From Rev. Helen

As a child, I sang in the church & County Youth choir, loved Sunday & Saturday School, was kept busy as a Girl Guide, a dancer and an actor/ producer at our local theatre, and, later, on the school board…

Dear St Raphaelites! Most of you have heard that I visited Amman, Jordan, for 3 days of meetings with the International Anglican Women’s Network (IAWN) in early February. That was one week before our new grandchild was born in London…

In the pocket of my jacket, the one I wear for walking around our neighborhood, the Beaumont & Cardinal Valley Trails, shopping at Kroger, running errands in cooler weather, I’m in the habit of carrying and holding something. This year,…

Welcome to a new church season after a wonderful summer! The changing rhythms of the liturgical year encourage us to pause, reflect, and renew our commitment to walking together in faith, love, and service. And, in this upcoming church season,…

We are soon to embark on the Lenten journey together again. The reminder of our mortality on Ash Wednesday, each of the Sunday readings, and then the events of Holy Week all point to the truth that God is ahead…

I hope you all have had a blessed summer! As you all know, I took a short sabbatical, mostly to enable me to visit my ever-expanding family and take a Camino pilgrimage with my husband. By now, you will have…

And here we are at Holy week again! The week that commemorates the last eight days of Jesus’ life. Somehow, this sacred time fits well into the seasons of both the northern and southern hemispheres when new life is happening…

During Epiphany, you have been hearing me talk a lot about ‘rooted discipleship’ and the practices of prayer, study, giving, sharing, and serving. We also had the opportunity to attend the showing of ‘A Case for Love,’ a documentary film…

Happy New Year all! We enter the season of Epiphany from January 6 through to Ash Wednesday on February 14. It is well to consider who Jesus was and is as Son of God, Son of Man, Emmanuel, God with…

“Our business is building bridges with our questions of one another and the world.” This is a quote from Rowan Williams, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury. You heard it in a recent sermon and it has stuck with me since.…