St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, Lake Tahoe

St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, Lake Tahoe 341 Village Blvd. Incline Village, NV 89451
775-831-1418
www.tahoeepiscopal.org
Sunday Service 10am

06/14/2026

June 14, 2026

June 10, 2026The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouting of a ruler among fools.Ecclesiastes 9:1...
06/10/2026

June 10, 2026
The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
Ecclesiastes 9:17

You probably won’t like this much, but rats are a lot smarter than you think. Really smart – they have different kinds of intelligence, but on a par with dogs.

Rats have impressive spatial memory, building detailed mental maps of complex mazes — including efficient multi-stop routes — rather than random navigation. Even more remarkably, they update these maps in real-time, adapting within just a few trials when obstacles or rewards are moved, indicating active environmental reasoning rather than simple pattern memorization.

They have emotional intelligence, too. Rats demonstrate empathy by consistently freeing distressed cage-mates even without personal benefit — often prioritizing rescue over food. When unable to help, their stress hormone levels rose noticeably, suggesting genuine emotional investment rather than instinctual behavior. Rats even use tools, taking sticks to obtain food that is out of reach. Rat societies have coalitions, hunting parties, and group dynamics.

And I don’t WANT to think about all that. It’s easier to consider them vermin if they are mindless eating and pooping machines. Then I can consider them gross and disgusting without considering whether exterminating causes them terror or pain. Undoubtedly, it DOES cause them terror and pain – I just don’t want to think about it.

Are there people we that we also don’t want to think about? Whose pain, fear, or suffering we prefer to not see? Are there people that we consider or treat as less than human, so we don’t have to acknowledge the image of God in them? How do we shield ourselves from being aware of the mistreatment our neighbor, so we don’t feel obligated to respond?

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;P...
06/09/2026

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *
and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;
Psalm 46:2

Could that actually happen? Could a mountain fall into the sea? Unfortunately, not only could it happen, it DOES happen every now and then, and it probably won’t be too long until it happens again with catastrophic results.

Usually, mountains collapse due either to glacier melt, or volcanic instability. As glaciers melt and retreat they remove the support that held up the walls of ice and rock that used to hold them up. In September 2023, a mountaintop in East Greenland crashed into a fjord, triggering a 650 foot tall tsunami. The wave was so energetic it produced a seismic signal that rang around the globe for 9 days. In 2015, a mountainside in Alaska collapsed and dropped the rock equivalent of 540 Empire State buildings into the Tjaan Fjord. The wave surged almost 600 feet up the opposite hill.

Volcanoes collapse because they have layers of loose ash mixed with hardened lava, often sitting on sedimentary rock. The resulting cake is inherently unstable. Italy’s Mount Aetna is sliding toward the Mediterranean at a rate of 1-2 inches per year. While the risk of sudden collapse is low over short timeframes, a sudden failure is natural and eventually will occur.

I have ‘saved for a rainy day’ with every paycheck received my entire life, to my knowledge. Then when that rain inevitably falls, I get mad about having to use the savings for the emergency. It’s not that I am hoarding, exactly – it’s that I feel anxious about refilling the stash before the NEXT emergency. It feels unsafe to see the account balance drop.

This is silly, of course. Saving for emergencies is a smart thing to do, but it doesn’t keep us safe. Though a billionaire would doubtless argue, no amount of money can keep you safe.

What makes you feel safer in times of trouble? Money? A secure job? A gun and well-stocked home? A strong government? The quote for today is the second verse of Psalm 46. The first verse is "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. "

June 6, 2026Then (Jesus) called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the ...
06/06/2026

June 6, 2026
Then (Jesus) called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
Matthew 15:10-11

This is complicated. Hang on.

The digestive process starts in your mouth when you chew. Your salivary glands make saliva, which moistens food so it moves more easily through your esophagus into your stomach, and breaks down starches. A muscle movement called peristalsis moves the food through the esophagus into the stomach.

Glands in your stomach lining make stomach acid and enzymes that break down food. Muscles of your stomach mix the food with these digestive juices. Your pancreas makes more digestive juices that break down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Your liver produces a particular digestive juice called bile that helps digest fats and some vitamins. Bile ducts carry bile from your liver to your gallbladder for storage, or to the small intestine for use.

Your gallbladder stores bile between meals. When you eat, your gallbladder squeezes bile through the bile ducts into your small intestine. Your small intestine completes the breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Bacteria in your small intestine make some of the enzymes you need to digest carbohydrates. Your small intestine also moves water from your bloodstream into your GI tract to help break down food.

Finally, in the large intestine more water moves back from your GI tract into your bloodstream. Symbiotic bacteria in your large intestine help break down remaining nutrients and make Vitamin K, which you cannot make for yourself but need for blood clotting.
All of this needs to work properly for you to get adequate nutrition.

When a failure occurs, the blanket term for the failure is malabsorption, but a lot of things can cause it – autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s, pancreatic insufficiency that disrupts enzyme production, biliary issues, etc. Symptoms may include diarrhea or fatty stools, unintentional weight loss, anemia, failure to thrive.

Jesus was pretty direct with this one – it’s not eating unclean food that makes us unclean, it’s our meanness and unkind speech. Lately I’ve been thinking about how fear drives most of the ugliness we see around us; the best way to create a mob is to make people afraid, and the best way to make a hateful gossip is to make a person feel anxious and insecure, and willing to sacrifice someone else to feel better. How can we lift up other people, and built up the kingdom of God? How can we actively remind others that God created all kinds and conditions of people, and pronounced them Good?
Not sinless – neither they nor we are sinless – but made in God’s image, and Good, beloved of God, and worthy of respect.

June 5, 2026Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the l...
06/05/2026

June 5, 2026
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
Matthew 14: 25-26

A ghost is the spirit of a dead person who is hanging around here, instead of going on to the afterlife like any decent spirit would. Different cultures have different traditions about them – ancient Egyptians built tombs filled with goods and food to keep them happy, ancient Japanese thought ghosts were trying to resolve unfinished business, and there are many traditions that consider ghosts as spirits trying to communicate with living loved ones.

Thanks to movies and television, some people have the notion that ghosts are common and ghost-hunting is a profession. (I think it would be hard to pay the bills.) Enthusiasts set out EMF detectors, thermal cameras, and spirit boxes to capture evidence of the entity that might be haunting the premises. That evidence is often, from a purely scientific perspective, a bit suspicious. Other possible explanations include sleep paralysis (a dream state where you appear conscious but your brain is still dreaming); pareidolia (face recognition) – your brain is wired to ‘see’ faces where there aren’t any; or mold intoxication, carbon monoxide, or other chemicals (yep – just mold or other toxins can cause mild poisoning that can make us hallucinate a bit); or the power of suggestion.

Now – it is fun to believe in ghosts, it can be comforting to believe that loved ones hang around to check on us after death, Hollywood has made a zillion dollars from ghost stories, and if your friend believes they saw a ghost, you might believe it too. I understand ALL that. But this is a faith and SCIENCE meditation, and there is little science to back up a belief in ghosts. Nobody has proven ghosts are real, and nobody has proved they aren’t.

The balance between skepticism and mystery can be a tough one. We Christians know we believe an absurd thing – that a dead man was resurrected, not resuscitated, RESURRECTED, because he is the Son of God who has redeemed us from our sin. The theology of 2000 years makes that sound reasonable to our ears because it’s ours, not because it’s easy to accept.

When have you struggled to understand, or at least accept, a mystery? Do you tend toward skepticism or acceptance? May we have wise and discerning hearts, like the Lord gave to King Solomon.

06/04/2026

June 4, 2026
I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well.
Ecclesiastes 3:16

Occasionally, people think that mixing household chemicals to make a stronger, more effective solution sounds like a great idea. It will make it work that much better, right? Most of the time, though, it just creates a toxic compound that can be dangerous.
Mixing bleach with ammonia makes a compound called chloramine, which can cause coughing, shortness of breath, and nausea. Severe poisoning can cause pneumonia, lung damage, or even death.

Bleach and rubbing alcohol can combine to make haloforms, like chloroform plus hydrochloric acid. Again, bad idea, and don’t inhale the stuff or get it on you.

Bleach plus vinegar produces chlorine gas, also contraindicated. Potential damage to lungs and eyes. (You should be noticing a pattern by now. Never mix bleach with ANYTHING but water.) Bleach plus hydrogen peroxide creates peracetic acid. These are highly reactive and caustic, and cause chemical burns.

Lastly, be cautious about all household chemicals, even if you don’t mix them. Antifreeze, caustics such as lye, solvents like paint thinner and acetone, including solid chemicals like mothballs, or medications – all such chemical compounds should be stored and used only as directed, and kept out of the reach of children and pets. In the US alone, more than 300 children per day are brought to emergency rooms due to accidental poisoning.

The LORD requires justice of us, but sadly, we sometimes enjoy administering justice a little too much, so that it starts to look like cruelty, vengeance, or tribalism. The LORD also requires righteousness and mercy. How do we balance those three requirements? How do we ensure that we don't indulge our own wickedness?

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36

The Sierra Deanery meeting at clergy conference.
06/03/2026

The Sierra Deanery meeting at clergy conference.

05/31/2026

May 31, 2026

We are meeting on June 4th to discuss To Kill a Mockingbird - hope you can join us!
05/29/2026

We are meeting on June 4th to discuss To Kill a Mockingbird - hope you can join us!

05/24/2026

May 24, 2026

Address

341 Village Boulevard
Incline Village, NV
89451

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 1pm
Tuesday 9am - 1pm
Wednesday 9am - 1pm
Thursday 9am - 1pm
Friday 9am - 1pm
Sunday 8am - 12pm

Telephone

+17758311418

Website

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