I am very excited to share that St. MIchael & All Angels is hiring! We are prayerfully looking for a Missioner for Youth (20 hours/wk), to walk with youth, families and leaders in reinvigorating and growing our Episcopal Youth Community at St. Michael’s.

Kick-off Sunday was wonderful! It was so great to begin the fall season with you, to revel in the exquisite music of our St. Michael Singers, and to move together into new rhythms of worship, fellowship and service that come with the changing season.
Now, buckle up. The next few weeks are going to be packed with good stuff! We will celebrate important milestones to honor the parish’s rich history and look ahead to God’s future for us.

It was so great to begin the Fall season with you, to revel in the exquisite music of our St. Michael Singers, and to move together into new rhythms of worship, fellowship and service that come with the changing season.

You might recognize the Prayers of the People said each time we gather for Eucharist. Often these are prayers that use a prepared form from the Book of Common Prayer or another resource. Lately, they’ve been lovingly composed by members of the community.

Our communal gathering, centered in common prayer, makes space to lift up church teaching and theological tradition. We read from Scripture, hear a sermon, and say the Nicene Creed.

When I found The Episcopal Church, my immediate impression was quite the opposite to prior experiences of church. I found a well-structured order of worship together, which initially seemed to minimize individual preferences; and throughout the community there was a generous freedom in terms of individual thought and expression of self.

Much of the time, we don’t read directly from The Book of Common Prayer—like, from the actual book—most Sundays at St. Michael’s. You probably see it every week, peeking over the pew racks in back of each row, right next to hymnals and miscellaneous information cards.

A word we say quite a lot around church is the word amen. It shows up at the end of collects, acclamations, petitions and prayers throughout our liturgies.

There is a word we churchy types often use – a shorthand, if you will – to describe the forms, patterns, and traditions held together in the ways we worship together.  It is the word Liturgy.

It has been a couple of weeks now since our last official “meetup,” and I continue to process all I learned from those whom I encountered, and what I witnessed, and what I heard in those wonderful times together.