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by Melissa Carter St. Paul introduces Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2 - “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.” This is the only direct mention of Phoebe in the Bible and these two verses speak volumes. Paul calls her a deacon, using the same Greek word, diakonos, that he uses for other ministers like Timothy, and also a benefactor (prostatis), someone who supported and even hosted early Christian gatherings. Phoebe lived in Cenchreae, a port city near ancient Corinth, and served as a trusted leader in the local church there. Many scholars believe she personally delivered Paul’s letter to the Roman church, a role that would’ve required not just courage and dedication but a deep understanding of Paul’s theology. As the letter’s bearer, Phoebe risked her safety; the letter includes statements about Jesus being Lord, a direct challenge to Roman claims of Caesar’s divinity and lordship. Her part as the messenger could have been seen as subversive or treasonous by Roman authorities. Phoebe’s ministry is a testament to women’s leadership in the early Church. Her legacy affirms that ordained and recognized roles for women are not modern innovations but are rooted in the earliest Christian communities. Today, Phoebe is remembered as a patron of the diaconate, which is especially meaningful as the Episcopal Church continues to honor and expand the ministry of deacons. She is Commemorated on September 3rd. In celebrating Phoebe, we’re reminded that the call to serve transcends gender, and that faithful leadership often looks like quiet, steady service. Her story encourages us all to carry the message of Jesus with courage, humility, and grace. Loving God, who called Phoebe to be a deacon and fellow laborer in the work of your Church, grant us the same grace that we may serve you and your people with generous hearts and open hands; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. A Great Cloud of Witnesses

by Melissa Carter As my time here at All Saints draws to a close, I thought I'd write a little bit about Saints. One of the beautiful things about this church being named All Saints is that we’re not confined to a yearly remembrance of one Saint in particular (that gets a little boring over time) and there are hundreds of Saints in our world. Many who lived long before us, many who surround us, and many who will come in the future. Saints are individuals whose lives have borne exceptional witness to the Gospel of Christ, showing holiness, faithfulness, and a significant impact on the Church and the world. They are commemorated not as perfect beings but as people through whom God's grace was powerfully at work. Commemorated individuals include not only Anglicans but Christians from many traditions and eras, showing the church’s unity in Christ across time. In the Episcopal Church, " A Great Cloud of Witnesses: A Calendar of Commemorations " is one resource for identifying and commemorating individuals considered examples of Christian faith and life. While it does not use the term “saint” in the same exclusive way as the Roman Catholic Church, it provides a broader understanding appropriate to Anglican theology. Saints days honor particular individuals (apostles, martyrs, teachers, etc.) whose lives reflect God’s work in the world. Their commemoration is not about elevating them to divine status but about giving thanks and learning from their witness. In the next weeks you’ll read about St. Phoebe of Cenchreae, who is mentioned by Paul in his letters to the Romans, and Anna Ellison Butler Alexander (c. 1865 – 1947), who was born in Georgia and who, in 1907, became the first and only African American deaconess in the United States. “Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.” Bishop Michael Curry

Ascension Day - May 29, 2025 Rev Sarah Colvin You can find this week's readings here . When we left church on Sunday, I asked people to look at page 15 in the Book of Common Prayer, and the list there shows us the seven principal Feast days of the church year. Ascension Day is always celebrated 40 days after Easter (so always on a Thursday). Its celebration does not move. (Side note: we can, and do, move All Saints Day.) And although this feast is a cornerstone of the faith, other than those churches with Ascension in the name, people do not tend to celebrate it. Generally, I think people along the way quit celebrating and now it’s not really a thing. However, I think now is a crucial time to celebrate, more in a moment. As we know, throughout Eastertide, we have Gospel readings with numerous post-resurrection sightings of Jesus. And then, there comes a time when there are not such sightings. This time corresponds to Jesus’ ascension. Ascending into the heavens fulfills many prophecies of sitting on the right hand of God. It fits in with prophets who were subsumed into heaven, like Elijah and Enoch, and by some interpretation Melchizadek. And although it clicks all these boxes, let’s focus less on its possible purpose to check boxes, and let’s more focus on what it signifies for us, how it affects us in this day and age. In this chapter of the history of our nation (and world), it is most important that we recognize the risen Christ, that we recognize the Ascension and know that it is on us to enact the Love of God into the world. We do not have many Jesus sightings, but Jesus continues to be active through us after the Ascension. It is not just wanting to be on the “right side of history” but it is a call to be disciples, a call to live out our faith. There is a meme going around (largely in response to the house passing the Big, Beautiful Bill): I was hungry You cut my food stamps I was thirsty You let my water pipes rust I was a stranger You deported me You took me and put my child in a cage I was sick You denied my healthcare I was in prison So that your friend could make a profit Whatever you do to the least of my people you do to me. And with the country’s administration ripe with and emboldening Christian Nationalists, it is more important than ever in my lifetime that we set our sights on and recognize Jesus’s calling on us. (Now everyone cherry-picks verses of the Gospel, but Christian nationalism seems to have blind eye to most of what it means to follow Christ.) In our faith journey, we often look for assurance and validation from those around us. The moment of Jesus’ ascension was witnessed by the disciples, who were both amazed and transformed by what they saw. The presence of these witnesses gives us confidence in the truth of the resurrection and ascension. It reminds us that we are not alone in our faith; we stand together as a community of believers, people who are to do for the least of these, united in the truth of Jesus’ life, death, and triumphant ascension. And so, it is not the disappearance of Jesus per se, which is most important. Instead, it is his stepping back to create the space in which he now appears in the love and mercy and that we live out in witness to love’s triumph over death. This shares some similarity with a belief of mystical Judaism from around the 6th Century. Tzimtzum is the idea that God draws back, or limits God’s own omnipotence to create space within Godself for the world to exist. In other words, we could look at tzimtzum and the Ascension as being the way God always works, making space for us to reflect God’s glory. It creates free will. We could or would not do this if God did not make space. So, Jesus withdraws to make space for us to be the bearers of God in the world. At first glance it seems the risen Jesus no longer appears. BUT the risen Jesus still appears; he appears in us, he is visible in us, in our works of mercy and testimony to God’s love. These Gospel verses invite us to reflect on the importance of being witnesses in our own lives, sharing the story of Jesus with others, and embracing our role in spreading the good news. It is always true that all choices we make to stand against evil are witness to our faith. At this point in our lives, maybe more than ever before in my lifetime, we have the opportunity to witness to our faith in Jesus. It cannot be clearer: Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection means that we too must bear Jesus’s love, we too are to care for the marginalized. We must keep looking for Jesus, keep following his ways. We need our Ascension eyes in order to follow whose we are—in order to follow Jesus. We may die in the process, but that is not the worst that can happen; the worst that can happen is if we didn’t follow Jesus. IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Saget, Father George. Ascension, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56518 [retrieved June 10, 2025]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KeurMoussaAutel.jpg.

6th Sunday of Easter - May 25, 2025 Rev Sarah Colvin You can find this week's readings here . May God be merciful to us and bless us, * show us the light of his countenance and come to us . 2 Let your ways be known upon earth, * your saving health among all nations . The Gospel this week has a choice of two readings. If you don’t like the one that I chose, you can read the other one about the man who doesn’t have the means to get into the stirred-up water to be made well, and so Jesus summarily heals him … on the Sabbath, and that’s the problem. I gave some not insignificant thought in my choice for the Gospel. The main reason that I didn’t want to go with the Gospel reading that I chose is that for the next several weeks, to include Pentecost and Trinity Sunday we get a lot about the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and I didn’t really want to leave Easter just yet. And yes, I know that Easter Day was over a month ago, but Easter is so important that we linger over for 50 days, the great 50 days, it is known as the Sabbath of the year. And still, we make a gradual turn, because Pentecost is June 8th and a curve is better than running straight into it. Now a little bit of self-divulging about priests in general. Priests, almost always, preach the sermon that they need to hear. This is true whether a supply priest, priest in charge or rector. So, with that preamble, what I couldn’t turn away from is the following concept of “peace I give to you, my own peace I leave with you.” I don’t need to tell you, this passage is consoling, this is inherently non-problematic, so what made me gravitate towards it? Well, I think we are in need of peace—a different kind of peace. “Peace, I give you, my own peace I leave with you.” The Gospel passage is from the long farewell discourse in John. The disciples have been asking clarifying questions about Jesus and the Father. And Jesus has been his normal Gospel of John obfuscating self---giving answers without giving answers-- AND YET, there are still answers to be had. Jesus refers to the divine presence as something real, and even visible, but not quite an external or public spectacle like a theophany at Sinai, or a magnificent Temple. The divine presence is seen as the community in which Jesus and the Father will live, through the love we bear for each other by keeping God’s word. This really is a revelation to the world because divine revelation is not a spectacle, but a practice; it is a practice of love. While it is a practice, it is not one that the disciples create or perform. Jesus does not make divinity their task, as though the love to which they are called were some massive, noble effort or proect. It is an organic part of a continuing relationship with Jesus himself, and with the Father, that the Spirit enables; it is a parting gift. To revisit the peace bit. It is not obvious in the English, but Jesus is referring to a standard way of bidding farewell. The well-known function of the phrase as a farewell greeting helps us here. Jesus has been talking all this time about his departure; so, given that an ancient person leaving (or arriving) might well say “peace be with you,” we could rephrase Jesus’s second sentence: “This is not the usual kind of farewell.” And indeed, it isn’t. To summarize Jesus is going away, but nevertheless will be present with them and with us. While his presence will have a different form from his familiar friendship, the coming of the Spirit and the dwelling of the Father, and of Jesus himself in the disciples and in us, are not a weak second best but instead the fulfillment of a promise. And this fulfillment is the same as that peace. The “peace” is distinctive. Peace is not just absence of conflict, and peace includes inner as well as social well-being. Early Christian epitaphs often described the state of blessedness for the departed as “peace,” faithfully claiming that the peace Jesus offered is future hope as well as current state. As Jesus seems to say here of himself, ‘My absence is not all it appears to be.’ Parts of this discourse have often been read to remind those who have experienced loss and grief about presence and absence; to remind them that those no longer in our midst remain in that peace, which in turn reassures and reestablishes that peace in us. The more immediate point though is about Jesus’ own presence. Modern readers have not experienced the loss of his personal friendship, but all are assured that the presence of Jesus through the Paraclete (aka the Spirit) offers a peace which is more than well-being. Those who receive this peace—that is, who accept his farewell— are participants in a love that is the fulfillment not just of our own hopes but of God’s. And this practice of love, his remaining peace, is now the way Jesus shows himself to the world. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, * for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth. This is how we are all called to be like Lydia, to embrace the Gospel as brought by Paul; she listened eagerly and when baptized, like her, if we have been judged faithful to the Lord, our work of hospitality, and love begins. It begins each and every day. And it is days like this very day, when the readings we have today, are not just consoling, but help us to delineate whose we are, and therefore what we are doing each and every day. The Revelation to John (with the usual caveat that, yes, it is strange, but remember it is not a predictor of end times), gives us language that we need to know who we follow. We all need reminding that ever since Christianity began, more churches have closed than are open now---we are not at the end of Christianity, regardless of what our nation is doing. It is the weird text of Revelation to John that speaks in glowing terms of a temple-less Temple, the Jerusalem that is not tied to place, but instead is where all believers of God in Christ are resident. This by far surpasses our feeble explanation of nation-states, and how any of us might feel about our country now. Instead, we are connected by something much more resilient, deeper, and truer; we are connected by the love of God, the peace that Jesus leaves, connected by the Spirit/ the comforter who comes to us to make sure we do not despair in our following Christ, so that we can be Christ in the world. May God give us his blessing, * and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him. IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57820 [retrieved June 10, 2025]. Original source: Trey Everett, https://www.treyeverettcreates.com/.

Day of Pentecost - June 8, 2025 Rev Sarah Colvin You can find this week's readings here . Happy Birthday Church! The church as an institution is imperfect, but it is best when it strives to do the work of Jesus, which we can accomplish only when Jesus abides in us. Just as for Jesus, “the Father who dwells in me does his works”, the Spirit of truth will now do the works of Jesus, with and in the disciples and us. The Paraclete – the Greek word in the text for the Spirit - is also then a sort of translator too, a means of connecting the disciples and us with God’s purpose, translating the will of God into our actions. For whatever reason, I don’t often choose the Genesis story of Babel on the day of Pentecost. There are many who link the story of Acts—many people speaking different languages, but people are understanding their own—to the Babel story in Genesis, which is really the story of the creation of different languages. However, I think the story of Babel serves a different purpose in the Bible. Although yes, it is a mythical explanation of how all languages came to be, I think the other important theme in the story is God limiting or checking human power. Yes, human civilization clearly requires rules to live by ---some system of governance is required, but it is never a good thing when people wield too much power. And in this story, God clearly wants to put a check on unchecked human power. The similarity of Yertle the Turtle to the Babel story is somewhat striking. Dr. Seuss had a good story on which to pattern. But notice that the story of Acts is not a reversal of the story of Babel, just like our collective reading of the story in Acts, we don’t all speak one language again. The Spirit is what enables us to understand each in our own language. There is something to when people are touched by the Spirit; we gain what we might call our humanity, we gain understanding of the other. And there is something holy about the diversity of humanity, as all are made one in understanding even as our languages still differ. This is surely the work of the one who, according to the final book in Scripture, will gather every tribe and language and people and nation to feast at the banquet that awaits us. Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as another comforter, another paraclete. And I don’t think it is unrelated that John at the beginning of this Gospel refers to Jesus as the Word, or the logic, or the understanding. And this second comforter, this paraclete, the Holy Spirit, this Spirit is what enables us to understand each other, to know and receive the logic of God’s Word. This Spirit is active whenever we engage with the other, whenever there is understanding, whenever there is not a power grab but instead a concern for another’s well-being. Somebody is always going to be smarter or less smart, stronger or less strong, have more money or less, have more than enough food, or going hungry, and our concern is not to pass judgment on the other, but to ensure that the other is okay. thriving. This is what drives Christianity. This is the work of the Spirit. The Spirit drives the experience of the disciples and is active in their experience; in fact, the Spirit is closer than they would otherwise be inclined to imagine. Similarly, the Spirit is what drives us to reach to the other, always closer than what we think might be possible. While we should consider some claims to the Spirit’s presence and activity cautiously, the Paraclete is present whenever the life of Jesus is remembered and where his “works” are performed anew, translated into our present life. The Paraclete is simply the presence of Jesus in the Church, at all times and in all ways, in struggle as well as in joy. If the Paraclete is always at our side, it is when we are most like Jesus that the Spirit is most clearly active; not in our feelings alone, but in our actions, not only in peak experiences, but in struggle. Above all, the Spirit is known in the keeping of Jesus’ commandments, and hence in love of him and of each other. IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Kossowski, Adam. Veni Sancti Spiritus, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56946 [retrieved June 10, 2025]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/8750321716 - Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P..

As part of caring for our local community, we commend this website of resources for Federal Employees. A friend of a parishioner (and fellow Episcopalian at Church of the Holy Comforter), put this together, and there is a lot of good information. https://holycomforter.com/federal-employee-resources/

As we prepare to enter into this sacred time of the year, we wanted to let you know about our plans for Holy Week. This is a time of year when we come together as a community, in a special way, to remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you're a long-time member of our community or a brand-new visitor, we hope that you'll join us as we journey together to deepen our faith in unique and meaningful ways. Check out our Holy Week schedule below, and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We're looking forward to seeing you there! Palm Sunday Sunday April 13, 10:30 a.m. (no 8:00 a.m.) All Saints - Sharon Chapel Maundy Thursday with footwashing Thursday, April 17, 7:00 p.m. All Saints - Sharon Chapel Good Friday Friday, April 18, 12:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. All Saints - Sharon Chapel Easter Sunday Sunday, April 20, 10:30 a.m. (no 8:00 a.m.) All Saints - Sharon Chapel

6th Sunday After the Epiphany - Feb 16, 2025 Rev Sarah Colvin You can find this week's readings here . O the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it just keeps on giving.  Kind of like the sky did with the snow this past week.  You may remember thinking “enough already—-it was pretty a few hours ago.”  And then we have these lectionary passages.  One isn’t supposed to complain about scripture, the readings are what they are.  Sometimes we feel the pinch of scripture more than other times.     It is truly no surprise that most of us feel a bit of a pinch with these passages, the Gospel passage more so, but they do all pinch. The Gospel is uncomfortable and convicting.  Most people tend to like Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes. Matthew’s Beatitudes is from what is called the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew’s Gospel has a more spiritualized version. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”  So, you know on any given day, most of us can chime right in there—-“Yep, my spirit is poor, Jesus is talking to me, I’m Blessed.” However, we are in a three-year lectionary cycle, and we are in Luke. Luke’s version is from what is called the Sermon on the plain. Personally, I think it is fitting that Jesus is on the plain.  In this passage, he is on our level, he is just saying like it is, just as simple and plain as possible. And although many Christians first come to enjoy reading the Gospel by reading Luke, on this passage, Luke is not easy.  He is not easy, because Luke talks about the poor, like the truly poor, as in “no money, no resources.” Even if you are homeless in the US, you are richer than most of the people in the rest of the world, but Luke is also difficult because he goes on to list all the woes too. And convicted we are---we are rich and relatively full.     Blessings and curses--it’s a pattern we first see in the Old Testament. Jeremiah and Psalm 1 somewhat reiterate each other.  It is not known if Jeremiah is quoting the psalm, or if both Jeremiah and the Psalm relied on similar source material.  Particularly in Psalm 1…a strand of Wisdom literature comes to mind. This kind of Wisdom literature is found all over the Middle East at that time. To summarize this message: “Good things happen if you do the right thing/ behave yourself and bad things befall you when you don’t.”  For the monotheistic Jews, this then takes the form of “follow God and goodness happens”. You become like a tree planted by water in a desert climate. Brings to mind that song: “Like a tree planted by the waterside, we shall not be moved.”  We delight in the Lord when we follow what the Lord commands us.  The only way we and trees in deserts flourish are when we are by the source of life, the river---God, the giver of life.     And in a slightly different way, but related, the Gospel tells us that the realm of God rests among those who have nothing but God.  I’ll say that again, the realm of God rests among those who have nothing but God. If we have desire to have more blessedness and less woe, then we are to take up our cross and have solidarity with the poor, we must share the life of the God of compassion— we must change and live out that hope.  And this is heavy stuff, this is a game changer.   So what are we to do?  Do we all give up our houses and our bank accounts, since it is “easier for a rich man to get through the eye of a needle than to enter the kingdom of God?” Some do, and we have called some of them saints. I am pretty sure that we shouldn’t do nothing with the thought that we know we are sinful, and can rely on Christ and so will be redeemed on the last day ….and so we really don’t have to live any differently. On the other hand, the sainthood of the voluntary poor is probably not everyone’s call either.  We are in a pickle.   Paul tells us in the letter to the Corinthians that it’s not only about resurrection of the dead, AND it’s not only about life everlasting, BUT it’s about aligning with the plain talking Jesus. Says Paul, “If Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins.” But Christ has been raised, and so even our sins cannot separate us from the redemption and love of God. We must face what Jesus tells us are God’s desires for our right behavior. When we face our shortcomings, and the shortcomings of our leaders and culture at large, it brings home that sin (not living rightly) and holiness overlap in everybody.” This is what is Jeremiah was saying,   The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it?   Devious in this since means crooked and is from the same Hebrew root as the name Jacob.  There is something to being human, being the sons and daughters of Jacob, adopted through Christ who both plainly calls us to feed the poor and the hungry. We all have our blessings and woes.  We are human, we are crooked, our hearts are devious. Hopefully we still let God’s desires work on us. We live plainly on earth and through Jesus, reach for God’s desires of heaven.  We move the needle off inaction.   To paraphrase Johnny Cash, we can’t be ‘so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good’, but conversely we must not be of such earthly mind, that we lose sight of heaven.  O God, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will AND deed. IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Bruegel, Jan, 1568-1625. Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55346 [retrieved February 19, 2025]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sermon_on_the_Mount_by_Jan_Brueghel_the_Elder,_Getty_Center.jpg .

2nd Sunday in Lent - March 16, 2025 Rev Sarah Colvin You can find this week's readings here . Believers form an alternate community. The readings this week remind us that however important politics and presidents may be, then and now, believers must see a bigger picture. Believers actually form an alternate community. In Luke's Gospel, the Pharisees warn Jesus, "You better get out of here, Herod wants to kill you." It is a puzzle, why did the Pharisees warn Jesus? Well, one thing to remember is that the relationship between the Pharisees and Jesus is not always conflictual. Another point is that the Pharisees clearly do not envision what role Jesus is going to have. That is good background to dive deeper. I admit that even for me--someone whose basic livelihood depends on interpreting the Bible; it is sometimes hard to keep all the Herod’s straight, but generally speaking, I have found that working with the characters of “Herod” it doesn’t matter. In the Bible, all Herod’s are bad, or at least marginally okay. Herod was an ambitious builder; most historians remember him as a paranoid and ruthless madman. Herod executed one of his ten wives, two of his sons, and numerous detractors. In the gospels, when a Herod heard rumors about the birth of a rival king, he tried to murder the magi, he ordered the infanticide in Bethlehem, and another Herod beheaded John the Baptist on a dinner party dare. A simple but important point flows from this knowledge — there was a deep antagonism between Jesus and the political powers of his day. And thus, the sharp response by Jesus, "go tell that fox I will do what I do." Jesus threatened the political powers, not because he wanted to control what they controlled, but because Jesus undercuts the political power’s claims to supremacy. Of course, this becomes even more obvious if we fast forward to the end of Lent and the arrest of Jesus. Remember that Jesus was dragged before Pontius Pilate for three reasons, all of which were political: "We found this fellow subverting the nation, opposing payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King." In the epistle this week, Paul says that he gave us a "pattern" and "example" to follow, namely, that "our citizenship is in heaven." Once again, today we hear this as a religious phrase, but in Paul's day it was absolutely overtly political. And the implications were actually more political than spiritual. Historians have observed that pagans accused the earliest believers (followers of the way or Christians) of sedition because of the overt political implications of this confession of a "kingdom of God" and a "citizenship in heaven." By confessing Jesus as Lord, they rejected Caesar as king. Loyalty to Christ the king was absolute and unconditional, whereas fidelity to the Roman state was relative and conditional. Finally, there is Abraham. Genesis 15 describes how his descendants would live for four hundred years as "strangers in a country not their own." This language of "resident aliens" was echoed by New Testament writers to describe believers. If Jesus said that his kingdom was "not of this world," then his followers were "aliens and strangers" in the world — (as seen in Ephesians 2:9, Hebrews 11:13, 1 Peter 2:11). Political theorist and ethicist Michael Walzer of Princeton argues that while the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) contains a lot about politics, it isn't really interested in politics. Rather, it presents us with a radical anti-politics. Since God is sovereign, Caesar is secondary. In place of a radically relativized politics, says Walzer, the Hebrew Bible commends an ethic or way of life. Micah 6:8 comes to mind: do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God. Speak out for those who have no voice. Protect the weak, feed the poor, free the slaves, and welcome the alien. We trust ourselves to God alone and are responsible for each other. More than one person has claimed that there's no such thing as a "Christian" politics; what we have to be wary of is that essentially efforts by both Democrats and Republicans (or any other party) to co-opt Jesus for their cause because that action cannot help but distort the gospels. But I would point out that it is poignantly true that politics with the end intention to disenfranchise and subjugate others is decidedly un-Christian and evil. And that is easy enough to say and then stop and maybe even feel a little self-righteous (probably not a good look), but there is more to it, there is always more. Jesus of the Gospels proposes no political program, but instead something far more strenuous, something "scary, dark and demanding." No state or political party can indulge in the self-sacrifice that Jesus demands when he calls us to lovingly serve the least and the lost. But self-sacrificing love for my neighbor is precisely the message of the Lenten season. And yes, sin does happen in dark alley ways, and back rooms, and halls of congress and in the White House. It’s easier to think of sin in that way, because we almost never think of ourselves in those terms. It’s more comforting to think of sin as what “those people” do. But sin also happens every time we walk away from God’s desire for us. “How often I had desired, but you were not willing.” The faithful walk – the Lenten Walk – is to seek out the desires of God, and rest under the shadow of His wings. Accept what God wants from us. Accept where God wants us to be. Accept what God wants us to do, and what God wants us to leave alone. And, of course, accept the forgiveness so freely offers to us when we step off the path. But if they are at crossed purposes, politics and religion, our allegiance must be with God. Yes, we can do what we can to change the political landscape to ameliorate suffering and more align with the Gospel. But much more so, we must listen to Jesus’s call and be gathered into our alternate community, committed to study the word of God, and then minister to the other who suffers. That is what it is to be gathered and listen to God. IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Schäufelein, Hans, approximately 1480-approximately 1539. Christ and the Pharisees, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56831 [retrieved March 24, 2025]. Original source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_and_the_Pharisees,_from_Das_Plenarium_MET_DP849932.jpg.

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at All Saints offers a Solemn Communion class for children Grades 1 and above in alternate years, over five weeks typically during Lent. Children are invited to explore and deepen their understanding of a sacrament which many of our children have received from an early age. This is a time for the children to enjoy and gain an appreciation of the beauty and mystery of the gift of the Holy Eucharist. A special retreat day is held for the renewal of Baptism vows and the sacrament of Reconciliation in a holistic age-appropriate way. The meditations and retreats take place outside of the regular Sunday atrium sessions. 2025 Informational Meeting Sunday, March 9 at Coffee Hour. Come to hear more about the program, its expectations and how you can help. Volunteers We are seeking adult and teen volunteers to assist with crafts: calligraphy, sewing, hand needlework, and weekly lunch setup Solemn Communion Past Participants Children and teen alumni who have attended in the past are invited to participate as helpers. Contact: Davette Himes cgs@sharonchapel.org

by Melissa Carter Lent The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self-giving, and death; then, we rise in hope to life transformed. This Lent, we are invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life. Together, we will reflect anew on the loving actions of God as recounted in the Easter Vigil readings. Together, we will walk through the depths of salvation history into the fullness of redemption. https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lent-resources/ Carpenter’s Shelter News The next volunteer orientation will be Tuesday, March 18th at 6 pm. This is a virtual session, and I will share the link as soon as I get it. If you have not yet signed up for a background check, don’t rush to do so! The Parish Point of Contact (POC) needs to have one, and I have completed that. When my internship ends in June, we’ll need a different Parish POC, and at that time whoever steps up to fill that role will complete the background check. As we travel down this road, consider your role and if you’d like to shepherd this effort forward in the summer. https://carpentersshelter.org/volunteer/ "Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace". Howard Thurman

Last Sunday After Epiphany - March 2, 2025 Rev Sarah Colvin You can find this week's readings here . “Seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” Amen This week I spent a couple of days at a small meeting in DC with a few members of other Christian denominations. At the same time, the events of the world always serve as a backdrop alongside sermon preparation; let me say that the current administration continues to throw curve balls, even if anticipated from project 2025, alongside the president’s known admiration of dictators that he sees as strong men. With (at least) these two things (different denominations and the world’s events) rumbling around in my mind, I turned to think about the scriptures. Now you may say to yourself, self, where is she going? What can this Gospel and other readings give me to help make sense of my world? How can I see and help enact the Gospel of Christ in this world? Well, it was primarily differences among denominations which brought to mind the rich differences in interpretation that the churches bring in the reading of Scripture. And in thinking about this gospel of the Transfiguration, I got to thinking about one Eastern Orthodox view of what our lives are to become in God. One of the beliefs that the Orthodox Christian church holds about salvation, which you will understand why I thought of it in response to the readings, is the process of divinization. Divinization is a central teaching in the Orthodox Church and is considered the purpose of human life. It's a transformative process that involves purification, illumination, and union with God. Theosis is based on the idea that God became human in Jesus so that humans could become divine. It's a process that happens throughout a person's life, including both their earthly life and their eternal life. Now theosis does not mean that we become God in the sense of replacing God or ceasing to be creatures. Theosis is brought about by divine grace and the active presence of the Holy Spirit. The term theosis refers to the complete participation of the human person in the life of God --not so hard for Anglicans to hold that belief. Although theosis has not been emphasized in Anglican theology of salvation, it is in some ways compatible with our understanding of humanity’s destined union with God through the saving process of divine grace. Early Anglican theologian Richard Hooker also emphasized the theological significance of sacramental participation, in other words that we participate in the life of God through the sacraments. And trust me, I know that this Gospel reading that we have this Sunday, which is what we call the story of the Transfiguration, can seem somewhat removed from daily life, even in the best of times. We might even say that it is very, very removed from what is going on in our world now. But imagine if you will for a few moments: what if, more so than how Teresa of Avila stated that we are to be Jesus Christ’s hands and feet in the world, what if instead we are actively to become like God, what if this is the end point? What if our lives are to be so wrapped up in God’s life that one cannot see where a life begins and another ends, what if this is the point? Much like the vision of the transfigured Jesus on the mountain…. We may or may not be able to cast out demons scientifically, but what if living the life you have been given in the best possible way you can live your life is the point?, so that any who are evil want to be far away from you? Or maybe even they see the good in you and want to leave behind being evil? What if we are to grow in faith so that in a sense we are to glow with the glory of God? Like Moses, definitely like Jesus, And like pretty much every saint ever described? What if “all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” What if “since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry” that even in this time and place and whatever is happening in our country, “we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word…” Instead, we by speaking the “open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.” What if we can take a couple of days break in the news listening, even if when we do catch up, we might be mortified, and instead we rest in the glory of God? And by that I mean either we take a couple of days and rest in the glory of God and then return to the news, to the world OR maybe we take a couple of days break and when we return, we read the news while resting in the glory of God,---- one way may speak more so to you. What if we mean it when we pray, “Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” JESUS MAFA. Transfiguration, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48307 [retrieved March 24, 2025]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).