Category Archives: The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister

What do you hope for?

Last weekend, our parish set up an enormous graffiti-board at a festival called Flowermart  that we knew was going to draw a couple thousand people. (Jim Quigley blogged about the idea here: http://stalbansdc.org/the-daily-cup/from-bones-to-hope/.) What happened was pretty magical: People of all ages … Continue reading

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Vote your life

Last night was a tough evening for me. One of our major political parties pretty much handed the nomination to a racist bigot, many of whose ideas would involve significant injury to groups of people that the Bible commands us … Continue reading

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Singing to the Lord

Last weekend, I went with a group of parishioners to Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York. The monastery is home to a community of Episcopalian monks. (This confuses some people, since the one thing everyone remembers from studying … Continue reading

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Identity

Last Sunday, I preached a sermon about our identity. In it, I found myself wondering at how complex we are — each of us an interplay between our biology and our circumstances, our race, ethnicity, experiences, choices, unconscious impulses, relationships. … Continue reading

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Quiddity

Last week, Jim Quigley (who writes this blog on Mondays) came into my office, face lit up like Christmas, and said, “You’ve got to come see the art in the basement!” Now, in his former life, Jim was a painter … Continue reading

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Almost-spring

I woke this morning to the wind, wuthering around my home. It does that, this time of year: howls like a lost soul, or like something mighty that is struggling to break into the world. It drives me out onto … Continue reading

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Mercy

Almost any day of the week, you can find people streaming through the doors of my church and heading, not toward the sanctuary, but toward the basement. That basement is the home of the Opportunity Shop, a thrift shop that … Continue reading

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The Faithful

Visiting a nursing home is a good way to get in touch with your mortality. Each of the three parishes I have served has maintained a relationship with at least one such home, and that’s why I have been thinking, this … Continue reading

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Presentation

Yesterday was the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus, which recalls the day when Our Redeemer was himself redeemed. You see, it was the custom, back in the days when the Temple still stood in Jerusalem, that every firstborn male, … Continue reading

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Prayer

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with … Continue reading

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