News and Updates

Dear friends, I’m not sure about you, but we’ve had lots of family descending on the rectory this week. Between both our boys, both our mothers, and a step-father thrown in for good measure, we’re bursting at the seams! Of course, everyone is curious to see us in our...

Dear friends, “Behold, I make all things new.” This phrase from the Book of Revelation (21:5) has been rattling around my head these past few weeks. Partly it’s because after our move to Palm Beach and starting my ministry among you, all things do indeed feel new. In...

This week I had the opportunity to attend a lecture on the History of Palm Beach County, and what an extensive history it is. From the Native Americans who first settled here over 12,000 years ago, to the early 19th century pioneers, to the barefoot mailmen, to Henry...

Growing up in South Florida, my family repeated the same joke this time every year: “Our week of fall has arrived – don’t blink or you’ll miss it!” Everyone knows we enjoy palm fronds year-round here, with no golden leaves to cue us that autumn has arrived....

Human beings are usually much better at beginnings and “hellos” than endings and “goodbyes,” but the people of Bethesda could not have concluded our time and this interim in more wonderful ways. Valerie and I are touched by your expressions of gratitude, for the...

How do any of us decide what to do with our lives? Obviously, in an ideal world, who we are should determine what we do. As philosophers say, “Being precedes doing.” The trouble is that no matter at what age and stage of life we ask, “Who am I … really? the answer has...

Many people work hard and give their best to the professions of their callings. Those who work at high-threat vocations need a release from the almost constant burden of their jobs. Skill and dedication are needed, but so are rest, recreation, prayer, contemplation,...

In 1941, Dorothy Sayer’s mother wrote to her adult children a love note at the height and horror of the bombing of London. In part she penned, “In the Christian life we are converted to a great mission that began before we arrived, is larger than the present age and...

At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 22, we will enjoy the first in a new series of world-class events at our beloved Bethesda. The idea is to invite some of the best performers from around the world for concerts that are not available anywhere else in the region and...