Hypo 2024 seemed to be a bit more on the active side than previous years – every night Holy Trinity hosted right around 50 guests (sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less). There was great food, great music, sewing projects, games, fellowship, and lots of community care shown during the busy week thanks to our volunteers and donations.
Read MoreMatthew’s life was taken from him. Statistically, queer youth, adults, and especially trans women of color are some of the most at-risk populations. Remember, the Spirit assures us that we are never abandoned, even in the midst of the loss, pain, and sorrow that are part of life in this broken world. Queer people have always existed and have been made and created with God’s image.
Read MoreLove is the central ingredient of all relationships. But if God loves us for who we are, why do we tend to be our worst critics? In order to be in a loving relationship with others, we need to love ourselves first.
Read MoreYou have heard the expression "It feels like I have the world on my shoulders." Imagine having the world and heaven on your shoulders. That is what is going on for the Matthew community. Martin Luther knew the creeds, the scriptures and the feeling of faith-based pressure. Luther felt inadequate and unable to live up to God's expectations, a feeling probably very similar to Matthew's church members. Then he came to a realization…
Read MoreIn her recent sermon, Vicar Allison Vincent-Beckman explores the story of the two women who came to King Solomon in a state of hurt, looking for a solution. She attributes names and extrapolates stories by which to try to understand them better and thereby understand why they acted and reacted as they did. One woman is sanctified by her willingness to sacrifice while the other remains hurt and lost. But both are alone, failed by their community. It is a reminder that “we have a responsibility to speak up for the widow, the orphan, and the alien in our land.”
Read MoreREI (Racial Equity Initiative) member, Judith Baker shares two stories of the racism she witnessed in her life, growing up in Augusta, Georgia.
Read MoreThe roads through the atlas of our hearts are windy and rough as we navigate through difficult emotions. We first take a look at the journey itself and how we handle uncertainty, stress, and feeling overwhelmed. It takes human connection, Godly connection, and courage.
Read MoreActs hints at the uncertainty and fear the disciples felt after Jesus ascends to Heaven - what now? The world still looks the same and bad things still happen. It’s like the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series where we see him tired, afraid, and alone after the Empire has wiped out the Jedi and the light seems to be gone. We may feel that way, too. Surrounded by a world where sin seems to be overwhelming, staring up at the sky too, wondering where God is in all of this. The answer is found in our joint compassion and action.
Read MoreThis Lent we have been hearing a different story than the one we have known, a lot of hard truth about the White-centered narrative that we don’t even realized shapes our views and our actions. In our Lent of Liberation devotional, conversations and sermons, we’ve wrestled with the past and present injustices perpetrated against black Americans. This sermon takes a look at German theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gained a new perspective through the eyes of a black church and experience in Nazi Germany.
Read More"Race has been an issue for me in my life in all kinds of ways, and I have a perspective on what it’s like to be black in our country and what it’s like to be white…"
Read MoreWhite supremacy isn’t just those people who belong to the KKK, or say racial slurs, or outright say and believe that white people are superior… White supremacy is the centering of white people: our stories, our feelings, our perspectives, our well-being, our image, they all are the norm, the center, the measure. If Jesus is on the margins, and white supremacy creates and perpetuates the margins, then white supremacy separates me not only from my neighbor, but also from God.
Read MoreOn February 29th, Pastor Mike preached from a new Word in the World sermon location. This time, he was at Fort Reno Park, the highest natural point in the District of Columbia but a place of past wrongs toward the black community. It represents a time of reflection and recalibration of the way we think about history, both in the world around us and within ourselves, as we enter into the Lenten season and ask God to help direct us to think and be better.
Read MoreTake a New Year’s style inventory about your paths and destinations of faith. Think about the paths you have walked to bring you closer to God, to find Jesus in the world, and to deepen your faith experience here on earth over the past year. The sculpture “Homeless Jesus “ by Canadian sculpture Timothy Schmultz reminds us to view our neighbors differently, ourselves differently, and our lives differently as we journey onward.
Read MoreMay our Advent journey together this season and our life together as a church equip us to act towards others with hope and in the spirit of joy, peace and love. May we trust and find comfort that God is with us on this journey and in this difficult season. May we gather in hope, knowing that pain and suffering and fear are not the end of the story. Though the way is rough, God is close and our home in God is real.
Read MoreIn these tumultuous times, may we trust in God as we process our loss, upheaval, grief and pain. May we trust that God is present with us, working to make all things new. Let’s take time to listen and notice the signs of hope and God’s presence in the world and people around us: the beauty of the sunset, the vibrant colors of the leaves falling to the ground, the sound of children laughing in our neighborhood, the song of the birds outside our window.
Read MoreThe garden is the place of God’s creative activity. In the garden we come to appreciate not only the divine lifecycle of seed to fruit, but also the interdependence that animals play to plant life. In a western cosmogony, it is incorrect to assume humanity is the pinnacle of creation because of its placement in the completed garden. Rather, the culmination of the creative divine efforts is the Sabbath - the intentional resting with observation of the creative work.
Read MoreThe words we use to talk about food, or how we eat, are very important. Popular food terms include: carryout, fast-food or grab and go. Each of these terms or phrases offer a sense of “quickness” related to either way the food is prepared or how it will be consumed. But what happens when we slow down and return to the table to eat together?
Read MoreThe challenge is not to be complacent. Just because we are served and have our food does mean we get to sit back and enjoy it all to ourselves. We need to be reminded the food is not just for us. The calling therefore is to be motivated distributors of this divine food as often as possible. To be the ones who take down the walls that prevent others from getting enough to eat or the care they deserve.
Read MoreRest seems like a luxury that only a few can afford and it can even sometimes be seen as a shameful transgression in our go-go-go society where busyness and exhaustion are worn as badges of honor. But we’re told that rest is what Jesus instructs the disciples (and us) to do. Be Still and Know that I am God. This is our invitation and command from God…To stop and listen to the God we are called to serve to see what that God actually wants us to do and be in this place and time, to stop and trust in God instead of our own wisdom and guidance.
Read MoreMay we as a church joyfully keep walkin’ with Jesus, letting Jesus challenge and transform us to be reconciled people of faith, hope and love that shine forth in this world like a rainbow in the midst of the storm, assuring all that they are loved and that God’s Kingdom will come, and earth will be as heaven.
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