Category: Newsletter

This week, Mother Liz reflects on Paul’s challenging words about the cross as “the power of God,” especially amid violence, injustice, and fear in our own time. She wrestles with what faithful discipleship looks like when state power abuses the vulnerable and speaking truth carries real risk. The message of the cross, she reminds us, calls us to costly solidarity, mercy, and nonviolent love — not comfort or safety. Yet in that “foolishness,” we discover God’s strength: life-giving grace found in community, courage, and small acts of faithful love that sustain us when we are afraid or weary.

This week, Mother Liz shares a prayer she offered at an interfaith healing service marking the first anniversary of last year’s presidential inauguration. Naming the grief, fear, and exhaustion many feel, the prayer holds before God those most harmed in these perilous times—immigrants and asylum seekers, people losing access to basic necessities, trans siblings, children and elders, and our wounded earth. With honesty and hope, Mother Liz calls us to renew our commitment to justice, to honor God’s image in every person, and to let even our flickering lights shine with courage, compassion, and love.

This week, Mother Liz shares a firsthand account from Linda Brandt, a former seminarian at Ascension now in Minnesota, describing the intense community response to ongoing ICE raids there. Her message, shared with permission, highlights widespread protest, mutual aid, and the emotional toll on neighborhoods where ICE activity has become a constant presence. Despite aggressive tactics and fear, Linda urges continued visible support, compassion, and solidarity. The rector invites the parish to keep Linda and all those affected in prayer, and to “keep showing up” in love and support for all persons.

This week, Mother Liz reflects on the Epiphany story’s blend of wonder and peril: the Magi’s awe-filled journey guided by a star, set against Herod’s fear-driven violence. She connects this ancient “realpolitik” to our own moment, naming contemporary acts of state violence and the ongoing harm to immigrant communities. Epiphany’s revealing light exposes both the world’s cruelty and God’s vulnerable, self-giving love. In that light, we are asked to choose what kind of power claims our allegiance—and to seek courage, compassion, and solidarity with our most vulnerable neighbors as we build beloved community together.

This week, Father Ed reflects on the growing influence of Christian nationalism and contrasts it with the gospel’s vision of God’s reign. Drawing on the story of the Magi and the fear their question provokes, he explores the tension between worldly power and God’s alternative politics—rooted in justice, equity, healing, and mutual service. God’s reign, he reminds us, is not about enforcing a religion, but about offering a better way of being human. As we enter this season together, Fr. Ed invites us to notice where that liberating vision is already emerging among us.

This week, the rector reflects on Advent’s invitation to hope when circumstances feel bleak or overwhelming. Drawing on Isaiah’s story of King Ahaz and Matthew’s account of Joseph, she explores the tension between realism and trust—between protecting ourselves from disappointment and daring to imagine what God might do. These texts challenge us to notice where cynicism or caution keeps us from hope, and to consider the risks of faithful dreaming. Advent asks whether we can trust that God is truly with us, even in the messiness and brokenness of our world.

This week, Mother Liz reflects on Advent hope through lucille clifton’s poem “john,” imagining John the Baptist speaking fierce solidarity from prison. As John waits in confinement and questions whether Jesus is the one to come, we are invited to consider how hope endures when circumstances narrow and enthusiasm fades. The poem and gospel call us to acts of connection and care, even with little to give, and to trust the holy mystery out of which light emerges. Advent becomes a season of waiting, watching, and faithful love — expecting “somebody bigger than me coming.”

This Sunday we welcome the Rev. Richard Witt, executive director of Rural and Migrant Ministry, as our preacher and forum leader. For 40 years, RMM has created hope, justice, and empowerment with farm working and rural families in New York by building community and developing leaders through advocacy, education and the arts. They are vitally involved in seeking justice for immigrants in these days. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear more about RMM’s work and how we can support and stand in solidarity with them.

In this week’s newsletter, Mother Liz shares a Thanksgiving reflection centered on a prayer from Diana Butler Bass’s Grateful: The Subversive Power of Giving Thanks. In times marked by uncertainty and division, the prayer calls us to choose gratitude deliberately—to recognize life, the earth, and one another as gifts of God’s love. Around our tables, we are invited to resist fear and anger, to keep love at the center, and to live in “a circle of gratitude.” May this Thanksgiving strengthen us in grace, generosity, and thanksgiving that transforms.

This week, Mother Liz writes on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, honoring the lives of transgender people lost to hatred and violence and calling us to build a world where all genders are celebrated as reflections of God’s boundless creativity. She shares a moving prayer from the Corrymeela Community that gives thanks for the diversity of human identity and laments the harm done through fear and division. Together, we pray for courage to protect every person’s dignity, to live authentically, and to love in the fullness of Christ.