Parish News

Dear People Whom God Loves, We continue with the story that Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee prayed by thanking God that he was not like the rest of men, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or this tax collector.  He then recites all his virtues. […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, One of the things which can push us into the second half of our life/spiritual journey is sin.  This comes with the pain of facing how we have hurt other people and in the process how we have hurt ourselves.  This pain can force us to our knees and push […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We continue reflecting on our resistance to entering the second journey that we are called to in the second part of life.  Richard Rohr writes of religion and wealth as hindrances.   I would add a third…power (control).  The second journey requires letting go.  These three often block us from letting […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, I am reading the introduction to Falling Upward  by Richard Rohr.  The thoughts in this series of columns are inspired by this introduction with some of my own thoughts as well.  I can’t wait to read the rest of the book. Richard writes about the two halves of the spiritual […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, The same thing happens in more subtle matters when we get older.  We think that the way that we think about something is the whole picture.  Our minds tend to be frozen and because we think we have the whole truth, we have nothing to learn.  We then see the […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We must first understand the vision of God that Jesus had.  Since we believe that God is incarnate in Jesus, this is the deepest way that we have of understanding God. Jesus experienced God as Abba.  That is the kind of love that a good mommy or daddy has for […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, I have been reflecting on what I see within our church among religious, in our local politics, in our national and world politics and, indeed, within families and throughout almost all of our human interactions. What I see is our very human tendency to think that what I see is […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, I believe that as a church, we are called to serve many different kinds of people.  I am not talking about difference because of race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, social and economic status.  These are important, but I am considering: difference in outlook on life, attitudes toward equality and discrimination, […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, A soft soul is essential for doing good.  It is essential for being good.  It means compassion for ourselves and others.  It means loving ourselves as mixed up human beings and loving others as mixed up human beings.  It means recognizing that we and everyone are cherished by the Love […]