Month: May 2022

I write with a heavy heart and deep sadness as we consider the news from Texas. Yesterday an 18 year old gunman killed nineteen children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. It is not enough for us simply to say “our thoughts and prayers are with them.” Our prayers require accompanying action. To that…

This June, St. Stephen’s will join Episcopal parishes from across Central Ohio to take part in the 2022 Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade and Festival.  All are invited to participate by marching in the parade, helping staff a booth at the festival, or both!  The parade is Saturday, June 18th, beginning at 10:30am.  The community festival…

I’ve been writing about worship as a way of entering an alternate reality, which Christians might call the Courts of Heaven, The Heavenly City, The Heavenly Banquet, The Resurrection Life, or by many other names. But I don’t think that worship is the only way to do this. My own first entrance into this alternate…

This is part three of a series that explores the way in which we covenant with God through worship. Goodman discerns a basic pattern in all cultures that create ritual doors into the alternate reality. As I describe the pattern below, I will point out how the Service of Holy Communion of the Episcopal Church,…

This post is the second in a series that explores how we covenant with God through worship. Everybody worships, and worship involves attention, awareness and discipline. But it also involves method and purpose. I am more and more convinced that the purpose of all worship is to enter what anthropologist of religion Felicitas Goodman calls…

This post is the first in a series on covenanting with God through worship. Part of covenanting with anyone is spending time with them. Neglect will end any relationship we have. Why should our relationship with God be an exception? God will, of course, wait patiently for our attention, and we can always regain a…