The most recent Point in Time Count, an annual in-person census of people experiencing homelessness, revealed that approximately 182,000 Californians are unhoused; nearly 110 of them reside in Encinitas. On average, 65 of our neighbors experiencing homelessness arrive at St. Andrew’s every Saturday morning for showers, haircuts, mail, clothing, health care, and breakfast.

God has entrusted each of us with His vineyard, and one day He will ask what we did with it. Hopefully, we will say, “Lord, I knew it was never really mine. You gave it to me to care for, and I tried to make it fruitful and to share its truth. I tried to love. I tried to forgive. I tried to welcome. I tried to leave the vineyard a little more beautiful than I found it.”

We may think of it as reserved for churches and other sacred places. Yet Holy Ground can be found where we least expect it. Holy Ground is wherever we encounter God, especially when we are with someone who needs assurance of God’s love.

Feed God's children—with bread when they are hungry, with compassion when they are hurting, with forgiveness when they have failed, and with the love of Christ in all you do.

This time of transition for St. Andrew’s is not an obstacle but an opportunity, because this is your time to live the questions. Figure out who you really are, who God is calling you to become.

When we trust in God’s presence and become that presence for someone else, we discover that the burden is lighter, the road is easier, and Christ has been with us all along. This is why Jesus can say, "Come to me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

What if Abraham’s faith is not about blind obedience (“God said it, that settles it”), but about a relentless trust, a belief that God’s goodness will prevail beyond his limited perspective and understanding? A radical trust that, in Abraham’s own words, “God himself will provide the lamb”?

We know we were chosen by God because we have received the gift of life. We are here because God loves us and calls us by name. Therefore, it is our turn to embrace our divine mission.

God-as-Trinity invites us, in the midst of all the messiness of our lives, to see the bigger picture of the fullness of God, in whose image we are created, and called to follow in our full humanity.

Godly Play, our Sunday School curriculum, teaches God’s time isn’t a straight line but rather a circle with every ending containing a beginning and every beginning an ending.

The heart of the “good things” God has prepared may not always look as we expect. They may come disguised as endurance, courage, or the quiet strength to keep loving even when it would be easier to turn away. They may come as the Spirit’s presence holds us steady when confusion surrounds us, or as the grace to forgive even when we have every reason not to. The promise is not that we will avoid suffering. The promise is that we will not be abandoned in it.

Jesus’ way is less like one of those moving sidewalks at the airport that quickly takes you to wherever you need to go (just get on and walk!) and more like a labyrinth, where we have to trust the process and take the next step even when the path isn’t clear.

Jesus isn’t only our guardian from the deathly voices of the world that attempt to lure us away from God’s sweet invitations of grace; his resurrection is the path by which we “have life, and have it abundantly.”

This is not a solo journey for any of us. Just as I found on my own seven-mile walk, the journey is a lot better when we have others to share it with, to help each other to see the signs of resurrection along the way.

Science is one way that we know things, and yes, a very powerful one that has radically changed our understanding of the world we live in. But it is not the only way we can know things, and it can’t tell us everything there is to know…We need to be able to know things through experience, trust, awe, culture, and many other ways of knowing. If you struggle with doubt, take comfort. There are many ways of knowing things.

[Easter is] not just about bunnies and chocolate (as great as those are) - it’s about defiant joy in the face of darkness. And connected to joy is hope, because the joy of Easter is about hope fulfilled.

The liturgy on Palm Sunday gives us an insight into the fickle human heart. How we can cheer someone as savior one moment, and the next moment transform into a bloodthirsty mob calling for his execution?

As we walk through the final milestones of our Lenten passage, we take with us lessons from Ezekiel and Lazarus.

What does it mean for followers of Christ to live as children of light, to keep the light of Christ burning and to share it so that the little pilot lights of faith that reside in others can fully ignite too?

Wherever and whenever we think we might need to hide away – Jesus shows up to meet us, not as judge, but as the one who says “you are enough. You do belong. You are connected, and you are loved.”