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March 14, 2025

Mack’s Meditation

I am scared.  That is a spiritual challenge.

More than I was as a 7-year-old in 1942 when guarded by barrage balloons, the anti-aircraft guns a quarter mile from my house erupted in the nighttime.  I peeked out through the venetian blinds and saw the giant searchlights sweeping the sky. The next morning shrapnel lay on the ground. I was not in control. I was scared. That was a spiritual challenge.

More than I was at age 10 when the newspapers I was delivering had a headline prediction: “WORLD ENDS TODAY AT 4 PM”.  My watch read, 3:55.  My parents were at work miles away and my little sister was at the babysitter. I was not in control.  I was scared. That was a spiritual challenge.

More than I was when I was initiated into a high school frat, blindfolded and taken into the oil fields, beaten on my butt by cruel upper-class bullies and left alone. I was not in control.  I was scared. That was a spiritual challenge.

You dear reader know whereof I speak. You too have had scary moments when you were not in control…You were scared.  

Now I am on the cusp of 90. In the name of efficiency, our Republic, as I have known it, is being dismantled. I am not in control.  I am scared. That is a spiritual challenge.

All I can do is by littles, raising awareness, hoping there are kindred spirits or maybe some who are in control will hear me.  

From Isaiah: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord.”

Mack Mitchell

March 7, 2025

A Weekly Meditation

In reading the Gospels, I am struck by the fact that Jesus in many cases seemed certain that the Kingdom was going to come to fruition in his lifetime. For example, in Luke 21 he says boldly to the disciples, “Amen, I tell you that this generation most certainly will not pass away until all things (which he describes in detail) occur.” Pretty clear stuff.

Well, at least to this layperson, I don’t recall those things happening. It strikes me – and Lord knows I could be wrong here –  that Jesus was occasionally bold in predictions that didn’t come true, at least to our human way of thinking. Likewise, the early church believed the Kingdom was “at hand”: Homes were sold, goods were shared, anticipation was high. 
 
What are we to make of all this? Were the disciples – more important, was Jesus – wrong?

I thought long and hard about being wrong. And I realized that I am wrong more times than I am right. That’s because I am human. So were the disciples. And so was Jesus. He was wrong; he got angry; he was tempted; he was sad; he made mistakes. He thought all the human thoughts and experienced all the human feelings we feel.

And yet, He was God.  And as God, Jesus could expound and articulate the holiest of thoughts and feelings. But as a human he could also…be wrong. 

How to hold these two opposing thoughts together? That is, I suppose, where faith comes in. Can I hold human frailty and the divine together, in harmony? Rationally, I can’t. In faith and prayer, I can. And I think in the end, that’s the challenge for those of us who believe.

Pete Taft

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES JOURNEY

On the first Sunday of each month, we continue our exploration of spiritual practices with a discussion on the practice of Noticing God. Where do we see God apart from the obvious, and how can we attune ourselves to seeing God in all sorts of places — the unexpected, the unsuspecting, even in the midst of suffering and loss?

Come join us at 9:15 in the parish house for some lively discussion and sharing on this particular spiritual practice.

Comments, questions, or to join via Zoom, please contact skelly@comcast.net or cynthiaphubbard@comcast.net.

January 11, 2024

Our Weekly Meditation

We’ve just entered what the Church calls “Ordinary Time,” those weeks between our major celebrations – Christmas and Easter being the two most prominent – where we can enjoy the blessings of…well, doing nothing! 

No gifts to wrap, no carols to sing. No cards to write, no services to attend. Time on our hands to do what we want. How refreshing!

The Church suggests we spend some of our Ordinary Time reading about, and reflecting upon, the life of Jesus. I like that. And I also find in that a wonderful and deep wisdom. 

You see, the peace and quiet needed for, and produced by, such private reflection has, I think, as much power to change our lives as the grandest Christmas Eve service. God speaks to us in worship; but He also whispers to us in prayer.

As our new year reveals itself, may you find the time, place and circumstance (a crackling fire helps!) to deepen your faith in this most extraordinary thing called Ordinary Time. 

Godspeed in 2024!

Pete Taft 

December 6, 2023

Our Weekly Meditation

“Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.” – Thomas Merton

Think about it: “Uninvited.” We didn’t expect, we could never have anticipated, the arrival of God on earth. We didn’t expect, we never could have anticipated, his arrival in human form. And we didn’t expect, nor ever anticipated, his bizarre, majestic and supremely divine life and mission. 

And yet the church now offers us Advent – a time to deepen our reflection, enhance our expectation, and measure our anticipation. What a glorious time. 

Blessings to the entire St Andrew’s family. 

Pete Taft

August 18, 2023

Our Weekly Meditation



From Sylvia DeGooyer (Far & Near)
Update on the news about the fires on Maui and Hawai’i Island: 

The Church of the Holy Innocents in Lāhainā, Maui, along with much of the historic part of the town, is burnt. My spouse [Bruce] is the vicar there. May members have a healthy grieving process while holding onto hope, and may each of us remember that we are more than any title, role, or possessions we hold in our heart. Each of us is a much-loved child of God. 

Let Your God Love You

by Edwina Gately

Be silent.

Be still.

Alone.

Empty

Before your God.

Say nothing.

Ask nothing.

Be silent.

Be still.

Let your God look upon you.

That is all.

God knows.

God understands.

God loves you

With an enormous love,

And only wants

To look upon you

With that love.

Quiet.

Still.

Be.

Let your God—

Love you.

August 10, 2023

Our Weekly Meditation

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and be not wise in your own sight.”  — Proverbs 3:5-6

Sometimes I take things too far.

Hearing this verse from Proverbs in worship, I thought, “Well, how do I do that?” And I concluded that, right then and there, I would trust in God in everything I did, ignoring the loud voice of my will.

And by everything, I meant everything: Crossing the street. Writing my book. Preparing coffee. You name it, I was going to trust God. Period. End of story.

You can imagine how long that experiment lasted — perhaps, oh, two minutes. “You’ve failed!” I sighed. 

Then I was visited by an image of Jesus in the workshop.

We don’t often reflect on Jesus the Carpenter, but this time it helped me enormously. There he was — measuring, sawing, sanding, shaping, sweating. Did Jesus trust in God to execute all these hardscrabble, real-time chores?  

No. He first said his prayers, then focused all his God-given energy, talent and skill on the task at hand. 

A Buddhist master was once asked the secret of life. “Pay attention to what’s in front of you,” he said. When asked the second rule, the master replied, “Repeat the first rule ten thousand times.”

We can’t – and shouldn’t – abandon all we do to God in expectation that God do all things for us — write the book, prepare the coffee, saw the wood. But we can – and should — start the day in prayer, “trusting in the Lord with all our hearts,” and recognizing that all that we have – our memory, our mind, our will – has come from Him.

And then we can get on with it. 

Pete Taft

August 3, 2023

Our Daily Meditation

Who are we?

Richard Rohr’s July 30th, 2023, Daily Meditation

Nonviolence Begins Within

“As long as we bring to our actions a violence that primarily exists within ourselves, nothing really changes. The future is always the same as the present. That’s why we have to change the present.”

Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation Aug.1, 2023

“Building Beloved Community is not about loving the people who are easy to love. It is about cultivating love for those that are difficult to love. Those people over there. The others.”

Are we as a church a beloved community or trying to build a beloved community?

A group of parishioners are studying a wonderful book called Invite Welcome Connect by Mary Foster Parmer

The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu has a beautiful saying that speaks to this:

” We say in our African idiom, ‘A person is a person through other persons.’

” We are placed on this earth to discover that we are made for togetherness, for interdependence, for complementarity.”

I think we are a community that is longing for connectedness. Covid made us lose our way and we are fighting to come back.

If we open our hearts and minds and listen to each other’s stories we have so much in common.

To love God, our community, and each other.

So, I invite you to come to St Andrew’s worship, share breakfast-in-between, share your stories, and hear ours. 

In Faith,

Palmer Marrin

June 8, 2023

Our Weekly Meditation

On Pentecost, I spent a little time reading about, and reflecting on, the Holy Spirit. According to Acts, when the Spirit first descended upon the disciples, there was “a sound like the blowing of a violent storm…what appeared to be tongues of fire…and [the disciples] speaking in other tongues…”

Holy mackerel. What a scene.

At the end of it all, the disciples asked – naturally —  “What does this mean?” But in 2023 I asked myself a very different question: “Is this what happens when you encounter the Holy Spirit?”

I doubt if any of us has ever said our prayers and then suddenly encountered a violent storm, flames of fire and a cacophony of foreign voices (maybe you have, but I haven’t). More often than not, our encounters with the Holy Spirit seem to be quiet and quotidian, moments that are part of our everyday life.

Sharing a meal. Walking the dog. Enjoying the sunset. Being present to sick friend. Crying at a funeral. Being aware and thankful for every breath of life.

This squares exactly with how Paul described the Holy Spirit in Galatians. In his typically direct way, Paul said we’re in the presence of the Spirit when we exhibit, or experience, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.”

What a fine list – and not one word about fire or foreign languages! I’m comforted to know that, while the disciples had an extraordinary and earth-shaking experience, we can expect to encounter the Holy Spirit in the most ordinary of times, places and circumstances. 

May the Spirit be with you — everywhere. 

Pete Taft

Each morning, peace arrives at your door in the form of choices. – Anon

June 14, 2023

Our Weekly Meditation

Hello God,

I know you are there, but where am I?

Have I been so busy that I can’t feel you?

When I connect is when I read or attend Sunday service or gather with friends in a bible study.

I was reading Richard Rohr’s daily meditation on May 28^th and it hit me when he was discussing the English phrase “Mind the Gap”.

Well, I have fallen into that gap. I have not been mindful. I have not taken a moment or two to breathe in the Holy Spirit. Just before writing this I thought, I don’t really have time now.  But how can I not stop and fill my head and heart with thought and discernment of what is truly keeping me going. The Love of God.

So, my thoughts are, “Mind the Gap” and fill it with the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t take long and makes you feel so much better.

Now, I can continue on my busy day, but feeling connected and loved.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21–22).

Filling the Gap,

Palmer Marrin