Saint David's Kennebunk

08/23/2026

Happy Sunday!
One of the reasons we still read this weird old Bible is that many of the stories in it are still true. There are patterns to history and to human behavior that haven’t changed since before the Bible was written. Kings and emperors and powerful people will always manipulate and divide their people with the illogic of racism and prejudice. Oppressors will always belittle and alienate the outsider, even when their strength relies on them. But the reason we read these stories is not just to know that dragons exist, as GK Chesterton wrote: it’s to know that they can be beaten. Because there are patterns to hope as well. Just as the powerful will always oppress, so will there always be the overlooked ones who, through tiny acts of resistance, spell the doom of Empire. In the story of the Exodus, their names were Shiprah and Puah, Hebrew midwives who defied the Pharaoh and saved the children who grew up to lead the people. They were the overlooked, the forgotten, the ignored, the underestimated. They broke the Empire once, and they will do it again. They, not the mighty, are the heroes of the story of God’s people.

And you are welcome, friend, to hear this story again as we gather in prayer and song, in Bread and Wine.

8:00 Holy Communion, traditional language
9:30 Holy Communion, contemporary language, live-streamed here.

08/16/2026

08/16/2026

Happy Sunday!
One of the hardest stories about Jesus is the time he said no. A woman asked him to heal her daughter, and he said no, because she wasn’t Jewish. She calls him on it, says that there’s got to be enough grace for everyone, and he agrees. It’s either a story about a racist Jesus changing his mind, some kind of performance by Jesus and the woman to make a point, or something else entirely. When you have a text that’s been around for two thousand years, you’re going to get this kind of thing- stories that, try as we might, just refuse to be wrestled into one meaning. And that’s part of the point. We don’t give up until we receive the blessing. We keep digging, keep asking, until we find the grace for us. Because if the story of Jesus tells us anything, it’s that there is always always a place for us and our questions, doubts, and fears. We belong, always.

And you are welcome to struggle with us, as we gather and receive the blessing in prayer and song, in Bread and Wine.

8:00 Holy Communion, traditional language
9:30 Holy Communion and Baptism, contemporary language, live-streamed here.

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

Happy Sunday!
There’s a story about Jesus walking on water. It’s a strange miracle story, because it doesn’t really do anything - no one gets healed, or saved from embarrassment or punishment. Jesus didn’t need to do it, but he did, and the story got told. One version of the story says that Peter, his friend and follower, tried to join him, but fell in for his troubles. I’ve always thought of this as a story about faith- Peter believed he could walk on water, and so he did, until he got distracted and slipped away. I wonder, though, if it’s also a story about faithfulness- about just wanting to be wherever Jesus is, and taking a risk to do that. And a story about Jesus’ faithfulness to us, pulling us out of the jams we get ourselves into. Because faith isn’t just blind trust, believing in the impossible because the Bible or anyone said so. Faith is really faithfulness, sticking with the story and the person of Jesus because it’s what gives us life and purpose. To believe is not to be certain without proof; it’s to follow without fear.

And you are welcome to follow with us, as we meet the faithfulness of Jesus in prayer and song, in bread and wine.

8:00 Holy Communion, traditional language
9:30 Holy Communion, contemporary language, live-streamed here.

08/02/2026

08/02/2026

Happy Sunday!
The feeding of the 5000 is one of the best stories about Jesus, and it has far more to do with what he did than what he said or taught. Forget whether Jesus really multiplied bread and fish to feed thousands of people, or whether the generosity of the few inspired generosity by many. Forget even the fact that Jesus had gone out into this place - far away from any food - because he wanted a BREAK (and didn't get it!). This is a story, ultimately, about the fact that we are responsible for each other. If your neighbor is hungry, your job is not to tell them to get a job, or spend less money; it's to feed them. And before we get into the questions of who deserves help and who doesn't, remember that Jesus did not ask for aid applications. His disciples asked him to tell the people to fend for themselves; he told them that it was their problem, too. He told the disciples to feed the people, even when it was impossible, because we are responsible for each other. All the preaching and personal responsibility in the world does no good to fill an empty stomach. Maybe we don't have enough to feed everyone we see; maybe we can't meet all the need that there is in the world. But that doesn't mean that the hungry, the poor, the needy, the marginalized are not our responsibility. If we belong to Jesus, then we belong to one another.

And you are welcome to be fed with us as we gather in prayer and song, in Bread and Wine.

8:00 Holy Communion, traditional language
9:30 Holy Communion, contemporary language, livestreamed here.

07/28/2026

Congratulations to our own Helena Gilman!

We are so happy to introduce you to Ms Gooch’s Beach!

“I first thought the Maine Golden Beauty Pageant would be a fun “why not?” idea. But once I learned about the elder abuse charity and met the remarkable women involved, my answer became an enthusiastic yes.

Elder abuse affects 1 in 10 adults over the age of 65—most of them women—and it is widely underreported. I am here to help spread awareness, build community with extraordinary women, and celebrate women of every generation: those who came before us and those yet to come.

At 71 and semi-retired, I am most proud of my courage. Ever since my high school guidance counselor told me I was “not college material,” I have challenged myself to exceed expectations—sometimes even my own.

Today, my life is no longer shaped by scarcity. I am highly educated, have lived in four countries, spent 30 years in corporate America, financially supported a family of four, and raised two wonderful sons. I have learned to bloom wherever I am planted—sometimes by design, sometimes unexpectedly and often after falling through the cracks.

My life has been, and continues to be, like a rich red rose with its share of thorns. I am grateful for every opportunity to grow, connect with others, build community and leave things a little better than I found them!”

We love Helena! You can vote for her for the PeoplesChoice award by following this link:

 https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-make-a-difference-16226

07/26/2026

Happy Sunday!
Sometimes it only takes something small to make an enormous difference. Jesus talks about yeast and mustard seeds as metaphors for the Kingdom of God- tiny things that have a huge impact. The trouble is that often we only appreciate the impact, and not the smallness. We don’t see the value in the seed or the yeast, only in the end result. But sometimes small is all you can handle. The idea of the whole kingdom of God, the whole story of love, is just too big for us to imagine affecting whatever worries us. But a spore of yeast? A tiny seed? Those can get in like a tiny wordless sigh when every sermon in the world can’t. Hope needs to be small, to fit in between the cracks in our despair. Because all we need to know is that we’re not alone. That in itself is enough to set in motion a chain of events that convinces us that there is nothing in this world or out of it that can separate us from the love that we know in Jesus Christ. And even that mighty hope is no more than a tiny seed of what is to come. Whatever you’re struggling with - and we are all struggling - the hope you need is small enough to already be with you, and persistent enough to see you through.

And you are welcome to greet that hope with us in prayer and song, in Bread and Wine.

8:00 Holy Communion, traditional language
9:30 Holy Communion, contemporary language, live-streamed here.

07/19/2026

Happy Sunday!

There is evil in this world, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Not that many would try- it only takes a glance through a newspaper, or a scroll down a newsfeed, to see the horrific evidence. The question, perhaps, is more what shape it takes. Jesus tells a story about a field that someone planted with wheat, and whose enemy came in the night and planted with weeds as well. That, he says, is like the world- good and evil, so mixed together that the evil can’t be uprooted without destroying the good, and only at harvest time can it be fully resolved. So, do we throw up our hands as evil thrives in the world, trusting to God to sort it out in the end? The rest of Scripture would suggest otherwise. How, then, do we deal with evil and with the people who perpetrate it? I don’t know, to be honest, but if following Jesus has taught us anything, our response has to start with the understanding that each and every one of us is a child of God. It has to start by remembering that evil hurts because it hurts a child of God, and by remembering that even those who inflict it are hurt by it. It’s harder, but the refusal to abandon compassion for another person is at the heart of any resistance to evil. We live in this world by refusing to allow it to break us, by resolutely choosing love at every turn, for every person.

And you are welcome to choose it with us, as we gather in prayer and song, in Bread and Wine.

8:00 Holy Communion, traditional language
9:30 Holy Communion, contemporary language, live-streamed here.