Into each life some rain must fall,

God invites us to come home: home to where we belong; home to serenity and peace and joy; home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation.

God looks at us the way a mother looks lovingly at her newborn baby. If you can see the loving gaze between mother and child in your mind's eye, you can begin a small meditation on being held in God's loving gaze.

But I’m taking the day off. Quiet as a feather.

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.

“You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.”

“Virtual” will be an option for connection across the board, so no matter who you are, where you are, or when you are… you are always welcome at St. John’s, and especially at God’s Table.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

I give thanks for arriving
Safely in a new dawn,
For the gift of eyes
To see the world,
The gift of mind
To feel at home
In my life.
The waves of possibility
Breaking on the shore of dawn,
The harvest of the past
That awaits my hunger,
And all the furtherings
This new day will bring.

The old prayer speaks of God "in whose service is perfect freedom." The paradox is not as opaque as it sounds. It means that to obey Love itself, which above all else wishes us well, leaves us the freedom to be the best and gladdest that we have it in us to become. The only freedom Love denies us is the freedom to destroy ourselves ultimately.

“As I begin my official tenure with SJC, you can expect to see me working toward this New Beginning, as Anna Kay and Rob have so named it many times. We are indeed living in a new world now, and a big part of my mission is to help us continue to grow in our offerings as we eagerly plan for the kickoff of a new program year in September.” -Olin Johannessen, Director of Technology Integration / Associate of Music & Youth Ministries

Don't start looking in the Bible for the answers it gives. Start by listening for the questions it asks.

I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path.

For about 30 seconds it was the perfect example of turning chicken $@#% into chicken salad. Keep on Dancing!

For a long time I didn’t even know his name, he was just the small, white-haired, elderly man I looked forward to greeting on Sunday morning. Eventually I learned their names, Philip and Dan. So then I had a name to go with that special man and the special place he always sat -- I was a Philip groupie. . .

The Bible is full of evidence that God's attention is indeed fixed on the little things.

Enough. These few words are enough.If not these words, this breath.If not this breath, this sitting here.

It’s a gift to joyfully recognize and accept our own smallness and ordinariness.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

When Reverend Rob invited us to consider silver linings from our months of COVID lockdown, I thought, “What a great idea.” Then I thought back to those months. The past winter seemed especially like a graveyard of hopes, and a time of political darkness, and starvation for the conviviality of human company outside my family.