Hello – Last Sunday, we successfully honored Mary with a pile of flowers, turned those flowers into 50 bouquets, delivered them all to the residents of the San Rafael Health Care Center while singing three simple songs AND we were done by 11:58am! At the end, newcomer Michelle and I slapped each other with a high…
Hello – Tomorrow is our third annual Celebration of Flowers. Please bring flowers to church tomorrow (4/28). At the beginning of the service, accompanied by a song, you can bring your flowers to a beautiful wooden stature of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that will be in front of the Rood Screen. After church, in Duncan…
Hello – Your collective attempt to make the celebration of my 20 years as Rector of St. Paul’s a surprise worked! Like Mike Struck with his 40th celebration last fall, I knew something was coming but not when or what. If I thought about it, which I tried not to, I assumed that something would…
Hello – A reminder that we have two of the most important worship services of the year coming up: • Tomorrow the Good Friday service starts at noon and will last just over an hour. • Sunday, our Easter Service will start at 10am and last about an hour and a half. Childcare will be available and there…
Hello – There are three major worship services in the coming week at St. Paul’s: 1. Palm Sunday at 10am on Sunday. The service begins with the blessing of the palms and the glorious procession, and concludes with the stripping of the altar and silence. 2. Good Friday at Noon. The service includes the brining in of…
Hello – Matthew S., who encouraged us to try Bring-A-Friend Sunday, has told us that he is inviting three sets of people to come to church this Sunday. One is one of his best buddies, who used to love going to church but hasn’t been back in years. Another is his daughter and some of…
Hello – This email is an encouragement and an invitation. The encouragement is to follow Matt S’s lead and start thinking now of people to invite on March 10thto 10am worship at St. Paul’s. Matt is inviting a close buddy who hasn’t been to any church in a long time, his teenage daughter and a bunch…
Hello – I invite you to consider joining me from 9am to 10am this Saturday in Duncan Hall or on Zoom to keep practicing the practices I introduced in my resent seminar, Transcending Contempt. In the first half hour, I will offer teaching on three practices, each of which we began to explore in the seminar. In…
Hello – The practices of the Christian season on Lent often focus inwards. Examples include giving up chocolate like Joan, or cutting way back on the amount of news you consume, like me. This year, I’m encouraging us all to also focus outwards. The reason for this is that COVID and the increase of electronic devices…
Hello – Ash Wednesday services are at noon and 6pm today. Come for the imposition of ashes with those powerful words “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Tomorrow, I’ll review with you four ways to Only Connect this Lent and then share with you one new way, based on Transcending Contempt. I…