Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
Have you ever sat outside at night and watched for shooting stars? They’re not easy to see, even in the middle of a meteor shower. You never know when they’re going to appear, and they never last for very long. A three second meteor is ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
O Lord, teach us to pray! We’re supposed to pray in some way, but every time we try, we lose it, we don’t do what we think we ought to do. We start worrying about our own lives, or we get focused on a particular problem, and we stop ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
The real miracle is that she walked in the door in the first place. The community is coming apart at the seams. One group refuses to talk to another, barely even acknowledge the other’s existence! Disagreements seem to be more common and far ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
“See, the home of God is among mortals!” The scene is one that we last saw just over a month ago, as part of the readings for Maundy Thursday. Jesus is in the upper room, with his disciples. They have shared a meal, or are in the ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
During Holy Week this year, several 5th and 6th graders took time from Monday to Thursday to work at several different outreach ministries here in Greensboro. One of the ones we worked at was KidsPath, the subset of Hospice that focuses on helping ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
Last weekend I took part in a retreat for some of our high school youth who are considering the Episcopal Church and deciding whether, when the Bishop comes in June, they will be confirmed in this Church. And as a part of that retreat, we asked our ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
This is a piece of the desert. It is not the whole desert, just a piece. So many important things happened to the people of God in the desert that we need to have a piece of it with us, so we can hear the stories. The desert is a dangerous place. ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
On this, the second Sunday of Advent, John the Baptist appears on the scene. In our gospel reading, he strides forth out of the desert, quoting the prophet Isaiah and calling for repentance. But we actually get John twice in today’s lessons, ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
I think James is the most pragmatic idealist that I have ever met. He’s an idealist because he isn’t really interested in solving the specific problems of one little community. In fact, he never refers to a specific audience in his ...Speaker: The Rev. Joshua Varner
The Song of Solomon in many ways, stands alone. In an Old Testament that is divided by tradition into three parts, the Torah or Law, the Prophets, the records of the words and stories of the messengers of God to God’s people, Isaiah, ...