Our Blog
Weekly reflections, updates, and news about our St. Stephen’s Community.
Civic Engagement Is An Act of Peacemaking
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that...
You Are Richer Than You Think
The notion of currency was much in the news this week—the fraud trial of former President Trump; the criminal trial of Sam Bankman Fried, the founder of FMX the crypto currency exchange; and the brinksmanship of Congress around funding the government which led to the...
Being of the Same Mind
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Philippians 2:1 It is a challenge...
Stardust as Metaphorical or Literal Resurrection?
How to describe what happens to us after death? The Gospels bear witness to the experience of Jesus’ earliest followers seeing one they knew as Jesus in bodily form; it is striking that in one account they do not recognize him. This is a movement that theologians...
Caught Between an Angel and a Cloud
So much of our thinking now is saturated with binaries—people are ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys;’ we are socially conscious or benighted; I am right and you are wrong. This categorical way of thinking is as old as the Manicheans, a religious movement that thrived between...
Christian Life Equips Us to be Companions in Pilgrimage
One of the blessings of being church is that we get to walk with each other throughout the course of our whole lives--from birth to death. There is strength to be found in knowing and being known, especially in times of joy and sorrow. Each of us is tied together in...
The Calling of Matthias and Other Means of Discernment
How have you made momentous decisions in your life? Lists weighing pros and cons? SWOT analyses? Opening up the Bible and picking a passage randomly? Decisions about whether to have a child, questions of moving, responding to health situation requiring a choice of...
Hotter Than Hell
When I was a young girl growing up in an evangelical Christian tradition I was terrified of hell. It was not preached about incessantly in my home congregation, but when it was, the images I had were horrific--a lake of fire, people burning in never ending torment cut...
Conversation about Public Schools
Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.Proverbs 22:6 Educating children is one of the most important tasks adults have in this world. What we teach, who teaches, what is important, why learning is valuable and to what...
Tony Bennett’s Secret to a Full Life Resonates with the Ministry of Development
I listen to Michael Moore's podcast, Rumble with Michael Moore. Two weeks ago Moore paid tribute to Tony Bennett, the great interpreter of the American songbook, upon his death at age 97. Moore considered Bennett a mentor and at one point asked the singer his secret...