Preparing for Worship - Leigh Curl, pastoral resident.  As of today, it feels like we have been in Lent for 368 days. Lent last year began on February 26, 2020, and then lockdown for COVID began about seventeen days later. I saw a tweet just before Easter last year...

Preparing for Worship - Jenna Sullivan, pastoral resident.  What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul? This rhetorical question grounds us in our season of Lent. We ask ourselves again and again, what love is this?...

Preparing for Worship - Leanna Coyle-Carr, pastoral resident.  Pre-pandemic, St. Valentine’s Day was a day for greeting cards, fancy dinners, cut flowers and weighty expectations. Quarantine, however, makes a lot of that simply out of the question. Even those of us...

Preparing for Worship - Doug Haney, associate pastor.  On the first Sunday of every month at Wilshire, we celebrate communion. In the Baptist church of my childhood in Alpharetta, Georgia, this was always on Sunday evening and never more than once per quarter. Looking...

Preparing for Worship - Heather Mustain, associate pastor.  Grace. Anyone else in need of a little grace these days? Reading the title, “Amazing Grace! How Sweet the Sound,” in and of itself is a healing balm to my soul; the melodious sonnet not need even to be sung....

Preparing for Worship - Darren DeMent, associate pastor.  I have a lot of songs in my iTunes library. So many, in fact, that I often forget what songs are even in there. So, occasionally I just set the player to shuffle and enjoy the surprise that comes when some...

Preparing for Worship - Jenna Sullivan, pastoral resident.  O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away...Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. The opening words of Psalm 139 take my...

Preparing for Worship - Ashley Robinson, pastoral resident.  If I had to guess, I would estimate that I have been baptized no less than 50 times in my life. Growing up as a pastor’s kid, playing baptism was one of the favorite pastimes in our household. My brother and...

Preparing for Worship - George Mason, senior pastor. It was a big hit for Frank Sinatra, and it’s been recorded by Jimmy Durante, Peggy Lee, Willie Nelson and innumerable others. For my money, though, the inimitable Billie Holiday sang it best: I’ll be seeing you/ In...

Preparing for Worship - Leigh Curl, pastoral resident.  A couple of weeks ago, I attended my third ordination during coronavirus. As you can imagine, it looked a little different than a typical ordination might. The ordination was outdoors under a picnic shelter. Only...