Summer Reading List 2026
Dear Beloved Community, It has become a bit of an annual tradition of mine to greet the summer with a post to you recounting some books I’ve read and love. Pe...
Summer Reading List 2025
Dear Beloved Community, It’s been a beginning-of-the-summer tradition of mine to use this space in the newsletter to share some books I’ve read and loved re...
Welcome to Summer!
My family toasted the end of the school year and beginning of the summer with several days away camping this week. (Which is why this email is a bit delayed too...
The Importance of Fellowship
“There is a lot going on in the life of the church…” I’m sure you’ve heard at least one of the pastoral staff say this during the Life of the Communit...
How to Read the Bible, Let’s Go!
I grew up in a world where what the Bible said meant everything. Our approach to reading the Bible was mostly literal. I say “mostly” because we w...
Celebrating Pride, Living Our Faith
Throughout the Gospels, we find Jesus consistently widening the circle. He welcomed those who had been excluded, shared meals with those others avoided, and rem...
Gathering Round A Table
There is something sacred about gathering around a table. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is often found sharing meals with others — friends, strangers, discipl...
Holy Work Continues
“Human community is unsustainable when it’s all about me and not about we.” These were words shared by Reverend Michael Curry on April 3, 2023 at the 50th...
What It Means to be Home
Hello friends! I write this from my couch at home, wrapped up in a blanket, enjoying the bright snowy view out the window. I hope you are all keeping warm and...
Renewed Sense of Wonder
Hello all! Mary here, enjoying these beautiful fall days we’ve been having. Fall is my favorite season for so many reasons and I can’t help but to think of ...
Room for Everyone at the Table
This Sunday, October 5, our congregation will gather for one of my favorite days in the life of the church – World Communion Sunday. Born out of a desire ...
Dining Table Connections
I’ve been thinking a lot about dining tables recently. I have part of my great grandmother’s dining room set including the table and while there is so much ...
Finding Belonging
“Do you have siblings?” “Have you been to the beach in the past year?” “Are you a preacher’s kid?” “Have you ever lived overseas?” “Do you e...
Holy Gatherings
Hello First on Fifth Friends! I recently came across two headlines that gave me pause: “Is this the end of the dining room as we know it?” and “The Death...
So Much Good Happening Here!
Dear Beloved Community, If you have felt like this month has been full to the brim with wonderful staff news, I have even more wonderful staff news to share –...
Now and Not Yet
All of us who enjoyed time together this week in Mary Foskett’s “More than a Season: Advent and the Christian Life” class were given ample gifts. Not the ...
Every Accomplishment is Rooted in a Practice
Thanks in part to the generosity of Amy Mac and Roper who shared with me a bounty of tomatoes from this week’s older adult tomato pick up, I decided that a sa...
Gratitude Tethers
When the dear old dad of my oldest friend Anna gave me a hard time last week for turning the ripe old age of 42 -- "that sure sounds like an age when you'd know...
Sabbath Sojourn
Caught in the full and boisterous stretch of weeks that included our church's first time at the Pride Festival, Abigail Cook's final Sunday on our staff, the an...
The Special Magic of Camp
As a young person, a week away at church camp has the power to transform. And when that week is spent at Passport, anything is possible!...