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 […]
Sunday, January 22, 2023 – 3 Epiphany
Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 5-13; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer One need only turn on the news, open the paper, or click a few keys on the keyboard to learn of the next disastrous event happening in the world. Unfortunately, the last couple of weeks has hit home to many of […]
Sunday, January 8, 2023 – 1 Epiphany
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Every so often, when Steve and I are watching tv, he will flip through the channels while I’m reading a book or playing with my phone and stop on Joel Olsteen. Now Steve doesn’t particularly like to watch Joel Olsteen, what he enjoys […]
Sunday, January 1, 2023 – Lessons & Carols
Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 8; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:15-21 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Most of us remember the Grimms brothers’ fairy tale in which a mean, little gnome spins straw into gold for a beautiful peasant girl on the condition that she give him her first-born child. Once the girl, now a queen, gives birth […]
Sunday, December 18, 2022 – 4th Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer One of my running app coaches tells me to be fearless. She doesn’t mean fearless as in recklessness or taking unwarranted risks. She is telling me to fear less than my faith. What she means is that I need to “up my faith”—trust the […]
Sunday, December 4, 2022 – 2nd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7 Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12 The Rev. Candice B. Frazer Many of you know that I like to run several times a week. I use a running app that offers coaching for every run. One of my favorite running coaches on the app tells me it is ok to look back as long as I […]