Dear Christ Church, Most Friday mornings I have a habit of pausing to read this quote about friendship. This comes from the book of Sirach, an ancient Hebrew collection of wise sayings: Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their […]
Friendship, Parish Retreat, and Basketball Read More »
Dear Christ Church, “Confession is discipleship.” This little sentence appears in one of my top ten books on the Christian life, Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Every single one of us knows the weight of guilt, the heavy heart, or the dull sense of frustration with our failure to live up to our own ideals, the beauty, truth,
Dear Christ Church, I’ve got a lot to tell you about this week, beginning with a reminder to arrive early this Sunday (if you normally attend the 11am service) for our Annual Parish Meeting at 10:30 am. And all you early birds who come to the 9am service, stick around afterwards as we share with you
Hodgepodge Friday! Read More »
Dear Christ Church, Yesterday was the feast day of St. Matthew. As we move deeper into our year-long sermon series through his gospel, I wanted to share a few details about this beloved apostle: Prior to following Jesus, Matthew was a tax collector who would have been a social outcast both to his employers (Romans)
The Feast of St. Matthew Read More »
Dear Christ Church, Each of the four gospels, since the 2nd century, has been associated with a different winged creature: a lion (Mark), a calf (Luke), an eagle (John), and a human (Matthew). The wings allude to angelic qualities (angels are “messengers,” an apt description of a gospel writer) and the type of creature hints
The Gospel of Matthew Read More »
Brian Wallace will be consecrated as Suffragan Bishop this Saturday, at 9am Central. You can watch the Consecration service livestream here. This week’s guest post is by Christ Church parishioner Ann Cushman, one of the members of our Missions Team. Dear Christ Church, When I attended my first Abara Border Encounter, a dormant seed deep down
Abara Border Encounter Read More »
Dear Christ Church, It’s been so good to enjoy a few cooler mornings recently in Austin as the signs of Fall slowly start to show themselves. At the same time, even as the scorching heat begins to wane just a bit, I already miss the somewhat slower pace of summer. Like some of you, my
Vocation and Living with Margin Read More »
Dear Christ Church, We yearn for true connection and community. We need it and . . . it costs us. You’ve heard the axioms: “nothing worth having or doing comes easy” or “no pain, no gain” or the wisdom of Jesus that tells us “unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it remains
This week’s guest post is written by Beau Pruitt, Director of Student Ministries Dear Christ Church, Some of you may be familiar with the Latin phrase, Ora et labora, as made famous by St. Benedict of Nursia from the late 5th/early 6th century. This phrase and the spiritual tradition it connotes has developed and expanded in
Dear Christ Church, On any given Sunday, you may have noticed the sounds of rustling and bustling, coos and cries of children in the sanctuary. We’re delighted to be a church with so many little ones. From infants to elementary, it’s our desire to care for the children of our parish and nurture them in
Children’s Ministry Update Read More »
