Rector’s Corner

My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, As we stand on the precipice of what may be one of the most unusual of Paschal Triduum’s, I hope and pray that this finds you safe and healthy in your places of isolation. It seems such a strange way for we people of collective, unifying faith, to celebrate the most holy of holy events in our Judeo/Christian heritage. And yet, here we are, physically distancing ourselves, keeping ourselves from one-another, in the interest of the greater common good. Even in the face of COVID-19, we cannot, and never cease to be the Body of Christ. It is through our journey of the Triduum, this year’s in solitude, and yet still together, that we pursue, like Mary and all the others, the new again “Alleluia” of Easter Sunday morning. We know it will come. And it will be so much the sweeter because of…

My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, I hope and pray that this finds you safe and well as we are upon the cusp of what is for all of us, what will most likely be, one of the most unusual Palm Sunday/Holy Week/Easter cycles that we may have ever experienced. We really seem to be living in unprecedented times, at least for our generation, times that call for unprecedented acts of courage, and strength, and valor, and bravery, and hope, and, well, faith. It seems that there are so many things that we cannot do, things we have been “denied” from our daily lives, thanks to COVID-19. And yet, having the courage and the strength to face those denials is actually what can and will save multitudes, thousands upon thousands, even millions, of lives. And so, we must deny ourselves so much of what we are used to. We simply…

My Dear Doubters of Great Faith, In the world of 6th century BCE, I can only imagine that Judeans captive in Babylon must surely have felt that all was lost. For everything that they saw, and felt, and touched, and tasted, everything that their senses recorded, screamed “Gone!” Forever. Hope was extinguished. And yet, we know that the story of Yahweh’s love affair with humanity is anything but over. It is simply one moment in Chronos, human time, a moment that God employs the prophet Ezekiel to beckon the people through. “Prophesy to these dry bones, and you shall live!” We know, in our logical, thinking minds that that is the case. God is always with us; therefore hope always exists. It is easy, however, in the midst of anxiety to lose sight of hope, and to succumb to fear. And that is what Ezekiel and so many others prophesy…

My Dear People of St. Thomas, Good morning beloved Doubters! I am writing this from the living room of the Rectory! I hope that you too are safely tucked into your home, heeding the precautions of our civic and government leaders who are urging us to stay put, to the very best of our ability, unless movement is absolutely necessary. As I have said countless times before, these are challenging times for the Church, because our natural response as the body of Christ, when faced with struggle or strife, is to come together. When we gather, we are reminded that God is with us. We see in each other the face of our God, who we know in our hearts is always with us. And it is a gentle, sweet reminder of that presence. That is what I miss when I cannot see your faces. I long so deeply to…

My Dear People of St. Thomas, It is after much prayerful consideration that your wardens and I have made the decision to cancel all in-person services and events at St. Thomas the Apostle for the next two weeks. This may seem drastic to some, but we (and obviously many others) believe that we really do need to take a physical “time-out” to be able to allow the COVID-19 virus the opportunity to play itself out to the conclusion that it is going to do. While we have not yet had a case tied to St. Thomas the Apostle, we simply cannot, must not risk our vulnerable population to this unknown. Read Bishop Sumner’s updated letter regarding the Coronavirus > For this two week period, we will continue to live-stream services from St. Thomas the Apostle. If you are connected to me on Facebook, you will be able to see that…

My Dear People of St. Thomas, How can it be that we are already three weeks into our Lenten journey toward the Cross? It seems only yesterday that we were marking our foreheads with ashes and preparing to chant the Great Litany in procession. And yet, here we are. Journeys have a funny way of doing that to us. We get so enamored of objects and events and things along the way, and before we know it, we’re out in the middle of deep, often uncharted waters, with little sign of either where we’ve come, or where we’re going. It can be frightening and disorienting. Life can be frightening, particularly when we can’t touch from where we’ve come, or where we are going. And we find ourselves in the midst of the unknown – the uncharted waters of the COVID-19 virus. Every day, things seem to be a little scarier,…

My Dear People of St. Thomas, It’s hard to believe that just two short weeks ago, we were at the end of Epiphany, celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration, in which Peter and James and John bear witness to the transformative power of Jesus, and by this witness, are themselves transformed. Their own transfiguration moment comes, not so much from what they see and hear, which inspires fear, but in the transformative, healing touch of Jesus, which drives out their fear and anxiety. It was, in fact, that healing touch that I believe transformed the three that day, and that healing touch that continues to be where transformation occurs. Touch conveys relationship, and relationship is healing and restorative and transformational. The community of St. Thomas the Apostle has a long, rich, storied history of using the transformative nature of touch to heal and restore lives to communion, to relationship with…