Christ Episcopal Church, Pulaski VA

06/04/2026

As Pride month begins, save the date for a gathering commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1976 General Convention resolution declaring that LGBTQ+ people have a full and equal claim to the pastoral care and support of The Episcopal Church. The event, “Full and Equal: 50 Years in Pursuit of a Promise,” will celebrate progress and acknowledge the work that remains.
The three-day gathering, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sept. 3-5, will include storytelling coaching, workshops, a banquet, and a Eucharist featuring Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe as presider and Bishop Gene Robinson as preacher. Spanish-language interpretation will be available.
More registration details will follow. Please save the date and help spread the word.

06/02/2026

05/31/2026

This will be the last in this series from the sermon from Deacon Jon Greene,

We can agree that these problems need to be fixed.
AND, AND…We can also call for mercy in the way that we fix them.
In fact, I contend to you that the Church, God’s Church is called to do
exactly that.
There is a lot of stuff I feel the Church has no business getting involved
with...

Appointments, policies, tariffs, for example. While we may have
individual opinions, I feel the Church doesn’t belong in those
conversations.
But when people are being hurt, when our siblings, beloved children of
God every one, are suffering, we are called to hold up the mirror.
And that is true for Presidents regardless of party, congressmen,
governors, mayors, town councils, county supervisors, school
board members, superintendents, business owners, managers, and
anyone else in authority.

We, you and I, are called to hold up the mirror to the powerful, to be the
prophetic voice for the voiceless, the suffering, the marginalized.
And when we do, the powerful probably won’t like it; we will be blessed
for people will hate us.

Not very warm and fuzzy, for a Sunday morning?
But maybe our faith shouldn’t be about being warm and fuzzy. Maybe
our faith shouldn’t be about being comfortable.

In a few minutes, we will wish each other “Peace”.
And it will be a warm and fuzzy moment—I love the Peace here at
Christ Church—it is indeed warm and fuzzy.
But when we wish each other’s Christ’s peace, that peace is not an easy
peace, it is not a comfortable peace, it is not a warm and fuzzy
peace.
As the hymn says:
The Peace of God it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod.
Yet let us pray for just one thing—the marvelous Peace of God.
Because the Peace of God is sometimes the blessing that comes when
people hate you because you are holding up the mirror, being that
prophetic voice.
Pray that we may all be so blessed
because the world needs us to hold up the mirror…right now.
Amen.

05/30/2026

This is the fourth in the continuing series from a sermon from Deacon Jon Greene.

Bishop Marian Edgar Budde preached at the National Prayer Service the
day after President Trump’s inauguration.
If you have not yet, I highly recommend listening to the entire sermon.
No doubt…it was a challenging sermon. For the first 14 minutes she
preached about unity and the challenge for all of us in achieving it.
Then she closed with:
“Mr. President…in the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy on the
people in our country that are scared now…”
“Our God teaches us to be merciful to the strangers; because we were all
once strangers in this land.”
She did mention our LGBTQ and immigrant siblings and of course those
are hot button issues these days, but the fundamental message was
“have mercy on the people…that are scared.”
The response was predictable:

Her sermon was called “nasty in tone.”
One Congressman referred to her as a “woke bishop.” Another called for
her to be added to the deportation list.
A House Resolution was drafted (one of the sponsors is our own
Congressman) “condemning her distorted message.”
She has received death threats.
Because she called for mercy.
Blessed is she for people hate her.
As it turns out, the powerful still don’t like it when you hold up the
mirror and call for mercy.
Now you may disagree with Bishop Budde.
You may agree with all of the administration’s policies.
And I’ve got to tell you I agree that we need to do something about
immigration.
We need to do something about excessive regulations and government
efficiency.
We can agree that these problems need to be fixed.

05/29/2026

Come join us
May 31 for Morning Prayer
on Trinity Sunday.

Matthew 28:16-20
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

image From Adobe stock

05/28/2026

This is the third in the continuing series.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor in born in Germany in 1906.
He was ordained in 1931.
He wrote a book that remains one of the most important theological
guide stars, “The Cost of Discipleship.”
In 1933, N**i authorities sought to unify and control all protestant
churches under the German Evangelical Church.
Bonhoeffer and about 1/3 of ministers in Germany refused and formed
what became the Confessing Church.
He opposed the N**i dictatorship and was particularly vocal against the
euthanasia program and the genocide of the Jews.
Bonhoeffer referred to this practice as “holding up the mirror.”
This is the essence of the prophetic voice.
It doesn’t have anything to do with predicting the future, rather it is
about speaking truth to power.
Saying “this is happening; it is hurting God’s beloved children, and it
needs to stop.”
Bonhoeffer was constantly harassed by N**i authorities and prohibited
from speaking or publishing.
He was eventually imprisoned in 1943 and hanged in April 1945 as the
N**i regime collapsed.
Blessed was he for people hated him.

Bonhoeffer is no longer with us.
But we still have saints. We still have prophetic voices.

05/27/2026

This is the Second in the series from Deacon Jon Greene:

Jesus is not pulling any punches on us this morning.

He doesn’t sound much different from Jeremiah in this morning’s Old
Testament reading.

Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh
their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD.

Oh, but Luke does have some good news for us:
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude
you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of
Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your
reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did
to the prophets."

“Blessed are you when people hate you”?
That’s the good news?

My answer is, ‘Yes, that is Good News.’
You see, it was dark times in Palestine when Jesus walked the land. A
brutal Roman Empire, an empire that would crucify its political
opposition, was in charge.
And they were joined by cynical religious leadership that was willing to
align themselves with the Romans to retain their authority and
wealth.
Jesus’ message was that God is with those that had the courage to speak
truth to power that were willing to raise their prophetic voice to say
your policies and actions are causing suffering.
And when they raised that prophetic voice…those in power tended to
not like it.
And when they raised that prophetic voice…blessed were they when
people hated them for it.

The Church has many saints who have raised their prophetic voice—and
people hated them. I’m going to point to two for your
consideration.

05/26/2026

A sermon from the Deacon Jon Greene broken down into social media bites. This will come across several days. This is the first in a series.

May love bring change, may change bring hope, may hope bring love.
Amen!

Ahh the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the
peacemakers…
All warm and fuzzy, right?
Well…maybe.
Those are the beatitudes in Matthew’s Gospel and even his version ends
with
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness”

What we see in the Gospel this morning is a lot less warm and fuzzy
isn’t it?
We tend to gloss right over the woes that Luke shares with us…
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your
consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.

"Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their
ancestors did to the false prophets."

Jesus is not pulling any punches on us this morning.

05/25/2026

I will lie down in peace and take my rest, for it is in God alone that I dwell unafraid. ~ A New Zealand Prayer Book

05/22/2026

Come join us May 24th for
Holy Communion with
The Rev. Terrie Sternberg
for the Day of Pentecost.

John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Image from "a net in time"