Letter from the Pastor

                The early Church fathers compiled a list of what they called “the seven deadly sins.”  Number one on that list was the sin of pride.  I doubt that you and I would have done it that way.  We may recognize that pride is indeed a sin, but most of us would not think of it as the first and worst of the deadly sins.  I can think of at least three sins that most of us consider to be more serious than the sin of pride – murder, adultery, and stealing.                 And is there not a sense in […]

Years ago, a man named John Edwin Daniels sought to inscribe his name in history by establishing a world record for long-distance walking.  His goal was to hike from the lower tip of Baja, California to the northern end of Maine.  The journey required ten months and he completed it on schedule.  When he arrived at his destination, newsmen and radio microphones were waiting to record his impressions upon completion of his well-publicized trip.  The announcer who conducted the interview asked: “Mr. Daniels, you have walked over 4,000 miles.  Tell us, during these past ten months what was your greatest […]

I dare say some of us know, or have known, what is to wear used clothes, to buy used books, and to drive used cars.  And the truth of the matter is that it’s really not a bad way to live.  If it is handled right, there’s a touch of class to it.  Perhaps you have noticed that people who grow up in large families, wearing hand-me down clothes, almost always end up bragging about it.  Secondhand living isn’t all bad. In fact, it can be quite good. But there are some things in life that ought not be secondhand.  […]

Today is Easter Sunday.  It is a day in which the message of Easter tells us:  Don’t give up; don’t quit; don’t throw in the towel.  This life is not all that there is.  Stay tuned.  There is much more to come. You and I need that message, probably more than we know.  I suspect that this is the reason more people return to the Church on Easter than any other day of the year.  Somehow, we know that human life cannot find its total expression within the limits of time.  Everything here, everything around us and within us cries […]

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week 2023. It starts with the   triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ends with the tragic death on Calvary.  In a sense, it is very strange that this week should be called “holy”.  As we walk through it – and I hope we all will – unfolding before our eyes will be a scene of     deception and dishonor, betrayal and denial, political expedience and religious corruption, all of which culminates in the greatest crime of all history – the death of God’s Son.  Judged by the scenery, this could easily be called anything […]