Faith and life
Come and See… Go and Tell / Cursillo
Dumas Bay Conference Center, Federal Way | October 19-21 | $100 (includes all lodging, meals, materials!) Come and See… Go and Tell offers an experience of spiritual renewal. Guests will experience God’s unconditional love while deepening their understanding of Jesus’ teachings. Stories of faith presented on the weekend encourage living out our baptismal covenant in the world. Guest cost of $100 includes all retreat materials, all meals and snacks and 2 night’s lodging. MORE INFO
Lent on Facebook: Daily Prayers and Scriptures
Our church Facebook page is publishing daily prayers for Lent. You can take a look at www.facebook.com/stchristopherolympia. And if you are looking for daily Bible readings they can be found at www.dailylectio.net.
Bishop’s Book for Lent 2018: The Book of Common Prayer
Lent begins on February 14th and Bishop Greg Rickel (Episcopal Diocese of Olympia) introduces this year’s Lenten Book Selection – The Book of Common Prayer. Hear Bishop Rickel’s thoughts on this essential tool for our life together as the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. The Diocesan Resource Center Coordinator, Sue Tait, has compiled a list of resources to aid in our exploration of the Book of Common Prayer.
Calling All Members! Annual Meeting is January 28th, 2018
Calling All Members! The All-church Annual Meeting is Sunday, January 28th. Everyone is invited. This is a required meeting for all church members. At the meeting we will… …review God’s blessings and the challenges of 2017. …look at our strategies and goals for 2018. …approve our spending plan for 2018 (i.e. the budget). …through spiritual discernment, elect our representative congregational leaders Come take part in the life, ministry, and direction of your faith-family! Refreshments provided.
News: Our Lutheran Bishop part of Delegation to Israel
Bishop Jaech (pictured left in the purple bishop’s shirt) says he’s honored to be part of an ELCA delegation, led by Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, which is on its way to Israel to attend the installation of the newly elected bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar will be installed on Friday at the historic Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of East Jerusalem. Representatives of Lutheran churches from throughout the world will be present to celebrate this event with Palestinian Lutherans, who play a crucial role within Israeli society at this […]
Great Expectations – Studying Isaiah this Advent
The words of the prophet Isaiah set the tone for the season of Advent, the time of expectation and preparation for the joy of Christmas. This Advent, we’re studying the words of Isaiah during our Sunday morning education hour at St. Christopher’s….
Giving and Receiving: A Sermon on Generosity
Jesus isn’t polite in this story—he’s something so much more than that. He’s generous. Jesus made a public display of it, made sure every knew he accepted Zacchaeus, the chief tax-collector, the guy no one accepted….
Sermon on Practicing Humility
Because here’s the crazy thing about humility. The people who know the most about it probably never talk about humility. They probably don’t think about it, either. They’re too busy thinking and talking about things outside themselves; they’re too busy being humble.
Sermon on Gratitude in this Ordinary, Imperfect Day
We’re used to thinking of gratitude as something to do after our problem is solved, but the story of the ten lepers complicates that notion. In the story, gratitude is as much a part of the healing as the curing of the disease….
Sermon on Lament, Mustard Seeds, and Being God’s Sign in the World
If you ask me, I think that’s a pretty good statement of what the church ought to be about: we’re to be a sign—big enough that anyone can read it—that God isn’t finished with this world….
Enough: Join the Conversation this October
How can we live with simplicity, joy, and generosity? This month we’re talking about our relationship to money and how it relates to our calling as people of faith. Join in the conversation….
Justice for the Poor – Education Hour this September
How can we learn from the poor? What is our responsibility to care for the poor and to advocate for justice on their behalf? These are the sorts of questions we’ll be asking this September and October in our weekly education hour….
Wash and Be Clean: Sermon on God and Ordinary Stuff
The poets are always calling us back to the here and now, and so is our faith. It’s the message of the gospel, really: God shows up in ordinary stuff. In human life; in words and in water; in bread and wine, broken and poured out….
Purpose and Values – Looking Ahead Together
Racing has never been one of my favorite images the Bible offers us for the life of faith. Maybe it’s because I often feel rushed in my daily life, moving so quickly from one thing to the next; maybe it’s because speed has never been what you might call my greatest virtue….
Introducing the Open Hands Food Bank Garden
The St. Christopher’s grounds are now home to the Open Hands Food Bank Garden. Members of the church and wider community have planted a garden to grow food for the Thurston County Food Bank….
Summer Book Group: Listening for God
Where do you listen for God? This question is behind the short stories collected in Listening for God–and the challenge is to pay attention everywhere. The book promises both to be fun summer reading and to spark great conversation….
Dessert in the Garden – June 9, 5-7pm
The Open Hands Food Bank Garden is now up and running, and we’d like to share this exciting project with you! The whole Steamboat Island community is invited to Dessert in the Garden, this coming Sunday.
Here in Ordinary Time
With churches all over the world, we have just made one of the big turns of the church year: from the Easter season into “Ordinary Time.” It’s a funny phrase, isn’t it? What does that make the other parts of the year? Extraordinary time?
In All Things for Good
That little difference between “all things work together for good” and “in all things God works for good” actually makes all the difference, between a God who orchestrates every last action and a God who remains beside people and works for good, even in the midst of tragedy that God would never create….