“A Cloud of Witnesses” is the theme for an exhibition of the work of the artists of Saint Paul’s that will be held on All Saints’ Day, Saturday November 1, from 4:00-6:00.  Saint Paul’s congregation is unusual for its high percentage of visual artists.  Lee Weaver, Polly Lieberman and Susan Abrahamson have been art teachers for years.  Chuck Vargason was a fine arts major in college and Shirley Miller is a well-known local pen and ink artist. Continued

We will be offering assistance to the citizens of our  area, particularly those on a fixed or limited income with lowering their electric bills this winter.

  St. Paul’s will send out members to homes and replace free of charge the older incandescent light bulbs with the newer compact fluorescent light bulbs. These newer light bulbs use 75% less energy, last 10 times longer, and help reduce carbon emissions into the ozone by using less electricity. The average reduction or savings on an electric bill during the winter months to a household during the winter season is $100.00. Continued

“…..as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.”  I Thessalonians 2:1-8

 “If you think it is hot on this bus, what do you think it is like in Hell?” This was a Sunday school teacher’s response to our whining about sitting on a hot bus for our Sunday school class. My initial response was to tell the Sunday school teacher “get me the Hell off the bus!” Continued

What happens at a Confirmation Service?

On November 16 at 4:00, Saint Paul’s will host our regional Confirmation Service.  Confirmation is one of the Church’s lesser sacraments, in which Christian reaffirm the promises made in Baptism and receive the strengthening gift of the Holy Spirit.  The word “confirmation” comes from the Latin for “to strengthen.” Continued

“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.”  Matthew 25:14

When I was a middle school student, one of the highlights of the year was the Spring Talent Show.  I participated a few times, singing and playing the guitar.  Some of my friends would dance or put on skits.  As we clapped for one another in the darkened cafeteria, we were discovering something important: there were an awful lot of talented people all around us everyday.  We had received remarkable gifts. Continued

“I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me, that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me.”  Isaiah 45:5-6

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Every even numbered year,” said John McCain back in 2006, “politicans go around and say, ‘This is the most important election in history.”  At last count, three of the contenders in this year’s election have fulfilled his prophecy, including his current rival Barack Obama, who at least had the wit to add, “not just because I’m running.”  Continued

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment”  St. Matthew 22:11

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I have breakfast most weekday mornings in the refectory at Saint James with Marc Batson, our Dean of Students.  At 7:45 each morning, he and I both push away from the breakfast table.  I have to make sure that the sacristans have everything prepared for the morning chapel service, and (as he puts it), he is going on “skirt patrol.”  Continued

“What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?  When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?”  Isaiah 5:4

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

On Friday afternoon, I dug up some of the sweet potato plants in my garden on the hill.  With the arrival of these colder nights, they aren’t likely to do much more growing, and I know that the frost will turn them black.  I made what seemed to be a sensible decision back in May when I bought 72 slips at the Southern States.  But man, that’s a lot of sweet potatoes.  Continued

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

As students, myself and several faculty members gathered around the flagpole on Wednesday morning in front of Williamsport High School for the annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes “Meet at the Flagpole” we eventually got to the question, “What is your favorite verse in the Bible?” Continued