"Magnificat & Madonna & Child"

4 Advent.C.21(8:00 a.m.)
Magnificat & “Madonna & Child” by Marianne Stokes
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

As many of you know, the Fourth Sunday of Advent is the time of our Christmas Pageant. I am fully aware that I have little hope of dragooning you into the roles of Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, and Sheep (though I might see some hands raised should I request a few wise men); and so I thought it best to take a different tack for our 8:00 a.m. service this morning.

"The Beggar-King"

Proper 29.B.21 Christ the King Sunday
Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

As we celebrate Christ the King Sunday I would like to share with you Margaret Silf’s story of “The Beggar-King”. There once was a king who had no son, and longed for an heir who would succeed him to the throne. So he posted a notice, inviting young men to apply to be considered for adoption into his family, and to become his heir. All that he asked of the applicants was that they should love God, and love their neighbor.

A Gift of Stars

1 Advent.C.21
Luke 21:25-36
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

In the midst of the frenetic activity defining much of this time of year there are few activities more centering, more peaceful and (indeed) more hopeful than to reach for the stillness bestowed upon us when we contemplate the night sky. In truth, it is the same sky into which the shepherds looked and wise men gazed. It is the sky which, as we are reminded in the Gospel lesson for this morning, heralds signs of importance easily missed should we confine our view to the horizontal and ignore the vertical.

"Waiting & Longing for the Blessings of God"

Proper 28.B.21
1 Samuel 1:4-20
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

Few things evoke more joy and gratitude than the birth of a baby. This is true of ourselves, certainly, and of all the generations that have gone before. This morning, just a few weeks before we begin to focus our thoughts on the greatest birth story of them all, that of our Savior, we have another account of a mother and child to contemplate.

"Let Go of the Stones You Carry"

Proper 23.B.21
Mark 10:17-31
The Rev. Melanie McCarley

There is a folktale whose story is located in the confines of the desert amid barren and almost inaccessible rocks. There, we are told, lived a hermit. The hermit’s life was one of austerity and devotion. A cave in the rock was his dwelling. Roots and fruits, the scanty products of the sterile region he inhabited, satisfied his hunger, and the fountain that bubbled up from the lower part of a neighboring cliff slaked his thirst.

Subscribe to