As we enter into Lent 2025, I want to encourage us to keep our rhythms of daily prayer using the Book of Common Prayer. And, I want to encourage us this Lent to return often to the beautiful and challenging Confession and Litany of Penitence that we pray during Ash Wednesday.

We know that many of us are entering this season grieving for our loved ones who have died or are suffering, for our city, nation, and world, and for our own personal suffering. If this is you, we invite you to grieve as your Lenten practice.

 Jubilee was a great opportunity to bond as a community and learn more about how faith in Jesus changes every aspect of our lives.

That’s the invitation for this Lenten season: to turn from sin, and prepare with joy for the resurrection season. It’s an invitation to forty days of intentional reorientation together in response to the grace of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord and empowered by his Holy Spirit.

Our fasting should be in service to God. A fast that is self-serving and self-gratifying is not a fast at all.  God desires a fast that is beneficial to his kingdom work in the world. 

This week, we enter the season of Lent, a time in the church calendar in which we intentionally lament all that is wrong in the world, all the hard soil that has yet to bear fruit. I am grateful for this tithe of our year in which our worship gives voice to all our grief and frustration.

We are in still in Epiphany, but Lent is coming soon (March 5th), and it is such an important season that it warrants some forethought and preparation. For those of you unfamiliar with Lent or in need of a refresher, keep reading!

And now, our mission is to bring the gospel to the nations of the world so that people from every tribe and group and language have the opportunity to respond in faith to the saving work that Christ accomplished on their behalf.

Frankly, I think this is actually great discipleship strategy. As Christians we trust Jesus, the author, pioneer and finisher of our faith, who goes ahead of us and calls us to follow him into a future that is totally secure and yet which can sometimes (often?) feel disorienting. With joy and a twinkle in his eyes, I can envision our Lord saying, “Come follow me - turn and face the strange…"

As part of my daily spiritual practices for 2025 I’m using both a bible reading plan (sequentially through the Bible) and the Daily Office (and particularly the Psalms). In my Scripture engagement, I just finished reading about Joseph (Genesis) and I’m now in the life of Moses (Exodus). Reflecting on their stories has caused me to realize the importance of the choices we make.

Start by saying, Hello! 

Tips for meaningful friendships with people with disabilities. 

Are you…

• Longing for More and wanting to move deeper in your relationship with God?

• At a crossroads in your life and wanting to process where you’ve been and where you’re going, discerning God’s next step?

• Ready to step further into the beauty and brokenness of the world and bring some healing?

• Feeling stuck in your spiritual life?

• Aching to give yourself more fully to God?

As he was ascending to Heaven, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Notice that Jesus told his followers to “go and make” disciples. He didn’t say: Stay and be disciples, but go and make them. It’s vital that we recognize there’s an outward movement to Christ’s Great Commission; there’s an outward movement to discipleship.

While abuse isn’t a topic many people want to think about, I believe it’s vital that the Church and her leaders grow in our understanding of this issue.

And why? Because this is a Gospel issue.

As he was ascending to Heaven, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Notice that Jesus told his followers to “go and make” disciples. He didn’t say: Stay and be disciples, but go and make them. It’s vital that we recognize there’s an outward movement to Christ’s Great Commission; there’s an outward movement to discipleship.

You are invited to a series of public forums led by Rev. Dr. John Frederick as we consider our most pressing crowd-sourced questions about the Christian faith! 

We’ve gotten so caught up with being faithful, that we’ve forgotten that the point of our persistence and courage is the Love of Jesus.

The Deaf Community is one of the least reached people groups in the world. In the USA, a recognized estimate is only 2-5% of deaf claim any religious faith at all. There are many factors giving rise to this alarming statistic but one of them is not being able to envision the concept of God, or the incarnate Jesus, as relatable or accessible to deaf people.

Enjoy the audio recordings and visual presentations from the 2024 nClergy & Clergy Spouse retreat.

Jesus came into the world to reveal God to ALL people. Jesus manifests himself to Jew and to Gentile alike, so that everyone may know him and experience his kingship their lives.