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Every Sunday we begin our worship with a prayer, asking that our hearts may be open to all those who cross our threshold and that we may welcome each person in the spirit of God's love. At the heart of our community is this welcoming spirit of love and acceptance for all God's children. Because we know that we have been made welcome by Jesus, that we have been drawn in an embraced by the love of God.

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If you're exploring St. Mary's, or just looking for the latest news, services, and events, you can find them here.

By Peter Trumbore November 19, 2024
For more than a decade now, our conversations have for the most part progressed from a perspective that puts belief in God at the center and builds from there. So let's talk about godlessness instead. We first took on this topic all the way back in 2014, and since that time we've had the pleasure of getting to know and having several atheists join us for our discussions from time to time. Here are some specific questions: Do atheists get respect in our culture? Why or why not? Why don't they "get it" the way that we do? In other words, what the basis for unbelief? If there is no God, no divine, are our lives cosmically irrelevant? In the big picture, does life have a point? Is there a cosmic, transcendent purpose or meaning to our lives, or is this it? How willing are we to believe the unbeliever? Listening is one thing, but believing another. Let's talk about the difference. Finally, here's the really big question: What can people of faith learn from those who profess none? Join us for the conversation this evening, starting at 7pm, at Casa Real in downtown Oxford.
By Andrew Guffey November 17, 2024
This Sunday, all are welcome to join us for a morning of worship and fellowship. Whether you are with us in the sanctuary or joining from afar, your presence strengthens our community. Our services are at 8:30 & 10:00 a.m. We warmly welcome those who cannot attend in person to join us via our live stream for the 10:00 a.m. service.
By Peter Trumbore November 11, 2024
So we're one week removed from the latest presidential election, and, unsurprisingly, about half of the country is happy with the outcome and about half sees it as little short of a catastrophe. While I am friends with people in both camps, I spend time more often with the later rather than the former. For example, as one colleague put it to me the other day, "I feel like we're headed into dark times." I don't know about you, but that sounds like the basis for a PubTheo topic to me. The idea of "light in the darkness" is one that we find throughout scripture. For example, in the Gospel of Matthew, (5:14-16) Jesus compares his followers to a light that cannot be hidden. In John 8:12 Jesus says: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." And in the Old Testament tradition, the prophet Isaiah (42:6) says God has called the people of Israel to be"a light to the nations." The notion of a light in darkness is a powerful image. J.R.R. Tolkien taps into this in The Fellowship of the Ring in the passage where Galadriel gifts Frodo a glittering crystal phial, proclaiming: "May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out." It's also a familiar image. We're familiar, especially here in the Great Lakes, with sight of a lighthouse on the shore. We're familiar with needing a flashlight to illuminate our way during the next inevitable power outage (thanks DTE). We're familiar with the pull-cord bulb hanging from the basement rafters. Let's take this idea and talk about it in our conversation this week. What does it mean to you? Where have you looked for light in the darkness when you've needed it, and where do you find it now? What would it mean for you to be a light in the darkness? And does that have particular meaning for us as we look to the four years ahead? We'll talk all about it in our discussion this Tuesday, Nov. 12, starting at 7pm at Casa Real in downtown Oxford.
By Andrew Guffey November 10, 2024
This Sunday, all are welcome to join us for a morning of worship and fellowship. Whether you are with us in the sanctuary or joining from afar, your presence strengthens our community. Our services are at 8:30 & 10:00 a.m. We warmly welcome those who cannot attend in person to join us via our live stream for the 10:00 a.m. service.
By Andrew Guffey November 3, 2024
This Sunday, all are welcome to join us for a morning of worship and fellowship. Whether you are with us in the sanctuary or joining from afar, your presence strengthens our community. Our services are at 8:30 & 10:00 a.m. We warmly welcome those who cannot attend in person to join us via our live stream for the 10:00 a.m. service.
By Peter Trumbore October 28, 2024
So what is the meaning of life anyway? And no, this is not a reference to the Monty Python movie, so let's all just move along shall we? But before we do, let me recommend the film to you. It's great. I gave a little mention to this topic last week, and there was an immediate response from one of our regular participants that makes me think there's something for us to talk about here. I had said something about the idea of "finding"meaning in our lives, but our regular straight up pounced on the notion, arguing instead that we should talk about "making" meaning instead. So let's do both! The idea for the topic came up a couple of weeks ago when I ran across this article at The Atlantic website: "The Meaning of Life is Surprisingly Simple," in which the author. Arthur Brooks, reminded us that those people who believe they know their life's meaning enjoy greater well-being than those who don't. But he acknowledged that it's a lucky few who figure it out early. For the rest of us, he says, there's work to be done. And the search can be difficult and frustrating: "Philosophy is often unhelpful, offering abstract ideas such as Aristotle’s human function or Kant’s “highest good” that are hard to comprehend, let alone put into action." The easiest response, then, may just be to throw up our hands and conclude that the meaning of life is unknowable, at least to us. This would be a mistake, though, and Brooks offers the reader a suggestion: Make the quest manageable by breaking it down into what he says are three easily digestible steps. These start with an understanding that we can think about finding meaning by assessing our life along the following dimensions. First is coherence, or how events in your life fit together. "This is an understanding that things happen in your life for a reason. That doesn’t necessarily mean you can fit new developments into your narrative the moment they happen, but you usually are able to do so afterward, so you have faith that you eventually will." Second is purpose, or the existence of goals and aims. "This is the belief that you are alive in order to do something. Think of purpose as your personal mission statement ..." And third is significance, or the sense that your life matters. Together, he describes these as macronutrients: "the elements that we need for a balanced and healthy sense of meaning in life." With the in mind, let's take a look at Brooks' digestible steps toward figuring out meaning. Step 1 -- Check your diet. If you have a sense that your life lacks meaning, then take a look at your "macronutrient balance" and ask yourself the following questions: Do you feel out of control, tossed about in life without rhyme or reason? You might need a better sense of coherence. Do you lack big plans or dreams or ideas about your future that excite you? If not, that's a purpose issue. Do you feel like it wouldn't matter if you just disappeared, that the world would be no better off with or without you? That's significance. Step 2 -- Search in the forest. If you find you have a deficit in one of the above, go look for it in a productive way. The good news for us Pub Theologians is that we may have an already existing spiritual or philosophical outlook that can guide us, like prayer, or meditation, or even therapy. The key, though, is to approach the search the way you would anything that's important to you, by being intentional and doing the work. Step 3 -- Make sure you don't search too hard. H ere Brooks makes the point that your quest for meaning becomes counterproductive if it gets in the way of your happiness: "If you feel lost in your search for meaning, cut yourself some slack and go back to the basics." All of this, Brooks acknowledges, stems from the starting assumption that life does in fact have meaning. That's a perspective that not all of us may share, and so that is going to be our starting point for our discussion this week. So, first, do you think that your life has meaning? Even if you're not sure what that might be? Then second, what do you make of the distinction between "finding" meaning and "making" meaning in our lives? Are those really different ideas? Finally, what do you make of Brooks' overall argument here? Do the concepts of coherence, purpose, and significance resonate with you? And do you think Brooks' three simple steps are a a good way to figure it all out? We'll talk all about it in our conversation this Tuesday evening, Oct. 29, The discussion starts at 7pm at Casa Real in downtown Oxford.
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