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.  

Before I moved to Texas and had lived there for several years, I knew almost nothing about Juneteenth. I am sad and embarrassed to admit this; and also must acknowledge that not much was said or taught in wider – or white – culture until recent years. Power does not often surrender itself without insistence. 

Even though Portland’s Pride Parade is in July this year, June is still internationally recognized as Pride Month. During Pride, queer folk are celebrated as beloved and beautiful, queer voices are lifted up and amplified, queer culture is delighted and rejoiced over, and queer rights are championed. While these are year-round commitments for many, Pride is a time set aside for joy and solidarity to be turned up by all LGBTQ+ persons.   

From Mary Meyers. Our lives are intricately interwoven. Each person, who they are and what they bring to our life together is an integral part of the design we are weaving. Diversity enhances the intensity and beauty, the wonder and awe in what we are able to weave together. Let us come together, welcoming one another, listening deeply to one another, encouraging and challenging one another and blessing one another that we might fully live into the call upon our lives, individually and communally.

I want to thank all of the people of St. Michael & All Angels for your very warm welcome this past Sunday. It was a day infused with joy, gratitude and hope as we marked the beginning of our journey together as parish and rector.

Thursday is the Feast of the Ascension in the liturgical year. On this day the church remembers an important truth of our story: after death and after resurrection, life goes on–forever changed.

I am thrilled to be joining St. Michael & All Angels, where the parish’s broad social justice commitments, deep lay leadership and involvement, and rich legacy of music and worship in the traditions of The Episcopal Church portend a wonderful new season of mutual ministry, post-pandemic rekindling, and new adventures together into new frontiers.