God seems to have a little hobby of renaming people at dramatic points in their lives.   Jacob’s grandparents Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah after God visited them to tell them they would have a child. Many centuries later, Jesus renamed Simon as Peter...

Recently while I was looking for something else, I found a pile of cloth face masks in many colors. I started sewing them by hand 5 years ago during all those early-Covid-era Zoom meetings when I desperately needed something to do with my hands to keep my anxiety...

In these weeks of so much destruction, the themes of Ash Wednesday have stayed present to me as Lent has unfolded: the finitude and potential present in ash. There have also been, as there so often are, a lot of emails, and so I hadn’t caught up on Kate Bowler’s...

During the next few months, Eliza and I are planning a few new ways to help engage kids in what’s going on during communion. Whatever works: First of all, there’s no right or wrong way for them to engage, and each kid is different (and then they grow and change and...

by the Rev. Toby Darrah In our “Love God, Love God’s World” discussion group this week, one of the things we talked about was the ways in which we feel more connected to the earth. I mentioned that something I’ve noticed is that I feel more connected not only to the...

One thing that’s been especially important to me in these overwhelming months is to make space for the difficult emotions- grief, fear, sadness. Because when I make space, I notice that these emotions don’t actually last forever, and they don’t take up all the space...

I have to admit, I sometimes struggle to pray with the Psalms. Some are lovely and joyful with wonderfully poetic expressions of the greatness of God. Some seem kind of irrelevant for prayer purposes; Psalm 45, for example, seems to be a description of a royal...

by Eliza Nuxoll, Children & Youth Program Director The morning after the Annual/Animal Meeting, I left for Waycross Camp & Conference center in Morgantown, Indiana, for the 2025 Forma Conference. Waycross was one of several on-site locations for this...

by Karen Slagell, Parish Administrator How many times have you been at St. Clare’s and nudged the person next to you before asking, “Who is that [insert description of the person in question so you can identify them without pointing]?” Or maybe you asked “Who is...

I wanted to give a little bit more of an in-depth update about our youth group, after our excellent youth group announcement at the annual meeting about the fundraiser. We tried a new, big thing this year: we moved youth group to its own time and space on Sunday...

I suspect that by now, many of you have watched Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon from the Service of Prayer for the Nation on January 21st at the National Cathedral, or at least have read the transcript. President Trump, Vice President Vance, and their families were in...