fear, your love will give them the courage to continue in their duties with integrity and to press on with yet more courage toward your dream of love for this hurting world.
We ask all this in the name of the One whose way calls us to resilient, defiant, embodied, joyful love, even and especially in the midst of grief and destruction, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
I hope to see you this coming Sunday, June 22, when we celebrate Campus Ministry Sunday. With a sermon from Steve Mullaney (Chaplain and Executive Director of the University Episcopal Community), we'll wonder together how our baptismal promises call us to support young adults in all kinds of life transitions.
See you in church!
Susan+
Here is the prayer we opened our worship service with on Sunday.
God of shalom, we lift up this city and state and country.
We are awash in fear and hatred and violence, and we long for the healing and hope and justice only you can offer.
We pray for Melissa and Mark Hortman; receive them into the arms of your mercy.
We pray for John and Yvette Hoffman and their daughter, that they will be filled with the healing power of the Holy Spirit, that they may be able to recover and be raised up as signs of your love for the world.
We pray for the person who did these acts of violence, that he too will know the healing power of your justice.
We pray for all those tempted to violence, and for those who stoke the flames of hatred, that their hearts will be turned to your way of love.
And we pray for those who serve in positions of public trust in our legislature and everywhere, that in the midst of such fear, your love will give them the courage to continue in their duties with integrity and to press on with yet more courage toward your dream of love for this hurting world.
We ask all this in the name of the One whose way calls us to resilient, defiant, embodied, joyful love, even and especially in the midst of grief and destruction, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
I hope to see you this coming Sunday, June 22, when we celebrate Campus Ministry Sunday. With a sermon from Steve Mullaney (Chaplain and Executive Director of the University Episcopal Community), we'll wonder together how our baptismal promises call us to support young adults in all kinds of life transitions.
See you in church!
Susan+
Institutional Resistance Rooted in Christian Conviction
Jun. 13, 2025 16:09 Filed in: Commentaries
Friends,
Last Sunday, we baptized eight (!) young people, we prayed for Morris+ as he steps into retirement from being the deacon assigned at Grace Episcopal Church, we celebrated Linnea's graduation, we had a parade of birds, there was a fabulous anthem from some of our younger singers -- it was a day full of the Holy Spirit! You can listen to Morris' sermon here.
We're going to need to keep following where that Holy Spirit is leading. In a letter to the whole church today, our Presiding Bishop says, "At its best, our church is capable of moral clarity and resolute commitment to justice. I believe we can bring those strengths to bear on this gathering storm. Churches like ours, protected by the First Amendment and practiced in galvanizing people of goodwill, may be some of the last institutions capable of resisting the injustice now being promulgated. That is not a role we sought—but it is one we are called to... We are finding ways to respond as Christians to what we see happening around us," the Most Rev. Sean Rowe said. "In short, we are practicing institutional resistance rooted not in partisan allegiance, but in Christian conviction." The Presiding Bishop was speaking specifically of the new travel bans and unwarranted deployment of military personnel in Los Angeles. Alongside those challenges, today, some of our fellow followers of the way of Jesus have voted to turn their energies toward banning marriage equality.
In this Pride Month, and in this season in our city and our country, practicing Jesus' way of resilient, defiant, embodied, joyful love has never been more important. Read on for a few ways you can put your faith into practice.
See you in church!
Susan+
Last Sunday, we baptized eight (!) young people, we prayed for Morris+ as he steps into retirement from being the deacon assigned at Grace Episcopal Church, we celebrated Linnea's graduation, we had a parade of birds, there was a fabulous anthem from some of our younger singers -- it was a day full of the Holy Spirit! You can listen to Morris' sermon here.
We're going to need to keep following where that Holy Spirit is leading. In a letter to the whole church today, our Presiding Bishop says, "At its best, our church is capable of moral clarity and resolute commitment to justice. I believe we can bring those strengths to bear on this gathering storm. Churches like ours, protected by the First Amendment and practiced in galvanizing people of goodwill, may be some of the last institutions capable of resisting the injustice now being promulgated. That is not a role we sought—but it is one we are called to... We are finding ways to respond as Christians to what we see happening around us," the Most Rev. Sean Rowe said. "In short, we are practicing institutional resistance rooted not in partisan allegiance, but in Christian conviction." The Presiding Bishop was speaking specifically of the new travel bans and unwarranted deployment of military personnel in Los Angeles. Alongside those challenges, today, some of our fellow followers of the way of Jesus have voted to turn their energies toward banning marriage equality.
In this Pride Month, and in this season in our city and our country, practicing Jesus' way of resilient, defiant, embodied, joyful love has never been more important. Read on for a few ways you can put your faith into practice.
See you in church!
Susan+