St. Croix Vineyard Church

Walter's homily shares a conversation that resonated with Jesus' promise in John 14 that the Advocate would teach us everything. He went on to leave us with the paradox that God is in us and beyond us. The post God in You Has Your Back appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Mark explores a story of Jesus' encounter with a man cast out by a well-off society--a clear illustration of how bringing someone to safety costs someone else their comfort. The gospel story is a challenge particularly to the comfortable: stop protecting our own peace at the expense of others… and start creating safe space, even when it costs. The post The Cost of Safety appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Today at 2nd Breakfast, Teena shared some thoughts, videos, and quotes, and invited us to wonder about playfulness. The post Playfulness – Is There A Point? appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Last Sunday, we were privileged to experience this powerful message from a long-time friend of St. Croix Church, Dr. David Moore. David challenges us to consider the death and resurrection of Jesus as a message of divine solidarity and hope to all the Lazaruses of the world -- to all the oppressed, tortured, cast out, and left for dead, Jesus says, "Come out, rise up, this is not the end." The post Death & Resurrection appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This Sunday Bradley Jersak shared a beautiful message with us: When we see each other with the "eyes of flesh," we're prone to all sorts of mistaken judgments. And when we see the world through "eyes of flesh," we become overwhelmed and hopeless because we're blinded to God's everywhere presence and the beauty and love and light available all the time. But when we learn to "see with our hearts," it's as if the world is transfigured and those around us are precious beacons of light and hope. And how's this for a future: "And every eye will see him, and he will wipe every tear from our eyes. No more suffering, no more death, because the Lamb will be their Shepherd. The post It is Good to See You appeared first on St. Croix Church.

In this Easter homily, Jess Williams reflects on the suffering of Christ and his unshakeable solidarity with humankind, and what it might mean that Love is with us at all times. She invites us to consider the cross as both a confrontation and an invitation to "love the world in all the painfully honest ways only you can love it." (A New Spring, James A. Pearson, ) The post With Us in Suffering, With Us in Love appeared first on St. Croix Church.

During our Second Breakfast service this Sunday, Jess shared a poem by Padraig O'Tuama and an excerpt from an essay by Ross Gay, and then we took some time to gather around our tables to share our joys, our sorrows, and our hopes together. The post Joining Our Sorrows, Second Breakfast appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Rachael explores the idea that maturing faith is movement towards “more love and union - in ever widening circles” (Richard Rohr), asking what wisdom this vision could offer us for these days, how we see it expressed in Jesus, and what sandboxes, planks and annoying people can teach us! The post Widening Circles appeared first on St. Croix Church.

In today's homily, Jess Williams reflects on the parable of the prodigal son, inviting us to consider what the story reveals about both the vulnerability of God and parenthood, and the "wastefully extravagant" prodigal Love of the Divine. The post Prodigal Love appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Janell looks at our current theme through the lenses of a shifting faith. She shares a narrative of her experience deconstructing some of the foundational beliefs she was raised in and a few of the things that helped her navigate this wilderness. The post The Wilderness of a Shifting Faith appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Jess Williams reflects on the lion and lamb imagery used to describe the nature of Christ and how both of these can be useful in times like this. Then she invites the community to pray for the leadership of SCC, opening up a beautiful moment of mutual love and support for the church as a whole The post Thoughts on Lions and Lambs and Leadership Through Difficult Times appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On the first Sunday of Lent, Lorna and Rachael shared some thoughts about life-giving ways to see and approach the Lenten practice of giving something up. Then we were all invited to individual reflection on what might be cluttering our inner lives and what we'd like to welcome into a clearer space, followed by conversation around the breakfast tables. The post Lent: Making Space for Life appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This Sunday, Marilyn Orr helped us think about what happens when we spend time in the desert and away from the busyness of ordinary life, and to consider the difference between chosen wilderness times and times we do not choose -- like the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. She encouraged us to share our pain and confusion honestly before God and others, and challenged us to think about how to remain open to views that are different than our own as we walk together through divisive times The post What To Do In the Desert appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Rachael brings back her (made-up!) translations of the Bible - the Trigger Fest Version (TFV) and the Transformational Wisdom Version (TWV) - to name toxic interpretations of Psalm 37 and then, as a community, to seek within it ancient wisdom to help us to live wisely and lovingly in these troubling days. The post Seeking Ancient Wisdom for These Days appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Jess continues our teaching theme with some reflections on the wilderness and how different turning points in life invite us to leave the path we know in pursuit of something deeper/truer, even when the way is unclear and the journey leads us away from the familiar and into the unknown. The post On Wilderness & Wandering (or losing your way and finding yourself) appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This Sunday, Mel Burns (Canadian Friends Service Committee Peace Program Coordinator & SSU graduate student), joined us during our Second Breakfast Potluck to share about the roots of Quakerism, the journey that led Mel to check out a local Quaker Group during the pandemic, and the many gifts that have been gathered through Quaker practices since then. The post The Path of Love That Led Me to Quakerism appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Jess invites us to consider how the invitation to exchange the question "Is this right or is this wrong?" for "Is this the path of Love" might transform the way we see and relate to ourselves and others, and serve as a grounding guide through challenging times. She points out how Jesus embodied this principle in revolutionary ways. Then we turned our attention toward Banksy's piece "Rage, The Flower Thrower" which led to a beautifully complex conversation about choosing the path of love in the face of violence and oppression. The post Is This The Path Of Love? appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Wendy VanderWal Martin offers a beautiful contribution to our new teaching theme by exploring the possibility that those who have come before us and those who have 'loved us in the flesh' are still present to us beyond death and can be significant portals of Love. She turns to the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12 to help us imagine this and shares her own experiences of this kind of presence in her life. Wendy invites us all to be open to the idea that we are truly never alone. The post Love Across the Veil appeared first on St. Croix Church.

As we start to move into our new teaching theme of “The Path of Love: A Way in the Wilderness,” Rachael reviews what inspired it and brings forward Walter's contributions about the vulnerability of love from before the theme even began! Then she explores the idea that our human experience of the path of love is always a way in the wilderness, and that the conditions that make love hard and vulnerable are exactly what cause its most beautiful expressions to emerge. The post Love in the Wilderness appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On this 2nd Breakfast (and last service before his sabbatical begins), Walter shares his inability to tell whether the fact that it's taken him ten years since he admitted to himself that he was unhealthily over-stressed with work responsibilities is a confession (of rationalizations and justifications) or a celebration that he's finally made it to a reduced workload. He then invites everyone to reflect on whether they are avoiding or facing reality as 2025 begins. The post Confessions appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This Sunday, Jess Williams introduced our new teaching theme, 'The Path of Love: A Way in the Wilderness' and invited us to enter the year holding the question, "is this the path of love?" as a guide through the times ahead. She explains how the leadership collective arrived at this theme, and shares some of the passages, poetry, and community insights that led them here. The post The Path of Love: A Way in the Wilderness appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, with the theme of Love, Walter emphasizes how strange it is that Vulnerable Love is God's response to all the big problems in the world and the path that God invites us to follow. The post Huge Problems, Vulnerable Love appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This morning Mark Groleau compares four poems dedicated to four ancient babies: two by Virgil and two by Zechariah and Mary. The contrast points to two very different visions for the world, exposes our expectations around suffering and power, and challenges our Christmastime sense of nostalgia. Which is the way of true joy? The post Suffering and Power, Nostalgia and Babies appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On the first Sunday of Advent, Jess offers some reflections on the lectionary passages and what they reveal about our humanity. She shares insights from contemporary voices who point us toward a hopeful perspective on human nature and our innate goodness. The post Hope for Humanity? appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On Christ the King Sunday, Rachael and the gathered community wrestle together with the implications of the image of God as King, how Jesus' life and death invite us to question and reimagine it, and what all of this means for the way we approach our own life and use of power. The post What kind of king? (And so what?) appeared first on St. Croix Church.

"Finding Sanctuary" - Jess does some summing up of our "Roots of Resilience" theme with this talk about the ways in which we can be a "safe haven" or sanctuary for each other. The post Finding Sanctuary & Becoming Safe Havens Together appeared first on St. Croix Church.

At Second Breakfast this week, Jess & Janell reflected on themes of Love & Lament, particularly in response to the the recent US election and the way it will impact our community and world. A time of vulnerable sharing opened up at the end of the service as we grappled with our grief and our desire to "take love seriously" in the days and months ahead. The post Love & Lament appeared first on St. Croix Church.

After five months, Walter offers a "Part 2" for his talk from last June by emphasizing that the kind of "secure base" that God provides goes with us wherever we go, allowing for multiple attachments that can naturally correct the inevitable distortions we might otherwise hold about God if we were to only rely on one community. The post God Is With You Wherever You Go appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Reflecting on today's lectionary readings, Jess shares some thoughts on the importance of speaking the truth about our suffering as an essential component of our healing. She encourages us to remain rooted in reality as a form of resilience, and to acknowledge life as life is without denying the pain and injustices we face. The post Rooted In Reality appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Marilyn followed up her talk on resilience by looking at the role of rest - with much interaction, she facilitated a discussion on Hebrews 4. The post Rest appeared first on St. Croix Church.

In advance of a coming small group, Walter gets us thinking (and chatting) at our "2nd Breakfast" about the attitudes toward the Bible that we grew up with - some helpful and some not. The post Can We Love the Bible (with Honesty and Compassion)? appeared first on St. Croix Church.

We recall and celebrate 32 years together with the help of three pairs of storytellers and a couple of poems. The post Celebrating 32 Years appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Rachael grapples with how to respond to hard things in the Bible and in life, and shares some learnings from her recent trip to Ireland. The post Small Kindnesses Are No Small Thing appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Mark Groleau takes us on a deep and wide journey through biblical theology that leads us to three encounters: a) Chaos (the Sea), b) Calming the Sea, c) the River of Life. The post A Cure for Chaos appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This week, special guest, Jonathan Schut from MCC (Mennonite Central Committee), shared a dynamic and creative lesson from Queen Vashti (in the book of Esther) to introduce the importance of truth-telling to organizations like MCC as they work for justice and peace - and he masterfully integrated our theme of the "Roots of Resilience." The post The Importance of Truth-Telling appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Using the Ephesians 6 text from the lectionary, Walter's homily reminded us that Paul's metaphor of God's Armour was helping us to stay strong and to endure in our calling of "mutual submission" (non-violent, non-dominating love) as opposed to the spirit of our age that is often based on the "myth of redemptive violence" The post God's Armour appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This Sunday, Jess Williams explored the role of hope when we walk through hard times in life. Starting with the pain caused by toxic positivity and the cultural pressure to put forward a polished life, Jess asks what the antidote to this might be. She thinks the blessings of Jesus in the Beatitudes have something important to teach us about the kind of life Jesus calls blessed. The post Hope in Hard Times appeared first on St. Croix Church.

At this Sunday's "second breakfast," Jess invited the tables to share with each other stories of community resilience. But first there was an introduction that included Alex Henderson sharing some thoughtful material on community resilience and Walter shared a brief story of what helped SSU to be a resilient community. The post Stories of Community Resilience appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This morning, Renate used Ephesians 4 to explore the wise use of expressive, yet gracious, language. You can see her power point, and/or listen below. You're always welcome to subscribe to the SCC  podcasts. (St. Croix Church in Apple Podcasts) Keep checking our Facebook group, St. Croix Church, for all the latest updates.... The post The Art of Swearing appeared first on St. Croix Church.

In this Sunday's homily, Walter suggests the odd encouragement that it has always been in the context of a very messed up world that we find our resilience with courage and love. The post The World Has Always Been a Mess appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Jess Williams reflects on impulses she noticed in herself through a recent experience of asking her friends for help cleaning out her house, and found out she wasn't alone. She points out how vulnerable it is to let others into your mess, even when that's what you need most. Then she shares some wisdom gleaned from Fraggle Rock's character, Marjory the Trash Heap, and Jeff Chu's teaching on the theology of compost. She invites everyone to trust that God is most at home in the mess, and that all of our so-called failures can serve to nurture the soil of our lives. The post Resilience is Messy (& so are we) appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Mayara and Lorna share the concept of Timebanking, an exchange of skills based on the belief that every person is of value and has something to offer. They are excited to see how Timebanking can build a stronger, more connected community in St. Stephen, and invite and welcome your participation! The post Timebanking (Second Breakfast) appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Pulling from the lectionary readings and our current teaching theme, Wendy VanderWal Martin offered a beautiful teaching on the significance of 'witness' and how bearing witness to one another (and to our own lives) as we truly are and in ways that assure us we are seen, known, and loved, is a powerful root of resilience. The post The Connection of Witness & Resilience appeared first on St. Croix Church.

This week Renate pointed out references in the lectionary that help us see how we can be transfigured when trust helps us find our way through grief - a powerful addition to our "Roots of Resilience" theme! The post Grief and Transfiguration appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On Sunday, Marilyn Orr carried forward our teaching theme with a wonderful talk on Intentional Resilience. Pulling from years of insights from speaking and teaching on resilience, Marilyn opened up an engaging conversation about where resilience comes from. Due to the interactive nature of this talk, we're using the phone recording this week so you can hear what the community had to say! The post Intentional Resilience appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Digging into our new teaching theme "The Roots of Resilience" Jess Williams reflects on the suffering we face throughout our lives, and what helps sustain us through it. She connects this to the history of Pride and the oppression of LGBTQ+ people, particularly in the church, and underlines why it's so important for faith communities to listen deeply to, to learn from, to love, and to stand beside all who have been wronged by the church, whether that's been based on race, religion, sexuality, or anything else. The post The Spirit of Pride & The Resilience of The Suffering appeared first on St. Croix Church.

During our 2nd Breakfast potluck, the Leadership Collective shared some thoughts on the new teaching theme. Together, we reflected on what it's looked like to "be rooted in love together" these last months, and shared a few thoughts on what we'll begin to explore as we consider "the roots of resilience" individually and communally in the season ahead. The post The Roots of Resilience appeared first on St. Croix Church.

Walter introduced the next season's theme for SCC, "The Roots of Resilience," by talking about the gift of deep trust that we all need, arising from a variety of sources like a secure attachment to our parents and/or a healing encounter with God's ever-present Love (and most assuredly not from Divine threats of eternal abandonment). The post Saved by Faith? A Secure Base: Trust as the Foundation for Wholeness appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On Trinity Sunday, Rachael explores (with the help of contributions from her parents!) the mystery of the Three-in-One as less of a doctrine and more of a relational, experiential reality to live in, and live into. The post Something to live in(to) appeared first on St. Croix Church.

On this Pentecost Sunday, good friend and frequent guest at SCC, Bradley Jersak, gave some background on the Holy Spirit and then shared how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit recorded in Acts 2 created a unity based on respectful listening and speaking that preserves diversity as opposed to the monolithic and proud empire of Babel. He closed by inviting the Spirit to transform our own listening and speaking today. The post A Tale of Two Cities appeared first on St. Croix Church.

During our Second Breakfast Potluck, Jess led us in a conversation about asking for help. Together, we considered the barriers we encounter when we need help, and shared our own experiences of giving and receiving help in times of need. The post Asking For Help: Second Breakfast appeared first on St. Croix Church.