Episcopal Church Of The Holy Communion University City

As we come to the end of the church year, the rector pauses to reflect. What does it mean to live in God's time? What does it mean to tell the sacred story again and again? How do we believe, against all the false tales the world wants to hand us, that we are God's beloved?

On the Feast of All Saints Day, the Bishop encourages us: You are the only Christ some people will encounter this day. You are the only sign of God's love that some people will encounter today. Let God's light shine.

Our relaunch of Theology on Tap: a conversation with iconographer Kelly Latimore on the feast of All Saints. Kelly created the icon “Mama” at Holy Communion, which has received national press attention

This has been a tough week for St. Louis. How do we make room for grief, for anger, and for hope? How do we work together to make change?

What if we thought of Christianity less as a "system of rigid belief" and more as a set of practices that make up a way of life? The Rev. Mike Angell discusses the Baptismal Covenant of the Episcopal Church. As some of our members prepare for Confirmation or Reception in the church, what do you have to believe? What does this "way of life" offer to you? Mike also talks about the idea of a "rule of life" and shares his own. For this class, you may find it helpful to have the Book of Common Prayer pages 304-305 available to you. (Online here: https://www.bcponline.org/Baptism/holybaptism.html) For Richard Rohr talking about Christianity as a way of life click here: https://vimeo.com/248522067 For the Presiding Bishop's Discussion of the "Way of Love" click here: https://youtu.be/XzIx0nM5OEk ___ Background Track: Drone in D by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.ht

Today's story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector's prayers give us two images of an approach to faith and life. The Rev. Julie Graham leans on the work of Parker Palmer and Marcy Jackson to ask: "Are we operating from a story of ego, or a story of soul?"

What does Jesus mean when he says, "your faith has made you well?" The Rev. Mike Angell considers questions of health, wholeness, salvation and belonging.

What is Common Prayer? The Rev. Mike Angell discusses the history of the Episcopal/Anglican tradition of Common Prayer. At the end he asks three questions: Where in your own prayer life are you informed by tradition? Where in your own life of prayer could you seek to be more “in the language of the day?” (How do you bring your prayer into dialogue with the world around you?) How do you participate in something “bigger than you” when you pray?

On St. Francis Day 2022, the rector preaches a sermon looking at the ecological crisis. In order to overcome this moment, we will need prayer and a deeper and broader sense of what Spirituality means.

On the Eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, our Rabbi in Residence, Maharat Rori Picker Neiss preaches on the possibility we all have for giving birth to God's Kingdom in each moment.

The Rev. Mike Angell discusses the history of the Episcopal Church, the tradition of Anglican Comprehensiveness, and what it means to share a tradition with folks with whom you might disagree.

How could we use our money more imaginatively, for the sake of those in need?

Seminarian Josephine Ezenwa preaches. The cost of Discipleship is high.

Jesus' banquet is the greatest party you've ever known, because no one will have to be anxious about where they should sit. No one will have to worry about how they should behave. Everyone will be in on the secret: You can just let go. Let the beloved community love you.

When Jesus says, "I have not come to bring peace," I think Jesus is saying, "the peace you think you know, the peace you have to maintain with violence...this is not the kind of peace God wants to give you."

The Rev. Chester Hines asks "am I asking justly, lovingly, giving mercy and walking humbly with God?"

Proverbs tells us "The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom." Our world has an unhealthy relationship to fear. How might fearing God connect us more deeply in community, and put our lives in perspective?

The theologian Marva Dawn called worship "A Royal Waste of Time." How do we find practices that help us to slow down to the speed of love?

No one makes it through this life alone. No one. We all need a little help sometimes. So today I want to spend some time with the word mercy. What does the Lord require of us but, to do justice, to love mercy, even when doing so makes us humble. Mercy draws us closer to God. Today's teaching from Jesus centers on the practice of mercy.

Seminarian Loretta Go preaches about Evangelism in 2022