by Staff | Jan 7, 2019 | Family
I have been teaching Sunday School at St. Michael’s for over twenty years! I can’t remember when I started, but I know it was a calling from Lord. Once I started teaching I was hooked! Through the years I’ve taught...
by Staff | Jan 2, 2019 | Liturgical
O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright;Westward leading, Still proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect light! So begins one of my favorite Epiphany hymns, setting to music the feelings inspired by the awe-inspiring Star of Bethlehem. This hymn,...
by Staff | Dec 17, 2018 | Church Life
A New Year’s PlanMary Fairchild I tried to think of a clever new phrase –A slogan to inspire the next 365 days,A motto to live by this coming New Year,But the catchy words fell flat to my ear. And then I heard His still small voiceSaying, “Consider this simple, daily...
by Staff | Dec 17, 2018 | Liturgical
As the annual St. Michael’s by-the-Sea Christmas Pageant draws ever nearer, I’ve been thinking a lot about the characters in the Nativity story – in particular, the shepherds. They fascinate me because in many ways, we are just like them. They’re average people,...
by Staff | Dec 10, 2018 | Liturgical
My father was a pastor in a very non-liturgical church. In fact, I would call it anti-liturgical in many ways. We would stand to pray, not kneel. Communion was grape juice, not wine. And sermons were long and pedantic, not pithy and pointed. There was a choir, but the...
by Staff | Dec 1, 2018 | Church Life
In 1991 the Soviet Union, rightly called an “Evil Empire” by President Reagan, dissolved without a shot being fired. The collapse of the USSR remains the most remarkable, unexpected and utterly amazing event of my life. But now I often think about the fact that a...
by Staff | Nov 26, 2018 | Liturgical
Advent is not something we hear much about outside of church – or even outside of liturgical churches. If you asked a retailer when the “Christmas season” begins, they would probably say the beginning of November. In our faith tradition, the Christmas season does not...
