Christ Our Mother

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Assistant Rector

     I have been thinking a lot about mothers today, for obvious reasons. This is, of course, the day we set aside for remembering and caring for our mothers. Today I think about my own mother, but also my sister as I’ve begun to think and know of her as a mother. And also as more and more of...

A Sermon

Marcella Rose Gillis, St. Mark's Director of Youth and Family Ministries

Of all the strange and exciting events that take place in the weeks following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, this particular appearance in the Gospel of Luke somehow feels like the least interesting.  It lacks in the human drama that we see in so many of the other accounts....

Making the Body Visible

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Assistant Rector

This is a strange happy ending to the story.  We celebrated with a good deal of fanfare Jesus’ resurrection last Sunday. But this gospel story is full of ambiguities.  We hear that after the crucifixion the followers of Jesus cowered in fear behind locked doors still wondering if they were...

The Terror of Life

The Reverend Paul Roberts Abernathy, Rector

They fled from the tomb, for terror seized them.[1]

What was it that terrified Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome? A sudden stirring in early morning shadows startling their still sleepy sensibilities? The shocking vision they beheld inside the tomb? Their fear of...

Headhunting

The Reverend Paul Roberts Abernathy, Rector

“It is finished.”[1]

Good Friday. We stand at the foot of the cross to consider again the inexhaustible mystery of Jesus’ death. What did it mean for him?  More importantly, what does it mean for us? According to the biblical story, if Jesus, in obedience, openness to God’s purposes,...

The Kingdom of God Comes Very Close Tonight

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Assistant Rector

           Though we are gathered here in the spirit of love and fellowship and though we celebrate with food and wine, we also gather to remember the last night Jesus spent with us. If you knew, right now, that tomorrow you would die, what would you do tonight?

            After we go...

Guilt, shame, and Trayvon Martin

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Assistant Rector

Palm Sunday is not my favorite service. In fact, I’m always troubled by the liturgy. Every Sunday we’re invited, all of us, into the drama of the liturgy – remembering and participating in the history of God’s actions. But on this Sunday the church casts us, all of us, as first joyful and...

Which Side Are You On?

The Reverend Rebecca Justice Schunior, Assistant Rector

I attended St. John’s College –a small liberal arts college where all classes began with a question. It would have to be an interesting question so that it could keep conversation going for two hours. And so I’m always on the look out for interesting questions. I once heard John Dominic...

The Paradox of Faith: The Way of the Cross as a Way of Life

The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, the Bishop of Washington

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and...

Never Again!

The Reverend Paul Roberts Abernathy, Rector

      Nearly every ancient culture has a flood story in which the gods, frustrated by the misguided goings-on of humankind, destroy all that is, save for a few righteous ones and a representative sampling of creation’s flora and fauna. The biblical narrative,[1] likely based on the Babylonian...