In Praise of Young Women

It was a good morning at Faith. We celebrated two of our 13 year old girls as they make the transition into womanhood. The Episcopal Church has a special ceremony called Rite 13. Many of the members of Faith have watched Laura and Kelsie grow from babies to the beautiful young women pictured below - so there were lumps in many throats. The Vicar, however, remained composed (an rare thing!) as she preached this sermon. Special thanks to the beautiful poetry of Rabindranath Tagore.

Even the lessons cooperated today. Read all about the boy Samuel in the Temple on the Lectionary Page.

Laura and Kelsie, two fantastic young women ready to hurl defiance at the darkness. 

Serendipity in resealing the parking lot

Serendipity - the experience of finding something unexpected while pursuing a different goal. Today, Faith worship happened at the beach because our parking lot was out of commission. Rather than risk black, sticky footprints on our new tile and carpeting, we took advantage of the nearby natural wonder - the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It was glorious. I'm not sure how often I can get away with letting the sound of the surf be the sermon, but it worked today. I'm told that behind my back a whale and a seal made an appearance.

It was a really good combination of images for the Sunday after the Epiphany. The Feast of the Epiphany is when the Magi arrived to pay homage to the infant Jesus - that was Friday, Jan. 6th. Today we celebrated Jesus' baptism - not exactly a straight shot on a timeline but that's how the church calendar does it. Anyway, we had sand - a good image for journey of the foreign astrologers from the east. And we had water - beautiful, gentle surf that spoke eloquently.

We went because we had no where else to worship. We ended up glad we weren't anywhere else. Serendipity by the sea.

Holy Name - True Name

Happy New Year to all of you. May 2006 bring you joy and blessings. This day is not just New Years Day, it is also the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. Here's today's sermon, all about naming.

To read the lessons for today, visit the Lectionary Page.