Renate shares with us the beauty and mysticality of abiding in God and God in us as we love one another. You can listen below and view her powerpoint here. – You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep checking our Facebook group, St. Croix Church, for all the latest updates. We are also on Instagram as stcroixchurch.   The post Return To That Place appeared first on St. Croix Church ..read more

At our Second Breakfast potluck, Janell shared about the variety of intergenerational connections she’s had throughout her life, and continues to enjoy today. From growing up in a close knit church community, to moving to St. Stephen, and now working as a piano teacher and fitness coach for older adults, Janell has experienced the value and joy of nurturing relationships across the ages, and helped us all think about this as a way of being rooted together in Love as a community. You can listen below. You can also view her powerpoint here. You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC ..read more

Walter uses a story to make the point of how the political methods of Jesus were not at all on the same page as others – and this remains true to this day. The church that follows Jesus has only one approach to politics: to be communities of compassion, generosity and joy. You can read the story that begins the talk if you check out our SCC Blog. You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep checking our Facebook group, St. Croix Church, for all the latest updates. We are also on Instagram as stcroixchurch. The ..read more

Our Easter Sunday service wove together music, liturgy, lectionary readings, personal “life out of death” stories from three beloved members of our community – Bill, Lorna, and Moriah – and a homily from Rachael. The recording begins with the three “witnesses” and is followed by Rachael’s invitation to sit with the improbability of the resurrection of Jesus, allowing it to be less of a provable certainty and more of a miraculous mystery – that calls to us and shapes our own lived experience of loss and renewal. The lectionary readings can be found here, and the piece that Rachael read to close ..read more

A few months after inviting us to “Bring Our Shadows to Church,” Walter asks us to face the shadow side of God in order to prevent us from “calling evil good” (like genocide or threats of eternal torment) while also avoiding a naively optimistic minimizing of evil. We could choose to lament and wrestle with the mystery of evil that’s present in God’s Creation while trusting in the Presence of God’s co-suffering love. You can listen to his talk below, and view his powerpoint here. You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep c ..read more

At Second Breakfast this Sunday, we invited Rick, Wilma, and Rosie to reflect on Lent practices they’ve done and are doing. Then we enjoyed sharing our own experiences with each other, as we considered together the value of rituals such as this, and the kind of space it can make in our lives. We ended with this poem by Jan Richardson, and a song  by Matt Maher. You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep checking our Facebook group, St. Croix Church, for all the latest updates. We are also on Instagr ..read more

Art by: Ivanka Demchuk On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Jess is drawn to return to the baptism of Jesus and the revelation of our own belovedness. Reflecting on excerpts from Henri Nouwen’s book, Life of the Beloved, she invites us to consider the people who have revealed our belovedness to us, and encourages us to deepen our experience of living into (or ‘enfleshing’) our belovedness in our everyday lives. Jess demonstrates how letting ourselves be known can be a threshold we step through that allows The Beloved to find us, too. You can listen to her talk below, and view her powerpoint here. You ..read more

On the second Sunday of Lent, Renate Gritter shares some reflections on death and mortality grounded in her recent experience of finding a lump on her neck. She tells the story of what it was like to contemplate going through cancer and even death and invites all of us to consider “giving up” going through struggles with mortality with only our own powers to aid us and tell our friends about the “lumps” in our lives, whatever they may be. You can listen to her talk below. You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep checking ..read more

On the first Sunday of Lent, Mark Groleau walks us through the temptations of Jesus and asks us to consider the things Jesus “gave up” and why. He points out that each response Jesus gives “the satan” links to Old Testament Jewish teachings and to what was happening in the cultural landscape of that time. Mark recognizes that we continue to face the same challenges the early church faced. He encourages that following The Way of Jesus still means giving up on power and doing “small things with great love”  to care for our neighbours and the world. You can listen to his talk below, and view ..read more

Walter shares some of his story around finances and his lifelong passion to try to take biblical ideas of economic justice seriously. At the end, he shared this recording of Becka singing the lullaby he wrote for his kids based on Matthew 6. You can listen to his talk below and view his powerpoint here. You’re always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep checking our Facebook group, St. Croix Church, for all the latest updates. We are also on Instagram as stcroixchurch. The post Being Rooted in Love is Economic: Some ..read more