Spirituality

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

We who live in arid areas know that deserts often do not deserve their negative reputation; they produce some of the most beautiful panoramas imaginable. One need only look west from Albuquerque toward the Sandia mountains to behold the beauty of peaks bathed in reddish hue at sundown. Or, travel “down the hill” from Los Alamos just prior to the sun being occluded behind the western Jemez range to behold the grandeur of the Rio Grande Valley. We give thanks to behold such, and for that marvelous organ that is the eye.

Now at the beginning of the Christian season of Advent the desert Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

In World War II, when the Japanese army occupied Vietnam, they didn’t kill people wholesale; they just destroyed the food supply and let people starve to death. After all, a physically weak citizen is likely not going to be an internal threat, one might assume the army leaders thought.

A Vietnamese family lived in one of the larger houses in the city. After a time, starving orphaned children would come to the house begging for food, but there was none to be had; the meagre rations the residents were provided weren’t enough for one person, much less several, and they’d been reduced Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

You may remember the big news last week about the two billion dollar Powerball prize up for grabs. There was a news report after the drawing which reported that, after taxes, the winner would receive a “mere” $634 million. “Awww … poor thing!” said … nobody.

But it gets one to thinking. Not about exorbitant taxes (well … maybe that, too), but rather: “How much is enough?” After all, even the richest never seem to have enough, though claiming that it’s the challenge that keeps them striving—like a video game in which billionaires try to get the “high score”. But scripture reminds Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Well, here we are … another election. (sigh). Endless ads … endless placards … endless biting rhetoric about “the other guy/gal”. We shouldn’t complain TOO much, I guess; it’s a lot better than the alternatives—absolute monarchy, dictatorship or, on the flip side, anarchy. Socrates’ all-wise philosopher-king (ref.: Plato’s “The Republic”) remains as elusive as the unicorn. Yet, it’s fairly safe to posit that all of us weary of blather as candidates tie themselves in knots pandering to virtually every imaginable group, or at least to not totally alienate potential undecideds. Read More

Clergy from left, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired; Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Assistant Rector Lynn Finnegan and Pastor Deb Church. Courtesy photo

By Reverend Lynn Finnegan
The Episcopal Church of the USA

“Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake.”

This prayer, attributed to the fourth century saint, Augustine of Hippo, is in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer Read More