Weekly Letter, 05/16/2024
The Rev. John Mark Wiggers • May 15, 2024

Friends and Neighbors, 


We celebrate Pentecost this coming Sunday (May 19). We often refer to this event as the birthday of the Church. We celebrate that the promised Holy Spirit was given to those early followers and that we all have the Holy Spirit working in us. The gift of the Holy Spirit reminds me that we are all connected to God and each other. In fact, we need the Spirit and we need each other. 


Our interdependence is easy to overlook or dismiss when there are strong messages around us that call us to be independent and self-sufficient. The Acts 2:1-21 account of Pentecost quotes the prophet Joel who declared that men and women, old and young, and slave and free would receive the Spirit of God. This wide outpouring calls us all to be open to seeing the Spirit at work all around us. There are all kinds of ways people claim to know the spirit. If something is proclaiming God's love and drawing others to know God then I will say the Spirit is working there. 


I believe that is what our parish strives to do at this time. We seek to be a people and even a place that calls others to know the love of God. Thank you for all the ways you help others know the love of Christ. I believe that it is the Holy Spirit that drew you to this place and calls you to do the things you do here. I truly do. May we all be open to the Spirit working in us and calling us to share God's love.


Peace,

Fr. John Mark

Weekly Letter, 06/12/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • June 12, 2025

Weekly Letter, 06/05/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • June 5, 2025

Weekly Letter, 05/29/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • June 5, 2025

Weekly Letter, 05/22/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • May 22, 2025

Weekly Letter, 05/15/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • May 15, 2025

Weekly Letter, 05/08/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • May 12, 2025
Friends and Neighbors, This Sunday is Mother's Day and also Good Shepherd Sunday. Both celebrations have been shaped and changed over the years. Good Shepherd Sunday got the name as we do read the passage from John 10 about Jesus the Good Shepherd, and Mother's Day has roots going back to Mothering Sunday in England. The establishment of Mother's Day in the United States was motivated by the recognition of the work of Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Anna M. Jarvis. These women worked for sanitary health care for soldiers and were advocates for peace during the Civil War. They imagined a union of mothers who would call for peace because mothers knew so deeply the loss of their children to war. Mothering and shepherding call for similar qualities of protection and care.

Weekly Letter, 05/01/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • May 12, 2025
We continue celebrating Easter as we move into a month full of celebrations and transitions. I am looking forward to just hanging out with folks this Saturday night at our spaghetti dinner. You can find details about that in this email. Please mark your calendars for the annual Justice Knox Celebration on May 19 from 6:30 PM- 8:30 PM at First Presbyterian Church. We will have dinner and share stories about the next steps. You will also be asked to consider making an investment in the work of Justice Knox. I hope that you will consider giving to this important ministry.

Weekly Letter, 04/24/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • April 24, 2025
Alleluia. Christ is risen. We celebrated the resurrection with so much joy this past Sunday. The Easter feast continues for 50 days. Thank you to everyone who made Holy Week and Easter Sunday so special. You helped people feel welcomed to this place where we proclaim the welcoming love of Christ in word, deed, song, Easter egg hunts, and something good to eat. We welcome others because we have known the love of Christ and want to share it.

Weekly Letter, 04/17/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • April 17, 2025
Friends and Neighbors, As we journey through Holy Week, I encourage you to pause and consider those events that lead us to the joyful celebration of Easter. May that also be reflected in our lives. We walk through hard things and know that God is with us. We hold to the hope that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Weekly Letter, 04/10/2025

By John Mark Wiggers • April 17, 2025
Friends and Neighbors, As the weather teases us with warm days followed by chilly ones, we enter Holy Week. You have probably heard me encouraging folks to experience the journey to the cross and the grave so we might celebrate the resurrection with that insight. God has shared this human experience and is with us in the darkness and the light. Our liturgies of Holy Week take us on that journey with Jesus and remind us that God is indeed with us on our own journeys.
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