On the First Sunday after Christmas, the Rev. Dr. Cathy Deats reflects on foster care and adoption and why this becomes an important, radical metaphor for Paul the Apostle (Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7).

The Rev. Dr. Cathy Deats returns to St. Paul’s and reflects on what it means to search for God’s kingdom in a world turned upside down (Matthew 13:31-33,44-52).

John 5:1-9
So it arrived in my inbox. I tried to ignore it because it looked like spam… I had my finger on the delete key, until I glanced at the subject, and it said “Truck Stop Chaplain Wanted.”

John 21:1-19
Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Now, anyone who’s been around children knows that you sometimes have to repeat yourself… But it’s not just kids. I have events on my to-do list, projects to be finished, calls to be made, and emails to be responded to that have been on my list for more than one day. So saying “I love you” almost always has to be repeated. It’s never enough to hear it just once, to say it just once… Love bears repeating.

Romans 6:3-11; Luke 24:1-12
Perseveration is a brain dysfunction. It shows itself by someone acting in a way over and over again, despite the fact that the action may be meaningless or cause harm or even death… Despite the fact that it’s from a medical model, you can stretch this definition to include behaviors of ours that are destructive and yet continue.

Luke 4:1-13 (First Sunday in Lent)
Who can name the 7 dwarfs? Santa’s reindeer? […] the 10 commandments? It’s hard to list them, harder perhaps to follow them. The 10 commandments have their very own story.
Read Penitential Order Rite 2 along with Ten Commandments.

John 2:1-11
“This past Friday, the Anglican Communion wrapped up its latest Primates’ Meeting…”

Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)
We come here on Christmas Eve to hear the story of Jesus’s birth, and we do this several times tonight… But I have a different story to tell you…

Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)
This is the season for singing! It’s a season of song, and in case you haven’t heard it, the season is not Christmas […]. The season of song I’m talking about is the Advent season.

Luke 21:25-26
Where would we be without signs?
You probably don’t think about them that much, but we use them every day. Signs tell which streets are one-way, how fast you are allowed to drive, where to find a restroom or the exit.  On our trip to New Jersey last week, signs told us which exits had a restaurant or gas station.  Signs warn us of dangers, tell us where to find the sale, and all kinds of useful information.
Without signs, we’d be confused, unsure where we were, not know where to find the things we need, and perhaps, actually lost….
Click here for the Niebuhr Prayer.