Grace Pritchard Burson

Emperors and idols

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All Saints’, Dorval Proper 24, Year A October 18, 2020 A denarius of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Or, in the old translation that became an aphorism independent of its context, “Render unto Caesar …” Jesus, in his ongoing war of words… View Post

Looking ahead to the rest of 2020

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Thanks to Margaret Beattie for hanging the Thanksgiving banner (just barely visible at left – I turned on all the lights but it was still dark in the church!) The COVID-19 pandemic continues to make it very difficult to plan ahead, and (as I hinted in my sermon on Sunday) requires us to be flexible and ready to change our… View Post

Gratitude and changes of plan

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All Saints’, Dorval Harvest Thanksgiving, Year A October 11, 2020 Megan, Jen, and me at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, St. Albans, Vermont, April 8, 2018. Today was supposed to be the day we went back to having Eucharist. Ever since we decided in July to apply to reopen, I had been quietly thinking over what I might say on… View Post

Kinds of belonging

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All Saints’, Dorval Proper 27, Year A October 4, 2020 James Tissot, “The Ark of the Covenant Crosses the Jordan”   Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of… View Post

Pandemic virtues

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A medieval illumination of the Four Cardinal Virtues Yesterday, as I was writing up the announcement that we are re-suspending in-person worship for a period of four weeks, I found myself typing the words, “The people of All Saints’ have been a shining example of fortitude and patience for the past six months.” The phrasing sounded familiar, and I soon… View Post