From the category archives:

Reflections on the Life of Faith

Thumbnail image for Please Don’t Ask Me if I’m Over it Yet

Please Don’t Ask Me if I’m Over it Yet

December 21, 2012

In the face of grief and pain, we understandably want to help those who are hurting. But grief can’t simply be “fixed,” and often our attempts to fill the space with words that we think are helpful cause even more pain. In the following poem, a mother reminds us of what not to ask or [...]

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Prayers for Sandy Hook

December 18, 2012

In the wake of the unspeakable tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary last week, we stand in solidarity with all those who are grieving and experiencing such profound, devastating loss. We do not believe there are any easy or simplistic answers to questions like “Why?” or “How?,” and as we pray for the family members and [...]

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One Space, Not Two

October 16, 2011

by Pastor Tim Westermeyer If you ever want to have someone look at you like you’re crazy, misguided and in general completely wrong—and inspire in them the absolute and total confidence that they, in turn, are entirely and absolutely right—then try this: Tell them that after a period, there should only be one space, not [...]

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Is It Risen?

April 25, 2011

by Pastor Tim Westermeyer True Story: This past weekend, my wife asked if I’d prepare the dough for some hot cross buns, which she was going to finish making later in the day. I made a batch of the dough, but it didn’t look like it was rising correctly, so she asked if I’d make [...]

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What’s the Big Deal about Baptism?

September 10, 2010

This coming weekend, we’ll begin a five-week series at St. Philip the Deacon on Christian baptism. The series is based on a book by theologian, author and preacher William Willimon called Remember Who You Are: Baptism, a Model for Christian Life. Two immediate questions might be posed by anyone who notices this series, and looks [...]

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This is an Octothorp

January 12, 2010

It goes by different names. Some people call it a pound sign. Some people call it a number or numeral sign. Some people call it a hash mark. But the true name, the real name, of this typographic mark — # — is “octothorp.” It gets its name from cartography, where – as Robert Bringhurst [...]

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Domes, Epitaphs and Lasting Legacies

December 22, 2009

In 1666, a fire destroyed two-thirds of London, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, which had stood on the same site for more than a thousand years – since 604 AD. Christopher Wren, an astronomer, mathematician, physicist and founder of the Royal Society, was commissioned to design and rebuild St. Paul’s. Construction on the new Cathedral took [...]

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Thumbnail image for Fouls, Free-Throws and Paying Attention

Fouls, Free-Throws and Paying Attention

December 17, 2009

I was recently asked to serve as an official scorer at a basketball game. Evidently one of the coaches saw in me that rare ability to be objective and clear-headed – that unusual capacity to be fair and impartial. Either that, or I was the first parent he ran into that morning. I was scoring [...]

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