St. Ed Said

HAPPENINGS LEAD ARTICLE AUGUST 4, 2026 One of the things I often struggle with is thinking it is ok to pray for things I want. Prayer is often, in my default mode, simply for people who are ill, people who are struggling, people who are facing great challenges. It’s one of the reasons, I think, that when we pray for the blessings of this life, the room, wherever you happen to be, becomes deathly silent. We don’t know how to pray for what we want or give thanks for the good things we have. Worse than both of those, we don’t think God wants to hear our blessings and our hopes. Contrast that of course, to being in a room where we are asked to pray for those in need. The cacophony of names, causes, tragedies and other things will ring aloud for minutes before it comes to an end. On my way out of the Church last Sunday, Dee asked if it would be ok to pray for the Memorial Garden, the Rainbow Bridge and the Harvest Bazaar. These are core ministries that will impact the community where we liv...

The Rev. Aron Kramer 10 Pentecost, Proper 13A August 2nd, 2026 Matthew shares the story of the feeding of the five thousand almost as a second thought. But notice where the story begins. "Jesus withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself." There are five words that significantly change this story. Five words that have been cut out of the Gospel with very interesting repercussions. Those five words are: “Now when Jesus heard this,”. What was it Jesus had heard? He had just heard that John was dead. His cousin, the one who baptized him. John's head had just been served on a platter at Herod's birthday party, brutal, horrific, simply absurd, demeaning and inhuman. Hearing this, and probably knowing exactly how it all went down, Jesus got in a boat, to grieve the loss of his loved one. Grief is cut out of this Gospel without a second thought, the idea of Jesus in pain, crying, grieving the loss of someone is too much to bear for even the men and women who curated ou...