Grace Pritchard Burson

Why Christmas pageants?

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Banners to be used during the pageant, made by Grace last week. This coming Sunday is the Christmas pageant, which will be presented during the 10:00 service. (Fear not, those who come to the 4 PM on Christmas Eve will still have the chance to put on a costume and participate in the manger tableau!) Christmas pageants are a beloved… View Post

On the Holy Way together

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All Saints by the Lake Advent III, Year A December 15, 2019 The “superbloom” in the California desert, Spring 2019 It is very tempting to simply stand up here, play the second movement of Brahms’ “German Requiem” and sit down again. For those not familiar with one of the greatest choral works of all time, the text for that second… View Post

There is life after Christmas

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We’re (rightly) focused right now on preparing for Lessons & Carols, the Christmas pageant, Christmas basket delivery, and Christmas Eve services, but here’s a heads up about some exciting things happening in January and February! The Montreal Diocesan Theological College is offering another online course running from January 28 to February 18, this time on the theme of “Wholeness and… View Post

New growth from an old stump

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All Saints by the Lake Advent II, Year A December 8, 2019 Tree of Jesse, illuminated manuscript, Würzburg, 13th century I’ll be preaching three times this Advent (no sermon on the 22nd, the day of the Christmas pageant) and as I was looking at this week’s readings and then ahead to next week’s, I realized that the themes of the… View Post

Whatever happened to that survey?

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Thanks to all those who filled out the survey on worship in November!  We received 38 responses and many interesting comments. If it seems like not much is changing as a result of the survey, that’s for several reasons that I want to explore in this blog post. First of all, a few things are already changing.  We heard loud… View Post