Episcopal Churches of Kingsport

10/07/2025

10/01/2024

As I scroll through all the pictures of WNC and ETN, I see all the places that are so familiar to me. The places I have spent my formative years and time with some of the most important people in my life. just to name a few, are the places so close to me both physically and in my heart.

You see I "grew up" in Asheville and Lake Lure. I lived in Asheville for a short period after college. My mother is from Asheville and we would visit and stay with my grandmother, in Asheville, most every summer and on holidays. We would make the 45 min drive down to Lake Lure from Asheville to spend the weekend on the lake in the boathouse my grandfather built on the lake in the early 1960's. Our family albums are full of pictures of the lake in the background, in that boathouse that disappeared in an instant. I went to Mars Hill University as an undergrad and Asheville was our "playground" on the weekends.

It is so surreal to see all the places I love wiped away and irrevocably changed from what I knew them. And as beautiful and quaint all those places were (are), it was the people in those places that made them meaningful. It's the people that matter most...

I think the reason I keep scrolling (as we all do) is to somehow try and make sense of it all. We look for what is familiar and in our imagination try and put it all back in place. But then the sadness hits and we get slapped with the fact that it is all gone. At least the physical dwellings and places that were so familiar.

Fortunately, all the people I know that live and work in those areas are safe and accounted for. For that I am grateful.

I know that, in time, it will all be put back together and be rebuilt. The scars will remain. But I think the thing that we all need to be reminded of, is the all the comfort and redemption that comes when we all pull together and focus on what matters. Instead of all the polarization and dissention of life when times seemed "normal".

My hope and prayer is that we continue with pulling together once we get past the crisis. We might not agree on how the bridge should be rebuilt, but we do all agree that we need the bridge. And that is what we need to focus on.

Peace my friends... we are all in this together...

11/19/2021

Dear East Tennessee Friends,

I write to you with the news that The Right Rev. William Evan Sanders died last evening, November 18th, at his home in Nashville. His family was present with him.

Bishop Sanders was the eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Tennessee and the first Bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee. At the time of his election as Bishop Coadjutor in 1962, he was serving as the Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis. During his lifetime, his ministry included all three grand divisions of this state. At the time of his death, Bishop Sanders was the senior Bishop in the House of Bishops.

As Episcopalians, we share in ministry. The ministries entrusted to us now were stewarded well by those who served and have gone before us. Bishop Sanders, who served the Diocese of Tennessee and East Tennessee faithfully and well for decades, now goes before us to see God face to face.

At a later date, we will share details regarding the place and time for a Burial Eucharist. For now, keep the Sanders family in your prayers.

Almighty God, our Father in heaven, before whom live all who die in the Lord: Receive our brother William into the courts of your heavenly dwelling place. Let his heart and soul now ring out in joy to you, O Lord, the living God, and the God of those who live. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Peace,

+ Brian

04/26/2020

Morning Prayer - Easter 3 - April 26, 2020

04/19/2020

Easter 2 - Morning Prayer with Bishop Brian Cole officiating.

04/19/2020

Easter 2 -Morning Prayer

04/14/2020

Meditations in the Time of a Pandemic from St. James Episcopal Church Black Mountain, North Carolina   Day ###: Practice Resurrection April 14, 2020 offered by +Porter Taylor   …Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the fores...

04/11/2020

Good Friday is the day we, the church, commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. It is a day the Eucharist cannot be celebrated and the church has become a meeting hall. A solemn day indeed, but also a day for hope. A day of prayer. During the Good Friday liturgy we will pray one of the oldest prayers in Christianity; the Solemn Collects. They are the model for our intercessory prayer with biddings for the church, nation, those who suffer, witness, and the dead. We pray with hopeful hearts to a creator who is, not only listening, but active in our lives and seeking a deeper connection. The Solemn Collects are prayer but also conversation with a creator of endless love. A sacrificial love and source of all hope for the world.

04/10/2020

Because of your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world...