Church Life

Lent is a season for giving up good things to remember the ultimate. It’s a season when the church refrains even from saying “hallelujah.” That’s an Easter word. Lent is a preparation for the cross, and a time to reflect on our own sins that send Jesus there.

I found myself giving up something during Lent last week, but not intentionally. It was greeting you all before and after our service. I’ve had a virus (not covid, not even strep), and didn’t want anyone else to join me in the purgatory of illness. But I hated missing this time together. It’s… Read more

“Hey Jaclyn, we want to do something fun, what should we do?”

I noticed this sort of request to our own Jaclyn Didiano early in my time at TEMC. The staff would be gathered at the church or elsewhere. We’d have time to kill. And Jaclyn would alleviate our boredom. Soon we would be playing some game or icebreaker, something Jaclyn accrued from her years in camping or recreation. Ice would be broken. Laughs laughed. Tears shed. Humans humanized.

You probably know Jaclyn… Read more

Friends, I want to share with you an encouraging note I got the other day. Here it is:

We were talking about this the other night - how the church has become one of our most important communities. We are just at that stage of life where we can lean into it as a family, and it's a real joy. We haven't even gone to our place in the County once this fall, because we just feel we ought to be around on the weekends at the church. It's our turn, I suppose. Like countless other families before us, it's… Read more