Episcopal Church Of The Holy Communion University City

In his combined sermon and annual report to the parish, the rector confesses he has been putting too much stock in our growth measured by "Average Sunday Attendance." He asks instead, "what would Jesus measure?" and quotes Jonathan Larson's musical Rent to find an answer.

The Annual Meeting on February 13 at 9am will elect members of the vestry. The vestry is the legal representative of the parish with regard to all matters pertaining to its corporate property (that is to say, the vestry functions like a non-profit board). Our vestry consists of nine members, elected to staggered three year terms. This year's candidates are Magdalene Linck, Robert Lowes, and Heidi Volkl (all for first terms). You can read more and register for the meeting at https://www.holycommunion.net/annual-meeting

Preaching on Jesus' reading of Isaiah in the synagogue, the Rev. Julie Graham asks, "what do you do if you believed the Spirit of God is upon you?"

As we prepare for Dr. King's holiday, my sermon is about Mountaintops and Mentorship. King knew, for the movement to live on, he had to pass along the faith, he had to pass along the vision. After all,, King knew, he had been handed this faith, this vision, from the generation before him, and especially from his mentor, Dr. Howard Thurman.

Our rector speaks with Alison Nash MD, the chair of our Pandemic task force for Holy Communion and with Paul Mensah, PhD, Vice President of Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences at Pfizer. We talk about omicron, the current precautions at church, and the hope on the horizon with expanded vaccine access and therapeutic treatments.

The wisest spiritual teachers say control is, almost always, an illusion. With one important exception...

The Rev. Julie Graham preaches on pre-teen Jesus in the temple: "What if we encountered one another, including our teens, with the same kind of passion Mary and Joseph brought to their search for Jesus? And when we encountered them, we dared to take the time and effort to see the person right in front of us?"

To be a follower of Jesus, you don't need to be merry and bright all the time. The Son of God could be a bit of a mess, held complex emotions, what makes you think you're going to be any different?

The Rev. Mike Angell encourages you, to set down the newsfeed for awhile. Pay attention to the deep structure. God has re-made the world for love.

There's one word we usually associate with John the Baptist: Repent. But what if we interpreted the word differently? What if Advent is a chance to open your heart, to change your life, for the sake of others?

This week on the Forum our presenters ask, what is it about the music of this season? Join us for an informative and at times hilarious romp through Christmas music past and present: the good, the bad, the sacred and the secular.

This time of year is chock-full of nostalgia. How many of us measure our Christmas present against some ghost of a Christmas past? Could this Advent be about something else? Could Advent be about God showing up in the unexpected places?

Our rector explores the ideas of "belonging" and "membership" in the church, in light of trends in our wider culture which have been accelerated by COVID. What does it mean to belong, to be a member of a church today? What will it mean in the years to come?

The Rev. Hope Jernagan preaches on the first Sunday of Advent.

: The love we experience -- sometimes it's like we can’t handle the idea that this is the way the cosmos really is. We can’t rest in the truth, that the “real” world is all about this love.

Christian Art theologian, Lisa Thorpe discusses her work, "Na'amah of the Ark" with the Rev. Julie Graham. The piece will be on loan to Holy Communion through Advent.

The rector preaches on Jesus' prophesy in the Mark's Gospel and says, "until we decide to stop seeing this moment as the end of history, until we start asking 'what new world would we like to see born?" we are stuck in the apocalypse.

Dr. Michael Booker, a parishioner at St. Francis Eureka, joins us to discuss the question "Who is my neighbor?" Part of our ongoing series on questions of housing justice. Join us Sunday morning at 9am for Q and A in person (on the front lawn weather permitting, or masked in Mitchell Hall).

The Rev. Mike Angell preaches on All Saints Day: Your faith isn't just yours. Your faith was passed down to you. Never forget that, and know when you come down the aisle of church, when you sing a song of the saints of God, when you stand around the table, you are not alone. The communion of the saints, all the saints is here to. So take off your grave clothes. Be Free. Practice resurrection, and get out there and get about the work of setting others free. That's what Jesus asks of us, this All Saints Day.

Part of why we need to be careful about Halloween is because there are so many stories around us that associate evil with women's bodies, with other cultures, with those who are different. Specific evils: Racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, age-ism, these evils haunt us. Real concrete harm is done when we allow these forces to run amok. Some modern feminists have re-claimed Lilith. Some in our congregation may even have once attended a "Lilith Fair" concert, a tour which featured women artists and told the rabbinic story of Lilith as Adam's first wife, who refused to be subservient to men. When we encounter resistance to Halloween, I think we have to ask ourselves: what has done more damage in our history, literal demons?