Forward Day By Day – January 11, 2021

When the world seems out of control, words like the ones from our reading in Isaiah soothe me. At one time or another, all of us get a little carried away with our importance—surely with God, we must know just how important we are, how profoundly loved we are....

Forward Day By Day – January 10, 2021

Two distinct theologies have developed around baptism. One, I call magic, and the other, I call decision. Magic requires no real change. Magic is terrible theology. God loves the unbaptized person—and indeed everyone, entirely, now, already—no matter what we do....

Forward Day By Day – January 9, 2021

Julia Chester Emery served as the national secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions for forty years, from 1876 to 1916. For the Episcopal Church, perhaps her most significant and longest-lasting legacy is the United Thank Offering. The ….(View...

Forward Day By Day – January 8, 2021

Harriet Bedell was an Episcopal deaconess, first working with the Cheyenne people in Oklahoma. Later, she continued her work with indigenous people in Alaska, where she started a school in the small village of Tanana, a town I was blessed to visit several years ago....

Centering Ourselves in Our Prayer Following the Violence in Washington D.C

My dear friends, In times such as these often our need for centering comes in the form of what we know to be true, scripture and our Book of Common Prayer.  I invite you to pray with me over the next several days a couple of prayers.  The first is a prayer for peace:...

Forward Day By Day – January 7, 2021

Our guide in Cana told us this joke: “The wine is so bad in Cana that if Jesus were here today, he would turn the wine back into water.” I am not prepared to debate the truth of that statement, but Cana, Nazareth, Jerusalem, Jericho, and Hebron are all still...

Ministry Reflection: Adult Children of Alcoholics

The first time I heard of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA’s), I rather cynically thought that the treatment center at Hazelden had created a new fad to bring more people into treatment. Oh, was I so wrong! Adult Children of Alcoholics are real people who are...

Photographs: Ordination on December 19, 2020

The Rev. Lindsey Ardrey, the Rev. Lynn Hooks, and the Rev. Allison Reid were ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons on December 19, 2020, at St. Paul’s, New Orleans.

A Virtual Christmas in the Diocese

It was a beautiful Christmas in the Diocese of Louisiana. Churches across the diocese held services both in-person and virtually. From singing “Silent Night” to listening to stirring sermons to watching creative choir anthems, here are screenshots of...

Forward Day By Day – January 6, 2021

The Epiphany of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a celebration often missed in the flurry and exhaustion of Advent and Christmas. Nevertheless, the Feast of the Epiphany is the culmination of Christmas. The magi went home, the story says, but they went...