Peace, hope, and joy are words we like to associate with the Christian faith but I think it more appropriate to consider the words grief, doubt, and despair this morning.  Jesus has risen from the dead and that is a joyous occasion; one we celebrate with Easter egg hunts and pretty dresses, chocolate bunnies and […]

It seems an odd day for us to be drawn to the church.  The altar has been stripped, the crosses veiled..  Though we will receive reserved sacrament, we will not celebrate a Eucharist today—we will not celebrate anything.  Jesus is dead. Do we come because we are drawn into suffering—bystanders rubber necking their way through […]

I have always been fascinated by church architecture.  I remember when I was a little girl and our Sunday school teacher took us into the church and had us run around the space with one hand on the wall, tracing the shape of the church.  When we finished she gathered us in the middle of […]

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, […]

There is a sensuous aspect to our liturgy that incorporates all of our senses—taste, sight, touch, hearing, even smell.  To worship in the Episcopal Church is a full body experience—we stand, sit, and kneel even move around to offer one another the peace and come forward for the sacrament.  We juggle books, shake hands, drink […]

Psalm 32 You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; * you surround me with shouts of deliverance. The Vietnam War was in full swing when my father was in college.  He played baseball for Maryland but was restless and felt he should do something of greater purpose with his life.  Most of the […]

My neighbors have a row of fig trees in their yard right next to the road.  Every summer when I walk by, I notice a sign in the yard that says, “Free figs, you pick.”  Their fig trees are typically laden with the fruit and when picked at the right time, it is sweet and […]

The crack of lightning was terrifying and the accompanying boom of thunder left everything still and silent in its wake–it was as if the entire forest was afraid to move.  The silence didn’t last for more than a few seconds when the creatures who lived there resumed their scurrying to find shelter from the rain—the […]