Laura Giffin

April 29, 2021 My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, If you are a person prone to statistics, you may be very interested in knowing that, over the course of the last year, we have had 67 (YES, 67!) experiences of liturgical worship in a format that, prior to March 17, 2020, I would wager most of us had not heard of, Zoom!  In that time, we have made good use of the gift of this technology for Vestry meetings, retreats, adult education classes, “happy hours,” and a whole host of other events that kept us connected and ensured the Holy Spirit was (and is) alive and well on this corner of Inwood and Mockingbird.  I honestly don’t know how we would have stayed together so well if it was not for this technology. And one of the reasons it has been so effective, and so emulative of our traditional worship…

April 22, 2021 My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, I hope and pray that you were able to join your Doubter community of faith last Sunday in one of the wonderful expressions of worship that took place both on-line and in-person, as we joyously continued the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, and our own, here on the corner of Inwood and Mockingbird!  Both offerings were spirit-filled, happy occasions, as we joined together to celebrate the goodness of our risen Savior, and all that that necessarily implies for each of us, and for our community and world! The resurrection joy that we feel at being reunited as the body of Christ, again and again, mirrors the joy that Mary and each of the disciples feel following their own days, weeks, and months of desperation.  Love comes again, and again, and again, like the ever-flowing stream! It was wonderful to welcome the…

April 15, 2021 My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, A very happy and joyous Eastertide to you as we move more deeply into this season of celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  “Christ is alive, let Christians sing!”  There is so much to celebrate as we live more fully into the Great Paschal Mystery over the course of the coming days, weeks, and months.  Because Christ lives, God triumphs over death, and we too get to share in the great banquet feast of rebirth and eternal life! The funny thing about mysteries, gifts, and we humans – they come with a bit of trepidation and fear, because there is so much that we don’t know, can’t see, or touch, or taste, or know, all the answers, well in advance (think Thomas!).  How did this happen?  Can it possibly be?  Did our Jesus really surmount the…

April 1, 2021 At this writing, we find ourselves on the precipice of the second most unusual Pascal Triduum, the great three days marking of our Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering, passion, death, and ultimate resurrection.  For this is the second time that we are making this journey together, and yet apart.  You would think that we would be old hands at this now, doing both liturgy, and zoom, together; and yet, all the anxieties that precede each and every Holy Week, each and every year, those same anxieties and fears find their way into this one as well.  This year refuses to be exceptional. In all of my years of church work, I have yet to see Easter preparation that does not involve some necessary amount of anxiety, like the birth pangs of labor.  Will the liturgies all be planned and executed correctly?  Will the music be right?  Will the…