Daffodils Defeat Darkness

Around here, people regularly recommend that heading over to the Filoli Gardens in Springtime—In the meadow there, there are literally millions of daffodils, all yellow and white—and a path that allows you to walk through them. The trees are in bloom with pink blossoms. Sunshine, birds, bees and gentle breezes. It is like the celebration…

Letter & Spirit: Following the Law

This reading is an invitation to use the letter of the law to help us understand how to be safe, and the spirit of the law to embrace the freedom that God has given us. 

Come to God with Open Hands

When I was about 21 years old, I travelled to a different country on my own for the first time. I landed at the Heathrow Airport in London and hailed one of the square black cabs. The driver was an older man who had been driving a cab for many years.  He asked me a…

Learning Sabbath Lessons

I have a favorite sweatshirt that I often wear. It’s a black hoodie and on the front is printed: Deacon, because full-time multitasking ninja is not a real title. My twitter profile describes me in this way: High-tech supply chain journalist, deacon, and mother…almost never in that order. And I will confess to you, my…

God Helps Us Grow

Last week, my family drove to Southern California down Highway 5.  It’s a long drive, about seven hours. So I spent a lot of time looking out the window.  A lot of that land is agricultural land… and we saw farms that grew almonds, avocados, kiwis, olives, and all sorts of things. Several times, I…

The Most Well-Known Verse

In the Episcopal Church, there hasn’t traditionally been a huge focus on memorizing versus of scripture. And yet, there are a few verses of scripture that are so well known that we recognize when someone says the chapter and verse. I checked some sources, and John 3:16 came in fourth on the list the most…

Fishers of People: It’s Not about the Fish

HAPPY EPIPHANY!!! Sometimes, it seems funny to me that we don’t go around saying that to each other—“Happy Epiphany!” The church isn’t arrayed with special decorations or colors—we have the green of ordinary time at the altar. And yet, this time, this season of Epiphany is anything but ordinary. In some ways, it is a…