One of the podcasts that I Iisten to, Hidden Brains, ends each show with a nod to unsung heroes, typically staff members or volunteers who have gone above and beyond to make that particular episode even better than it might have been. Earlier this year, they created a separate podcast feed and invited listeners to record their encounters with unsung heroes. Sometimes they are stories about a teacher who made a positive and long-lasting impact. Sometimes the unsung hero is a m

Christmas Eve, 7 pm Carols, Candlelight, and Communion Sunday, Dec. 26, 10 am A simple, festive service of lessons and carols (borrowed from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge) without Communion (because even the altar guild deserves a day off!). It’s a short service filled with Scripture and singing. And because our Christmas celebrations call for both joyful worship and also joyful levity, we are this year observing Ugly Christmas Sweater Sunday. Wear the “worst,” or at least

The daily Sacred Time series, available to us through the LEAD organization and sponsored in part by our Synod, is now in the middle of the third week of Advent. The theme this week is Love. The theme for week 1 was Hope and the theme for week 2 was Peace. As was described in this week’s Sacred Time Zoom session with clergy and parishioners from around the country, there are seven primary Greek words that describe Love. Some research on my part led to these definitions. E

We’ve all done it. When an electronic device starts acting weird, the simplest fix is to unplug it, wait a bit, and plug it back in. It's amazing how often that actually works. What brings this to mind is that on Friday I had a face-to-face get acquainted meeting with someone. A real one, not a Zoom one. Man, that felt good. There hasn’t been much of that face-to-face stuff for nearly two years now. And with good reason. But with vaccines and boosters and increasingly better

Advent: The Time of Waiting ... A few weeks ago, I was waiting for a guest who seemed as though he’d never arrive; I know what it’s like to wait for the end of the semester, after projects are in and grades are assigned. A pregnant woman waits to be delivered, and sometimes the last few weeks and days seem as though they’ll never “be accomplished”. We wait for the results of a medical exam, hoping for a positive report. A child is not the only one who waits for the day to