Welcome: Unity of Tempe
In the last several months, our parish has been approached by a number of groups who were looking for places to host meetings and gatherings as the pandemic restrictions allowed them to regather for in-person meetings. In the course of the last seven months, it has meant that we welcomed five new AA or Al-Anon groups to our campus. In fact, we have an AA or Al-Anon group meeting on our campus all but two nights of the week! The…
The Joys of Sabbath
It’s the middle of summer. Arizona is hot, and we are all beginning to hope for the return of the cooler days of fall. (The keyword in that sentence is “er” on the word “cool.”) The warmth of the summer begins to get to us around this time – when we know we have many more weeks of hot temperatures ahead of us. And…while we might be thinking about the refreshment of the fall months, it is hard to believe…
Call and Response
One of my favorite parts of Anglican worship is the way that call and response is integrated into the way that we pray in our Sunday worship. Perhaps the most common place that we do this in Eucharistic worship is during the prayers of the people. The reader prays the petitions of the parish, and we respond with a particular phrase like “Lord, hear our prayer” or “Have mercy, Lord” or some other short response to each prayer. While we…
The Reminder of Celebration
This weekend, we celebrate the Fourth of July – the date of our nation’s independence from Britain. Within that celebration, we are reminded of the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. We will have the opportunity to hear speeches from elected officials and to reflect on the ways that our country has the makings of something truly wonderful. I say makings because we still have work to do when it comes to living into the full vision of what…
The Vulnerability Of The Other
It is never easy. You find yourself in a moment in which you need to tell someone something about yourself that, until this point, you have worked tirelessly to hide from the public. In fact, it has been that thing that kept you drowning in a sea of shame because you had been told that part of who you are is bad or sinful or wrong or sick or pathologic or some other equally demeaning and demoralizing word. Through years…
Juneteenth Reflections
Reflections on the Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death By Heidi Thomas, Co-Chair of Courageous Ground Task Force If you’re a mom, you know how it is. No matter what child calls out for their mother, your instinct is to respond, even if it’s a stranger’s child in the grocery store. A year ago, I heard a man cry out for his mother as the life was choked out of him with depraved indifference by someone sworn to protect and serve.…
Growing Edges and Shaving Cream: Loving at Chapel Rock
It was a bright, sunny day, and the excitement on campus was electric. Cars continued to arrive with families of all shapes and sizes. Some kids were already out playing games – from volleyball to 9-square to Gagaball. Others found a comfortable place on the lawn to catch up with friends and to enjoy the afternoon that was something of a Goldilocks day – not too hot, not too cold, but just right. The mountain air was different than where…
Love Notes to a Neighbor
On Sunday morning, I did my best to help us see the Trinity not as an abstract notion that seems only to confound us. Instead, I offered (I hope!) a vision of the Trinity that informs how we live into the beauty and the fullness of God’s grace and love being shared with us each and everyday. At the heart of the Trinity is the commitment to loving relationship within God’s self which then informs our own understanding of loving…
The Gift Economy of Pentecost
In 2016, I took a trip with some parishioners from Saint Michael’s and All Angels parish to Honduras to visit and work alongside a community that the parish had been supporting for well over ten years. Each year, a group of parishioners would gather supplies and money to go down to Honduras to work in community improvement projects, to provide some basic fluoride treatment for children’s teeth, and to host classes with students in the local Episcopal School. By the…
Living in the Wild: A Blessing to Creation
Originally written for the Diocese of Arizona’s E-pistle Newsletter on 20 May 2021 “Almighty and everlasting God, Creator of all things and giver of all life, let your blessing be upon this creation and grant that it may serve to your glory and the welfare of your people.” These are the opening lines of one of the prayers for the rogation procession on rogation days – a time that we have honored and prayed for the bounty of God’s…
A Living Church
Over the last several weeks, the Invite Council has encouraged our whole parish to find at least one ministry in the parish to make a commitment of time and talent through Belong Engage Believe. The ministries listed on the page are the ministries that have been part of our parish for a time. Because we are in a pandemic, the Invite Council created the resource using online technology so everyone could participate – whether you attend in-worship or you continue…
Updated In-person Worship Guidelines
To the saints at Church of the Epiphany-Tempe: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our savior Jesus Christ. I pray that you continue to practice a safety first approach as we continue to hope for the end of this pandemic! I have been heartened to see many of you return to in-person worship, and I look forward to seeing many more of you joining us for in-person worship as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Last…