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St. Stephen News

A Place Set Apart

“She lies like a gem in the ocean,” although her identity remains hidden on most maps. Yet thousands of pilgrims arrive each year to seek her secrets, her soul. Her rocks are as old as the earth itself and tell of a fiery, violent birth from deep beneath her shores. Legend says that the giant warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, whom the English call Finn McCool, built the “Giant’s Causeway,” a geological phenomenon of basalt columns lining a pathway on the floor of the ocean, so he could walk from Ireland to the west coast of Scotland by way of the island of Staffa. Mr. mac Cumhaill lives in the mythology of both countries, inspired by these strange vertical columns of igneous rock. It can be seen in all its grandeur on the south side of Staffa, an uninhabited island, part of the Inner Hebrides’ archipelago, home to thousands of nesting seabirds, foremost among them, a large colony of puffins. . .surely a bird designed by committee; home also to Fingal’s Cave, made famous by the composer Felix Mendelssohn who in 1830, after a visit, composed the “Hebrides Overture.”Read More »A Place Set Apart

When We All Get Together

My summer schedule has been populated with high action, kick it in gear, activities for the children and youth and friends of St. Stephen Presbyterian.  From preparing for Vacation Bible School for over 75 children – it was wonderful, to immediately transforming Parish Hall into the Garage Sale of dreams, then to the Chicago Youth Mission Trip and the absolutely dynamic results there – relationally, and finally to Music Day Camp just a week ago.   I’m shaking finger at those of you giving me any credit for the summer’s achievements; I’m just a forceful presence taking many a volunteer along for the ride.   None of these events were done alone; all were done in tandem leadership and youthful shepherding.  You have you to thank.  I am grateful that we all made this spiritual summer happen  successfully.Read More »When We All Get Together

FATHERS, TRUE; BUT ALWAYS SONS Genesis 37.1-11

There were times, I’m sure, when Jacob must have agonized with regret over his showing to his other sons that he loved Joseph more than all of them. Yes, I can appreciate that when a man approaches old age, he treats any proof of his virility with extra special love, and certainly Joseph being a child of Jacob’s old age would qualify for that kind of attention. Yet, any of us here who has an ounce of wisdom in us can see the makings of a terribly dysfunctional family system in the household of Jacob and his twelve sons. Joseph had all the makings of an imp, a pipsqueak, a pest, a callow lad filled with all the narcissistic self-absorption that any 17 year old boy with raging hormones could inflict on his family. Jacob was the doting sugar-daddy. His older brothers could not even say, “Good-day” or “Hello” to him. Perhaps the Bible is describing a family you know well.Read More »FATHERS, TRUE; BUT ALWAYS SONS Genesis 37.1-11

Greetings from Hot and Sunny Louisville

A Letter from guest commentator, Missionary Sharon Curry

I wish I could describe in a few short words the amazing work that God has been doing in the past few weeks.  I have been on a whirlwind of travel from Big Tent in Indianapolis to a few days of R&R in Tennessee, to two weeks of Ecumenical training in Toronto, and now, I am “resting” in Louisville at the PCUSA portion of orientation training for my new position as Health and Development Consultant for South Sudan – 8 to 10 hours a day of training and fellowship with PCUSA World Mission staff.Read More »Greetings from Hot and Sunny Louisville

Windy City Trip Log

“We know that all things work together for good, to them who love God and are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Our trip to the Windy City, Chi-Town, Illinois, in mid-July, was punctuated with dramatic mechanical issues.  However, in retrospect, these issues became side interests  and financially not-so dramatic as we envisioned.

Thirty representatives of St. Stephen went to Chicago on a Youth Mission Trip. It included middle school and high school church members, college age SPITS (sponsors in training), and experienced and inexperienced sponsors – including one who just returned from his honeymoon…

Read More »Windy City Trip Log

Variety is the Spice of Church!

This last month we received six new members to the church, and we did it in every way that the Spirit and Presbyterian polity allow! Each of them is here for his or her own reason, but each is committed, excited, and wonderful.

Lynda moved here with her husband Tom from Canada. Quite a change from Alberta to Fort Worth! She was not a church-goer at all and had never been baptized, but driving around town one day was taken with St. Stephen. That often happens–the architecture itself speaks to people’s souls. She decided to come to church and was overcome by the friendliness and the sense of God’s presence.

Read More »Variety is the Spice of Church!

The Dysfunctional Family of God

We are studying the story of Jacob and his family in our weekly Bible Study. It’s a story that reminds us why the Bible is a better book than we give it credit for. Jacob is a scoundrel, a liar, and too clever by half. He ends us fathering the Twelve Tribes of Israel because he’s outsmarted by his father-in-law Laban, who tricks him into marrying the daughter he doesn’t want to marry so that he can marry the one he does want to marry. There’s more sex, family dysfunction, and intrigue in this story than there is in Desperate Housewives. God is, at least to the protagonists, almost an afterthought, a bit player in their family drama. But through it all, God is working God’s purpose out. Through Jacob’s line the blessing that God has promised the world through Abraham’s heirs is perpetuated.

I asked everyone, “How does this story affect the way you look at your own dysfunctional family?”

Read More »The Dysfunctional Family of God