Weekly Reflections
Weekly Reflection - 9/20/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kira Austin-Young
Ministry of the Baptized
In the Catechism of the Episcopal Church, found towards the end of the Book of Common Prayer, the answer to the question "Who are the ministers of the Church?" is "The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons." (BCP pg 855) Lay (i.e., non-ordained) people are not listed first by…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 9/12/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
Oh What a Mess!! Grace in all Life's Circumstances
'Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'
…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 8-21-23
Amy Nachman, Vestry Member
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and …
Read More »Weekly-Reflection - 6/8/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kira Austin-Young
A Reflection on Pride
My first year at Pride as an Episcopal priest, I wondered whether I should even be there, if my presence has an official religious person mattered. After all, every June my social media feeds were full of my colleagues at Pride festivals, marching in parades, and bedecked in rainbow paraphernalia. Though my chu…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 6/1/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
"The Extraordinary in Ordinary Time"
He also said, 'The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. Mark 4:26-28
Welcome…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 5/26/2023
Mission Trip to NMS
"We cannot change global injustice today if we isolate ourselves ... in places that are safe and removed and disconnected. To change the world, we are each going to have to find ways to get closer to people who ... are living on the margins of society. It's actually in proximity to the poor that we hear things that we won't otherwise hear, that we'll see things…
Read More »Weekly-Reflection - 5/16/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Elizabeth Falcon, Vestry Member
"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us." Ephesians 5:1-2
Today, as I'm writing this, it is Mother's Day. All day, I've been reflecting on how beautifully faith and motherhood are often intertwined. I use the word "motherhood" to mean any mother-like figure, recognizing that it…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 5/10/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kira Austin-Young - Mother's Day
This approaching Sunday, May 14th, is not only the Sixth Sunday of Easter but also Mother's Day. Different churches take varying approaches to observing Mother's Day, knowing that, in many parts of the country, their pews will be full of dutiful children who attend services with their mother before taking her out to …
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 5/3/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Matt Spitzer, Vestry Member
Our recovery from, or evolution due to, the pandemic continues at a varied pace across all aspects of our lives. On Saturday evening, an anonymous benefactor generously provided a dinner for the St. Mary's community of Young Professionals, which took place in the Parish Hall. It was a joyous occasion, with twenty-one people in att…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 4/26/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Eric Choate, Director of Music
The Choral Mass is one of the Church's greatest gifts to the world. There are five movements--Kyrie, Gloria in excelsis, Credo, Sanctus & Benedictus, and Agnus Dei--which we sing every week because they are central to our faith and obligatory to the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy.
This text is the basis of thousands upon…
Read More »Weekly Reflection - 4/11/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. Kira Austin-Young, Associate Rector
A Guide to Observing The Great Fifty Days of Easter
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! After forty days of Lent and the intensity of Holy Week, we celebrate Easter Sunday, the culmination of the Christian liturgical calendar joyously with its lilies, brass band, and shouts of "Alleluia!" Collectively, we observe…
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- 4/4/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: The Rev. David Erickson
Holy Week: The Journey with Jesus through the Cross to the Empty Tomb
Jesus invites us to be his disciples and follow him. One of the greatest ritual experiences we have in following Jesus liturgically is through Holy Week. Holy Week marks the culmination of the Lenten season and the preparation for Easter Sunday. It is a time of deep …
Read More »Weekly-Reflection-3/29/2023
St. Mary's Reflection: Natalie Hala, Parish Liturgist
A "Cook's Tour" of Human Evil and the Power of Language
"But this is your hour, and the power of darkness reigns." (Luke 22:53)
As we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week, when we will once again hear the Passion narrative playing out in the full brutality of what happens when human collective darkness is cut loose and is allowed t…
Read More »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 - 1/4/2023
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 - 10/18/2022
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 - 3/8/2022
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 »
