Weekly Reflections
Weekly Reflection-3/21/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Lynne Dombrowski, Junior Warden
Compassion: Learning to Love Our Neighbors
Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters …
Read More »Weekly-Reflection-3/14/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
I Love Daylight Saving Time!!!!
I expect I am in the great minority, but I love Daylight Saving Time. I love the Sunday we "lose" and hour of sleep. It's almost difficult for me to fall asleep on Saturday because I delight in the change that is coming (and perhaps a bit because I am trying to go to bed an hour earlier!!!)
What I love is…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 3/7/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kathy Guin, Assisting Priest
What Really Matters Most to You?
What really matters most to you? I have been thinking of this question as I have spoken with others at St. Mary's, who are deeply reflecting on their lives during this powerful season of Lent. I am seeing a sense of awe and wonder as they look at those deep places in their lives of meaning…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 2/14/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: David Crosson, Co-chair Justice Ministries
The Kingdom of God is Like a Cat's Cradle?
Paul pictures the church as a human body in which every member has its own purpose, but each is interdependent with all others. (1 Corinthians, 12:12-26) Author Kurt Vonnegut offers the more secular metaphor of a cat's cradle, a complex yet subtle web of human interconnecti…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 2/2/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kira Austin-Young
Celebrating Candlemas
This week holds one of my favorite lesser-known and observed Holy Days of the Church - the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, understandably shortened to the Feast of the Presentation - on February 2nd. It is a day that is rich with both religious and cultural meaning due to it fa…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 1/24/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Youth Minister
SMV Youth Gather to End the Exception
Immediately after the end of the Civil War, Congress and the states ratified the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Sadly, the 13th Amendment also included an exception to abolition, "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Very quickly, b…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 1/11/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Some Other Day?
I will be honest with you; I am not a big fan of rain. My preferred climate is dry, warm but not hot, in which an abundance of outdoor activities can be engaged in. The rain gets in the way of my outdoor exercise routine and in general gives me a feeling of malaise.
The rain these last cou…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 1/4/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Elizabeth Falcon, Vestry Member
As we welcome 2023, I'm struck by a familiar feeling of disbelief at how quickly the past year flew by. In the year to come, I long to do a better job of being present and thankful for every moment before it passes me by. All of it. The exquisite moments, the excruciating moments, and especially those subtle in-between moment…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 12/8/2022
St. Mary's Reflection:Rebekah Hays Estera
Reflections of Baking for the Feast of Sankta Lucia
Photo on left - *A rosemalled tray of lussekatter - (my kid always makes a cat and sneaks it into the bunch)
Hi, I'm Rebekah Hays Estera. I'm a postulant preparing for the vocational diaconate from SEA Episcopal, San Bruno, and completing my Mentored Experiential Learning (sometimes c…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 12/21/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
Christmas is Nigh!!
You would think that, as a clergy person, Christmas would not take me by surprise. Sure, I have deeply enjoyed celebrating Advent each Sunday morning in the unique and beautiful we do each year. My Christmas shopping, however, is woefully behind schedule! Perhaps I will give Epiphany gifts instead, though I am…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 11/17/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Russell Fudge, Vestry Member
A Life in Faith Community
When someone asks me why I love St. Mary's, memories of life in a faith community come to mind. In this Reflection I am going to try to explain how my past leads to my hopes for the St. Mary's of the future.
My brother Don moved back into the community where we grew up several years ago. He recently told m…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 10/18/22
Weekly Reflection - Hope - Georgia Burke Lu
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Lately I've been thinking about hope, which seems in awfully…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 9/19/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Geogene Keeler, Vestry Member
Prayers
When I learned that my future grandchild had a problem with his heart three months before he was born, I placed him on St. Mary's prayer list. The small weekday 7am SMV service I attended prayed up a storm. When he was one day old, he received his first heart pacer. We continued to pray for that first scary year. Toda…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 8/18/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Lynne Dombrowski, Vestry Member
"It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. . . . "
Every Sunday, we hear these words as part of the Great Thanksgiving during Holy Communion, and we proclaim "Thanks be to God" many times throughout the service. I've been thinking a lot late…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 6/23/2022
St. Mary's Weekly Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
The Times They Are a-Changin' Bob Dylan
"The only constant in this world is change." While I don't know who said this pithy phrase originally, it is certainly true for us at St. Mary's today. We are transitioning to our summer schedule, having completed another fabulous program year. For the first time in over two years, …
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 6/14/2022
St. Mary's Weekly Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
The End of an Era: Manny Gabiana
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1
This Sunday, St. Mary's celebrates a beautiful era in our common life with the retirement of our beloved and longstanding Buildings and Grounds Keeper, Manny Gabiana. What a journey it has been!
I…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 6/8/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Nancy Clark, Sunday School Director
Thank you Wonderful Sunday School Teachers!
It's June. Have you been to any graduations? Nursery school, middle school, high school, college, graduate school? The answer is probably yes and if not this year, certainly many many in years past.....except for those Covid pandemic years when pomp and circumstance ceased and Zoo…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 6/1/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister
Confirmation
"Confirmation is the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop." -The Catechism, BCP p.860
This Saturday, seven youth from St. Mary's will formally commit themselves to Christ and receive a laying …
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 5/4/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister
St. Mary's Parish Fair This Saturday
What I have heard most frequently from members of St. Mary's is that what they have missed the most during the pandemic was the experience of community: being together, worshiping together, learning together, taking walks together, singing together, serving together, eating togethe…
Read More »Weekly-Reflection-4/25/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: David Crosson, Coordinator,
St. Mary's Stephen Ministries
If Jesus Asked for a Stephen Minister, So Can You
Photo: Garden of Gethsemane, 2017
Wait a minute! Jesus needed a Stephen Minister? Where is that in scripture?
Try Matthew (26: 36-46): Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he . . . said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; r…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 4/11/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
An Invitation to an Easter Journey
One of the great gifts of the Christian calendar is the rhythm of returning, year after year, to the life of Jesus amidst our daily lives. One of the most ancient and profound opportunities is to walk the way of the Cross with Christ and then discover the empty tomb. This ancient journey has been know…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 4/6/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
The Cracks in the Sidewalk Allow the City to Breathe
This past Sunday we experienced a candlelight (and mobile/flashlight) worship service. This was not due to any intentional spiritual intention, but rather the surprising discovery that our lighting system had crashed. Despite our best efforts for fix the problem, the lights never…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 3/29/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Marla Perkins, Music Associate
A Lenten Cycle
This Lent I have given up my car. I bicycle mainly, walk, and use transit with a few necessary exceptions. While allied with goals of weight loss and concrete environmental action, this practice also began alongside a deeply needed mind reset. Vacation was neither an option nor a solution, these needs had to be me…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 3/23/2022
May you find here, by the Grace of God, that which fills your soul - Nancy Clothier
When I began attending St. Mary's I was going through some personal difficulties. When I walked into the courtyard, there was a kiosk with information posted on events happening in the parish. On one of the notes was the saying, "May you find here by the grace of God, that which feeds your soul." T…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 3/15/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Natalie Hala, Liturgist and Verger
All That They Carried: Parables of Resolve
Rose faced the unimaginable heartbreak of the impending sale of her 9 year old daughter Ashley. Enslaved on a South Carolina plantation in the 1850's, Rose packed a cotton bag for Ashley with a few precious items as tokens of love (a braid of her hair) and essentials for her sur…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 3/8/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister
In Celebration of International Women's Day
I have been incredibly blessed to have my life filled with strong, loving women. As a boy, I grew up as the only boy on my mom's side of the family: she had two sisters, they all had girls, and I have two older sisters. I am lucky to have grown up in a household where femini…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 3/1/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister
On Wednesday Christians begin the 40-day journey of Lent with the observance of Ash Wednesday. We start by journeying with Jesus into the wilderness at the start of his ministry, and we end Lent by journeying with him into Jerusalem, to the cross, and to the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. Of course, any journey require…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 2/22/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Gloria Galindo, Senior Warden
When I first came to St. Mary's some 12 years ago I was unexpectedly made to feel right at home. I think it was a case of the right place at the right time, and, God taking care of me. Practicing my faith involves taking action. That action for me is getting involved with the church community. Just as I was thinking I wanted to …
Read More »Weekly Reflection 2/14/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Nancy Clark, Sunday School Director
Valentine's Day
February 14, Valentine's Day, known in pre-secular times as St. Valentine's Day, is prime time for greeting card companies and florists. Last year, in pandemic times, a total of 152 million roses, red being the preferred color, were sold in the U.S. and somewhere in the neighborhood of 145 million cards were…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 2/8/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
Making the Holy Sausage: Annual Meeting 2022
"...and to take your share in the councils of the Church." Ordination of a Priest, BCP pg. 531
I have always found the line above interesting. In my ordination vows to the priesthood, during the examination, the role of a priest is articulated. Along with being a pastor, priest, and teacher, …
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 2/2/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Natalie Hala, Liturgist and Verger
Touching Eternity
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we see face to face. Now I know in part, then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."
(Corinthians 13:12)
God has extended an open invitation to us with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Christmas Day and its unfolding in space two da…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 1/26/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson - One Body, Many Parts
Last week we announced the 2022 vestry candidate slate and I have been delighted by the outpouring of enthusiastic support for the slate (if you haven't seen it yet, it can be found HERE). I received several emails about how talented and committed the slate members are, and several St. Mary people also shared…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 1/20/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Eric Choate, Director of Music
My New Year's resolution is to take more breaks and go on more walks. As a Protestant from the Midwest, I have a heavy-duty complex about work ethic and guilt. I have trouble unwinding at the end of the day, knowing that there are still emails to return, music to plan, music to learn, and a long list of administrative tasks. It…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 1/13/2022
St. Mary's Reflection: Mike Stafford, Interim Associate Minister
This week we celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Just like us, Dr. King was a follower of Jesus, and in response to the love and grace of Christ, he looked around himself and saw the horrific and destructive toll that systemic racism was taking on the black communities around him. He…
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