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...
151st Anniversary
September 22 is an auspicious day in the life of our church, for it was 151 years ago that our foremothers and fathers gathered to make official what long had b...
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...
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...
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...
A Banner Celebration!
Dear Beloved Community, The next time you come to the church house, swing by the front of the building – new 100th anniversary front column banners are up! Th...
I Was Glad
As we find ourselves just over a week before celebrating the 100th anniversary of our beloved sanctuary, I am reminded of the central place of this sacred space...
Why We Celebrate Anniversaries
Dear Beloved Community, Fifteen years ago this very night, Josh and I gathered with our nearest and dearest to commit our lives to each other. We made all the p...
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 ...
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 –...
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!...