Yoga: Embodied Presence and Embodied Prayer

Yoga is not about putting your body into impossible positions or performing semi superhuman stunts. Yoga at its best is about becoming aware of the body, tending the body, and learning to connect with it and with the divine energies moving through it at deeper and deeper levels.


This breakout session will involve no “down dogs” or full lotus positions. Depending upon the interest and abilities of those who attend, we may not even use yoga mats. We will explore, through breath work and simple, but profound movements, how simple presence brings us closer to God in the present moment.


Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

—1st Corinthians 6:19-20

Welcome Home!

Welcome Home Sunday is more than just an invitation for those who have been away to come back to church; it is an invitation for all of us to come home to God. St. Augustine said “our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God.” Welcome Home Sunday is not just about joining us physically or virtually for a worship service and some fellowship time; it is a day set aside to reflect on our spiritual lives and to try and rest our hearts in God.

Read Bingham’s entire reflection by clicking “read more.”

EfM - Education for Ministry - An Invitation

Are you looking for a meaningful, small group?  Would you like to have the companionship of people who enjoy spiritual and theological conversations?  Are you hungry for Biblical and church knowledge, as well as needing more information about your church and your own theology?  EfM (Education for Ministry) can provide all that and more. 

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Perseverance and Imagination

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On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the apostles and thousands of others to do the work of ministry. Pentecost reminds us that we are not alone in these tasks, but the Holy Spirit is there to comfort and empower us in all we do. 

Read Bingham’s entire reflection by clicking “Read More.”

How We Live: Hearts on Fire

Of course, I don’t really believe that it was their hair, but rather their hearts, that the Holy Spirit set ablaze that day. After seven weeks of living in the shadows, afraid to be seen or heard by much of anyone, the apostles were suddenly on fire with the desire to share the Good News about the friend and fellow Galilean whom they’d come to know as the Face of God.

Read Sharon’s entire reflection on Pentecost by clicking “Read More.”

Brave and Bold Biblical Women and What They Teach Us

St. Mary’s Women’s Retreat—Spring 2023

Brave and Bold Biblical Women and What They Teach Us

Saturday, June 3, 10 AM to 3 PM

(Gather as early at 9:30 AM; Optional no-host dinner follows at the Public House in Springfield)

Eugene Yacht Club, Fern Ridge Reservoir

Click “Read More” for details and a link to register.

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Fifty Days of Easter

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I encourage you to celebrate Easter as profoundly as you embrace Lent. It is quite common to take on a Lenten practice or two. These practices in Lent help us to fulfill the invitation at Ash Wednesday to observe Lent “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.” These practices are wonderful; I have been spiritually nourished by them over the years. I wonder sometimes, though, if we should consider adopting Easter practices. Not practices of fasting, but of feasting. Not practices of asceticism, but practices of flourishing. Not practices of inward self-examination, but ones that make us look outward, reaching out to one another, connecting and deepening relationships, seeking new life through Christ’s resurrection.

Read Bingham’s entire reflection by clicking “Read More.”

Reflections on Lent

Lent is upon us. The forty days of Lent are modeled on the Jesus’ 40 days in the desert, preparing himself for ministry. We take these 40 days to prepare ourselves for the central moment of our faith: Easter. Early in the life of the Church, Christians would set aside this time before Easter to prepare themselves with acts of fasting, charity, prayer, and study. In other words, to work on their “holy habits.”

To read Bingham’s entire reflection, click “Read More.”

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Inviting Children and Youth Around the Altar at the Eucharist

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Inviting Children and Youth Around the Altar at the Eucharist

For decades, at our 9:30 a.m. Sunday service, we have invited children and and youth to come up around the altar for the Eucharistic prayer. The COVID pandemic put a stop to this practice. Some of you may have forgotten, and others may have never experienced this practice. The reasons we invite children and youth to come forward around the altar are multiple:

Click “Read More” to read the rest of this article.

Love in Action - An Outreach Luncheon series

Love in Action - An Outreach Luncheon series

Sunday, January 22, in Berktold Hall. Lunch is served at 12:15 PM.  Presentation starts at 12:30 PM. 

 

This month, join us to learn more about Community Supported Shelters. If you’ve been unsheltered for years, have experienced trauma, or are struggling with mental and emotional health issues, simply getting along with others can be a significant challenge.

Read more about this event by clicking “Read More.”

What time of day is it for our community?

At a recent gathering of clergy, we were asked the following question: What time of day is it for your community? One person said that it felt like it was five minutes before midnight. Another said it was five minutes after midnight. One person said it was high noon. My response was dawn. Here’s why.

Vestry Report for November 2022

The Vestry has been reflecting on quotes from John Phillip Newell’s text, Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul at each meeting this year. It has been a joy to start our meetings reflecting on his words. The quotes that were shared with us for the September and October meetings invite us to search and see the holy in each other as well as in nature. These reminders have been helpful as we continue to live in the liminal space that is this season of “next normal.” There is a bit of trepidation as we wonder what is around the corner and how to best love our neighbors, but as Newell so gently reminds us, “There is hope. And it is a hope based on our deepest knowing, that every human being is sacred, body and soul.” It’s that hope the Vestry carries as we keep working to identify and meet the needs of our church community.

Read the Vestry’s entire report by clicking “Read More.”

Sacred Ground: The Sacrament of Embodiment - A Spiritual Growth Opportunity

Christians have gotten mixed messages about bodies. On the one hand, St. Paul has told us that our body is a temple. On the other hand, he has said, “Nothing good dwells within my flesh.” For many of us, the second message has been emphasized, and not the first. Using breath work and movement as embodied prayer, as well as poetry, Visio Divina, and small-group sharing, we will explore what it means to be a sacred body in a community of other embodied sacred persons living in an embodied and sacred cosmos.

Read about this four-week offering by clicking “Read More.”

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August 17 - The Celebration of the Feast of Saint Mary Mary was involved in the life of Jesus throughout his ministry. She cared for him as an infant; she looked for him in the Temple when she thought he was lost; she cared for him through adolescen

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