Worship & Congregation

When it comes to our sins, Jesus isn’t letting us off the hook. He reminds us that our actions are not all about us but have an impact on our community. This is the antithesis of American individualism.

The themes for Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount continues into this week and, spoiler alert, into next week, too. That’s how important and inclusive his message was and is. And one thing that makes it so important to this day is that it invites us to be a message that is as big and inclusive as God’s love! Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Words, words, words. We love them! In our history, language has been as revolutionary as fire making, and words have distinguished human from beast since time immemorial. And throughout history, there have been disparities between the words we say and what we do, and between who we say we are and who we reveal ourselves to be through our actions. Across the millennia of human civilization, we have used words to call out these disparities and point out hypocrisies, sometimes as pots to kettles.

A look at the ancient feast of Candlemas which falls on February 2.

Sister Ann Whittaker, who just celebrated the 50th anniversary of her profession of vows in the Society of St. Margaret, looks back on her life of service as a sister.

Whether things are going well or badly for us in any given moment, we know this: God desires our flourishing.

It is the merciful ones, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, who exhibit with their lives the burgeoning reality of a new world ordered by God’s grace. By refusing to retaliate when they are wronged, by extending grace to those most undeserving, by practicing an orientation of peace, those who are blessed defiantly show the forces of evil what love looks like.