One of my most valuable lessons from my Sabbatical last summer wherein which I got to walk the Camino across northern Spain, is the critical importance of what I’ve come to call “despair breaks.” A despair break allows a bit of a pause before a breakdown when one is overwhelmed; it takes up space andContinue reading “The Next Right Step”
Category Archives: Sermons
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer
One of my very favorite phrases in this world is, “More is caught than taught.” I first learned it when I was a preschool teacher, and it consistently rang true. If I sat crisscross-applesauce on the carpet ready for Circle Time with my hands in my lap, soon the kids would follow. If IContinue reading “Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer”
Do Not Leave Us Comfortless
As a kid, I was sort of always sick. I can tell the big stories, like how one year when decorating a live Christmas tree with my family, I stopped breathing and rushed to the hospital. And the boring stories like shortly having to go every Saturday morning to get three different allergy shots everyContinue reading “Do Not Leave Us Comfortless”
God Restores Our Souls
This sermon can be listened to here: God Restores Our Souls Like many of you, I find myself standing firmly in the Episcopal tradition not because of, but despite much my early religious training. While my religious heritage gave me things that I value like a deep love and appreciation for communion, scripture, and baptism,Continue reading “God Restores Our Souls”
Faith Like Mary
This sermon can be listened to here: Faith Like Mary Three days ago, while we gathered in this church to pray the Solemn Collects and remember Christ’s brutal death on Good Friday, there rose tension and violence in the Old City of Jerusalem. Political unrest is not unknown on that holy land, but this weekendContinue reading “Faith Like Mary”
In the Abyss
Over the past three years, I’ve found myself saying, “It can’t get much worse than this” about things happening in our world. A global pandemic, cataclysmic weather events, and violence that seems be the ground on which our society stands; I’ve been shocked again and again at how suffering seems to never end, as ifContinue reading “In the Abyss”
Grief in Action
“In the midst of life we are in death; from whom can we seek help?” This is the beginning line of one of the optional anthems in an Episcopal funeral; it’s usually passed over for the more hopeful “I am Resurrection and I am Life, says the Lord” anthem which is pulled largely fromContinue reading “Grief in Action”
Conversion of Love
This sermon can be listened to here: Conversion of Love Once while driving from Texas to the East Coast, I drove past a large billboard with a black background and big, bold white letters that read, “‘For God so loved the world.’ – John 3:16” and then in an ominous red font below it read,Continue reading “Conversion of Love”
The Blessing of Changed Plans
My first Epiphany here at Christ Church, I took home the paper instructions and blue chalk and while I don’t remember if it was me or Father Steve who preached that night, I do remember how the chalk crumbled slightly as I with every bit of prayerful intention I could marked C + M +Continue reading “The Blessing of Changed Plans”
The Practice of Christmas
The memory for me is still visceral. I remember the cool, smooth surface of the standard issue junior-high chair with its metal legs and deep blue seat. I remember exactly where I sat, one-third the way down the third row of the tiered band room; I remember the daily unpacking of my standard issue clarinetContinue reading “The Practice of Christmas”
Becca Kello 