Tag Archives: Christianity

What do you hope for?

Posted on May 11, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Vote your life

Posted on May 4, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Singing to the Lord

Posted on April 27, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Identity

Posted on April 20, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Quiddity

Posted on April 6, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Mercy

Posted on February 24, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Faithful

Posted on February 10, 2016 by deborahmeister

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 →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pageant

Posted on December 30, 2015 by deborahmeister

There were angels everywhere. Also horses, cows, sheep, and shepherds. It was twenty minutes before the pageant, and our parish hall was teeming with excited children, posing with their halos, giving out hugs, munching on a sandwich or two. It … Continue reading →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Anticipation

Posted on December 23, 2015 by deborahmeister

Each year, a few weeks before Advent, the Advent calendars arrive in shops: cardboard images with twenty-five numbered doors, or wooden containers with numbered drawers; they help us count down the days from December 1st until Christmas Day. They build our … Continue reading →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Falconer

Posted on December 2, 2015 by deborahmeister

The naturalist Helen Macdonald’s memoir, H is for Hawk,  tells of a year in which Helen wrestled with the reality of her father’s death by attempting to tame a particularly fierce kind of hawk. Early in her time with the … Continue reading →

Posted in The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment