Preparing for Worship - Gina Biddle. I have memories of reading today’s Gospel reading, John 1:1-14, as a child in Detroit. Someone gave me a small white Gideon Bible, and this verse inspired me repeatedly. My family did not attend church, but this verse was important...

Preparing for Worship - John Kelly, pastoral resident.   “And Mary remained with [Elizabeth] about three months and then returned to her home” (Luke 1:56 NRSV). At this point in Luke’s Gospel, not even two chapters into the action, so much has already unfolded...

Preparing for worship - Heather Mustain, associate pastor. Today is the third Sunday of Advent, the day we light the pink candle in our Advent wreath. Pink, or rose, is the liturgical color that symbolizes joy, and this Sunday is more formally known as “Gaudate”...

Preparing for Worship - Brianna Childs, pastoral resident. In the Ithaka Sunday School class last week we talked about liminal spaces in our lives. As we continue in this season of Advent, there is much to reflect upon as we wait. Richard Rohr describes these liminal...

Preparing for Worship - LeAnn Hampton.  Today (November 27) is the first Sunday of Advent, a time of preparation and waiting for the birth of Jesus. Waiting is difficult for most of us; in fact, I’ve never known anyone who lists waiting as a personality strength. We...

Preparing for Worship - Heather Mustain, associate pastor.   Today ends Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, a national campaign to draw attention to the problem and prevalence of hunger and homelessness in America. In partnership with Housing Forward and...

Preparing for Worship - Gina Biddle.   “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” which we sing today in worship, initially was a poem written by Thomas O. Chisholm in 1923 about God’s faithfulness over his lifetime. The lyrics reference Lamentations 3:22-23. I witnessed the...

Preparing for Worship - Doug Haney, associate pastor. Our Granny Haney lived in a small brick home around the corner from our house situated at the end of a dead-end street in Alpharetta, Georgia. To get to her house my siblings and I cut across the garden that...

Preparing for worship - Heather Mustain. The late Phyllis Tickle, in her book The Great Emergence, suggests that every 500 years the church has its own rummage sale, cleaning out old forms of spirituality and embarking on the process of finding new ones. Today we...

Preparing for Worship - Abbey Adcox. I have a complicated relationship with rest. Don’t get me wrong, I love curling up with a good book on a lazy Saturday morning or taking a nice cozy nap on Sunday afternoons. I love choosing to rest. Unfortunately, more often than...