Welcome to St. Alban’s Church! Every Sunday, and most days in between, people gather in this place to worship, to learn, to grow, to share the joys and struggles of our lives, and to seek God’s grace in the midst of our lives. We do not come because we have it all figured out, but because we are seeking light on the way. We come as we are and welcome one another.
Easier Said Than Done
“Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” Or so we were advised in this past Sunday’s passage from 1st Peter (5:7). A parishioner asked me this week what this looks like in real life. How do we hand over our worries and fears to God, especially the more...
The Rest is Silence
"Speak only to improve on the silence." Such is the advice frequently given to me by one of my colleagues in Godly Play, the method of spiritual guidance we use with our kids here at St. Alban’s.* If only I could heed it more often. We know from Ecclesiastes (3:7) that there is “a...
Found in Translation
On Sunday I will celebrate the Eucharist in Spanish for the first time with our San Albano congregation. On one level, this isn’t so scary. While I’m not fluent by any means, I’ve been studying Spanish on my own for the last couple of years. I practice a little every day; I...
Leaving Shore
How do we imagine God, and where do we get our images? These were some of the questions the Rite 13 youth group, their leaders and I explored together last weekend at Rehoboth in between beach trips, mini golf games and vegetable-less meals. We talked about our images for God and what it might...
The Rising
I surprised a few folks recently by confessing Bruce Springsteen as one of my favorite theologians. Maybe it’s because I’m an honorary Jersey Girl. (Fourteen years in the Garden State qualifies me, I think.) Or maybe it’s because I find the dull tone of most theology to be at...
Practicing Resurrection
I think I’m finally ready to write about forgiveness. Some things I can only see this side of Easter. As you may know, my Lenten book this year was Miroslav Volf’s Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. Like many in the book group who tackled it, I found...
Not Voyaging Alone
I thought I’d have more to say about forgiveness by now. I’m most of the way through the book I chose from among this year’s Lenten reading groups – Miroslav Volf’s Free of Charge. But in contemplating God’s approach to our sin this morning, I find myself less...
Now Quit Your Care
It’s a bit bouncy for Lent, isn’t it? Our sequence hymn, that is – the one between the second reading and the Gospel in our later Sunday services. We’ve been working our way through Hymn 145 one verse at a time these first five weeks of Lent. Both the tune and the words...
Learning to Give
I thought I was reading a book on forgiveness. I suspect I still am; we just haven’t gotten there yet. You see, I just started one of the books chosen for our parish’s Lenten Reading Groups – Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace by Miroslav Volf...