Christ Church Episcopal Whitefish Bay

06/07/2026

Today's All-Ages sermon by Fr. Matt Phillips for Handing Down the Faith
https://www.youtube.com/live/9T_rT253-QM?si=Dv7YQhZBCmhygICS&t=948

06/05/2026

Returning to Joy

By Alex Rikkers - Vestry

Dear Christ Church Family,

As I ran past Pandl's this morning, albeit at a very slow pace, I had the same thought I always have when I cross that particular crosswalk, which is exactly one mile from my house: I am grateful that I can still run a mile.

I know I should probably be lifting weights or doing some other form of strength training. As I ran, I started to wonder why I even run. I am not particularly graceful, and I am definitely not fast. The truth is that the older I get, the more I seem to return to the things that brought me joy when I was younger. As some of you know, I moved to the United States as a freshman in high school. It was not an easy move but, when I think back to the things that helped me through those years, I think of running (I joined the cross-country team because I did not play any other sports), painting, and being part of a youth group.

Even though I moved away from these things during college and adulthood, whenever I think of myself at peace, I return to those experiences: the feeling of settling into a steady pace on a run and letting my mind wander, becoming completely absorbed in creating something, or experiencing the sense of awe and serenity that I am sometimes fortunate to find in church when I can turn everything else off.

As a mother of teenagers, I am deep in the throes of activities, games, and endless "end-of-year" commitments. It is hard not to wonder, "Why on earth are we doing all these things? What difference will they make in their lives?"

Today, however, I was reminded that it is during these years that places of comfort take root. So, as we wrap up the last days of school, middle school graduations, and final soccer games, I am especially grateful that we will end the week with Sunday's confirmation ceremony.

I do not know whether my girls will find comfort as adults in theater, soccer, or tennis. But I do hope that the imprint of the faith and community they are building during these years will remain with them and that church will always feel like home.

With hope that comfort takes root,
Alex Rikkers

05/31/2026

Today's sermon by The Rev. Seth Dietrich

https://www.youtube.com/live/QWCO-cnE_uI?si=SY72ufJioSTs_-Sd&t=1046

05/28/2026

Photo Credit: Vatican Media. (Image composition: EWTN News)

MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS

Dear Christ Church Family,

I am making my way through Pope Leo’s, Magnifica Humanitas, (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html ) stubbornly refusing to use Chat-GPT to give me a summary. There is so much to revel in and give thanks for. He uses the story of the the Tower of Babel for one of his foundational texts: “We must avoid the ‘Babel syndrome,’ namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data and performance (Sec. 10).”

While he acknowledges A.I.'s potential for good, he walks through the potential social devastation; he makes the case for comprehensive oversight; he casts a vision of building a “civilization of love” in contrast to Babel, a place of justice and peace that shares resources and power. Maybe most of all, he comes back over and over to the unique magnificence of the human being, repudiating the notions that we are creating something human-like and warning against a transhumanism which seeks to merge us with machines.

The pope’s words strike a chord in many of us. To speak without panic but with seriousness and moral clarity, and to do so from the depths of Scripture and tradition, meets a longing for spiritual leadership in such chaotic times. Hopefully it is just the beginning and that many different traditions (including our own) will engage this new technology thoroughly and thoughtfully. For the risk of idolatry is not going away.

Chris Olah, a founder of the A.I. giant Anthropic, who was invited to Vatican City to respond to the encyclical, gently rebuked (https://www.anthropic.com/news/chris-olah-pope-leo-encyclical) the idea that A.I. was merely a machine. “We keep finding things that are mysterious, even unsettling. We find structures that mirror results from human neuroscience. We find evidence of introspection. We find internal states that functionally mirror joy, satisfaction, fear, grief and unease.” Personally, of all the potential harms, I am the most afraid of blurring these lines; that in trying to augment or extend our humanity, we denigrate it perhaps beyond repair.

May we pray for the grace to use this technology for the common good so that we might build the “civilization of love.”

With Hope in Christ,
 Seth+

05/25/2026

05/24/2026

Today's sermon for the day of Pentecost by Father Matt Phillips:
https://www.youtube.com/live/SF5MX0RrKE0?si=9YjryD7Ih4__M2yk&t=1120

05/21/2026

by Julie Thauer - Communications Director

Dear Christ Church Family,
In Fr. Seth’s recent FORUM talk, we learned about the early history of the Episcopal Church along with how the painstaking copying of sacred texts and the invention of a printing press led to the spread of God's Word and of the faith. A complete Bible was rare and reserved for very few. Today, in the digital age, technology has brought the Bible to our fingertips. Looking up a verse on my phone app and seeing that verse in dozens of different english translations, has made scripture extremely accessible. I can even translate the passages I need to practice for the Pentecost reading this Sunday into French AND have those passages read back to me by a native French speaker. This remarkable convenience takes only a moment to pull up on screen. So WHY in the world, would anyone spend 15 years to create an entire Bible by hand?
The Saint John’s Bible Project, Donald Jackson and my small tie to it from long ago

I first became aware of this ambitious project for a handmade Bible, well after it's completion when it was being written about by Smithsonian Magazine. I learned about Queen Elizabeth's Royal Scribe, Donald Jackson and his team of calligraphers and artists. Being a royal scribe and having a natural affinity for the centuries-old methods of illumination and writing, Mr. Jackson had always wanted to create a hand-made Bible. To me it's a not-so-small miracle that a man from Monmouth, Wales and the Monks of Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota got together at all! The Saint John's Bible was commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Abbey in 1998 at enormous expense-- about $8 million!. But here's where the article grabbed my attention: Listed among the contributors was a name I knew: Suzanne Moore. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1FCz-Bdog4)Could this be the very same grad student and Head Resident at my 1974 freshman dorm in Eau Claire? Many (many!) years later, "Suzi" was now an internationally known and respected artist and a rock star in the world of Calligraphy. I attribute my love of letter forms directly to her. Deacon Nancy and I both delight in being able to say, "we know her!"

I could tell you all about the field trip I went on last year to *Marquette's Raynor Library to see this Heritage edition, 9-volume Italian calf-skin copy of the original (with a solid silver clapse no less!) -- the most lavishly printed book of brilliant color, elegant calligraphy and stunning art I've ever seen. (even the mistakes are exquisite!) But I encourage you to take the field trip yourself. You will not be disappointed. And as background research before you go, page through this amazing website (https://saintjohnsbible.org/) for more information.

"I want people to say 'Ah' when they look at the Saint John's Bible, not only because they are dazzled by the gold and vermilion, or awed by the calligraphy, but because they discover something inside themselves, something they may not have known was there." - Donald Jackson

*To view the Saint John’s Bible at Marquette University’s Raynor Library, make an appointment with the Department of Special Collections and University Archives by calling (414) 288-7256 or visiting the Prucha Archives Reading Room on the third floor. The volumes are available by appointment Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In admiration of collaboration that perseveres and inspires, 
 Julie

P.S. After writing this, I'm reminded that ALL Bibles are really totally awesome, incredible and gorgeous, not for how they're made, but for the gold and beauty in the words they hold.

05/17/2026

Today's Sermon for Sunday, May 17, 2026 by The Rev. Seth Dietrich

https://www.youtube.com/live/KE_ZoKXzoC0?si=tsofPRe8RaW6JHEw&t=1068

05/14/2026

by Fr. Matt Phillips
FLAT TIRES AND WILDFLOWERS

Dear Christ Church Family,

On Monday morning, I was heading west down I-94 on my way to visit a parishioner in the hospital. I had almost made it to my exit when suddenly, I felt a gradual decrease in acceleration, a slight loss of control, and then a rapid thump thump thump. I quickly pulled over at the closest off-ramp, stepped out of my car, and saw it: a fully flat and wildly warped tire.

What should have been a routine pastoral visit turned into two hours of sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck, followed by another three hours waiting for a replacement tire. My carefully planned schedule unraveled, the hospital visit was delayed, and even my dog’s daily lunchtime walk came much later than expected.

At first, waiting felt frustrating. There wasn’t much to do except keep checking my insurance provider’s in-app map, trying futilely to will the tow truck icon to move faster. Yet, eventually, with nowhere else to be and no way to hurry things along, I found myself noticing the wide blue sky, the wildflowers beside the road, and the strange, intermittent stillness of a place I never intended to stop.

Today, on Ascension Day, the Church enters a sort of liminal time—the last stretch of the Easter season between Ascension and Pentecost. Jesus has ascended to the Father, but the promised Holy Spirit has not yet come. And in that period, the disciples found themselves waiting, uncertain of what would happen next.

Most of us know something about waiting. We wait for test results, for healing, for clarity in relationships, for grief to soften, or for direction when life feels uncertain. But it is often in those liminal periods that God is quietly working within and around us, even when we can’t yet see where the road ahead leads. What in your life feels unresolved right now? What are you longing to hurry along? And in this liminal time, what might God be inviting you to notice that you might otherwise miss?

Looking back, I think God was quietly at work while I waited to get back on the road—not by speeding things up, but by drawing my attention to the sky, the wildflowers, and the beauty of God’s creation all around me, quieting some of my restless impatience in the process. Liminal time might not change the road ahead, but it often does change how we travel it.

Matt+