Sunday, June 18, 2023 – Pentecost 3
Exodus 19:2-8a; Psalm 100; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Between the years of 1830 and 1850, an estimated 60,000 Native Americans along with a few white sympathizers were removed from the Southeast and forced to relocate in the mid-West. We know that as the Trail of Tears—a five-thousand-mile trek. Most of the Indians forcibly […]
Sunday, June 4, 2023 – Trinity Sunday
Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Psalm 8; II Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Our world has devolved into one of division and despair. At least that is our common perception. We live in a time of angst and anxiety that has difficulty pointing toward a hopeful future, one filled with possibility and promise. Instead, we look back and […]
Sunday, May 14, 2023 – Easter 6
Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:7-18; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer In the early 1940s a young GI wrote to his sister from overseas. He was homesick and weary of the war, though he knew its necessity and importance. Trying hard to overcome a despair that might easily catch him unawares, he spoke of […]
Sunday, May 7, 2023 – Easter 5
Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5,15-16 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Stephen Is not one of the original disciples. He seems to have converted after Jesus’ ascension. He knows the Jewish story well and when challenged by the religious authority, retells the story of the Patriarchs pointing out the failings of man while highlighting […]
Sunday, April 9, 2023 – Easter Sunday
Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; Matthew 28:1-10 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer He is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Easter is a joyous and triumphant occasion of celebration and good cheer. And rightly so—it is the day when we declare Jesus’ defeat over death and sin. The early Church Fathers declared it the day God played […]
Sunday, April 2, 2023 – Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew’s Passion The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Palm Sunday to Passion Sunday—we take the single most impactful event of Jesus’ life and ministry and squash it into this one day. It starts out pretty good—Jesus comes riding in on a donkey. And since we are reading Matthew’s Gospel—we get to imagine […]
Sunday, March 19, 2023 – Lent 4
I Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Several years ago, before I even thought about going to seminary and becoming a priest, I was a youth minister at St. Paul’s in Selma. One particular group of teens had grown up with Harry Potter and we had woven the series into […]
Sunday, March 5, 2023 – Lent 2
Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Sometimes we get so distracted by Lent and the build up to Holy Week with Jesus’ death and resurrection on the line that we forget to live into the season. Story after story in the season of Lent is focused on Jesus revealing […]
Sunday, February 26, 2023 – Lent 1
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Serpent in the garden, Satan in the wilderness—every year most of us approach Lent from the place of temptation believing we are not enough and that God can only love us if we give something up or take something on or be […]
Sunday, February 5, 2023 – 5 Epiphany
Isaiah 58:1-9a, (9b-12); Psalm 112:1-10; I Corinthians 2:1-16; Matthew 5:13-20 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Whenever Steve and I return home from a trip—be it down to the beach or over to Selma or coming back from Birmingham—and it is after dark, we always make a point to turn down Lawrence St. off the interstate so […]