Photo by John Tinsley by Pam Tinsley Last fall we were thrilled to watch our six-year-old granddaughter Sienna run cross country. (Yes, we are that kind of grandparents, the ones who beam with pride at pretty much anything she does.) When you run cross country, you encounter many obstacles: the terrain, the weather – especially in the wet Pacific Northwest, and your body itself.

Photo by Alfons Taekema on Unsplash by Demi Prentiss The holy days we’ve just celebrated – All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en), All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day (Día de los Muertos) – form an autumnal triduum that, for me, is a hinge point in the Christian year, much like the Easter Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. These autumnal days are marked with rites and readings that point our imaginations toward end times and our mortality, alongside the Northern Hemisphere’s season of first frosts, fall color, leaf-raking, putting the garden to bed, and hibernation.

by Brandon Beck This is Cyrus Cassells. He is a poet, an actor, a cultural critic, and a professor. He earned the Jackson Poetry Prize and the Lambda Literary Award; a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize; the William Carlos Williams Award, a Lannan Literary Award, a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize, and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award.

Photo by Pam Tinsely by Pam Tinsley “God created you and he never creates things he doesn’t want” is the message on the reader board outside a church I often drive by. What an important message for us today and every day, especially when we hear so many messages to the contrary! God loves us, even when we try to hide our flaws.

by Demi Prentiss There is holiness in our work—paid and volunteer, work we’re called to and work we resist, work that’s rewarding and work that drains us.  We come closer to making our life a prayer when we can discover that holiness. When we can perceive God present in the work itself. My work colleague, Josh Anderson, composed this prayer and recently graced a staff meeting with his work. 

by Brandon Beck In 1924, British author AA Milne published a collection of poetry – We Were Very Young – animal tales for his son Christopher Robin. His friend EH Shepard illustrated them. Number 38, “Teddy Bear,” was about a stuffed animal Milne had bought at Harrod’s as a gift for Christopher Robin after he and his son had visited the London Zoo and been enamored of their bear, Winnie.

Photo by Pam Tinsley by Pam Tinsley As this year’s Season of Creation draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on my experiences this past summer. First, a June retreat at The Sacred Waters Center for Restoration and Retreat led me to the shores of the Hood Canal, with the still-snowcapped Olympic mountains towering in the distance. I was greeted on my first morning by an eagle perched atop a pine tree, as if welcoming me to her home.

Photo by Sarah RK on Unsplash by Demi Prentiss The stream of alarming news over the past week has been unrelenting: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed in front of a crowd gathered at Utah Valley University. Another school shooting in Colorado placed 900 high school students in lock-down, with two students critically injured and the shooter dead by his own hand.

Frieze at St Pancras Station, London by Pam Tinsley Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Mass is Never Ended–Rediscovering our Mission to Transform the World, Revised 2023, By Gregory F. Augustine Pierce by Demi Prentiss Greg Pierce’s book The Mass is Never Ended maintains that the most important moment in the celebration of Holy Eucharist is the dismissal—the sending out of the faithful into the world to be alter Christi, “other Christs,” in service to the world in Christ’s name.

Icon of The Transfiguration written by Theophanes the Greek by Brandon Beck Wednesday, August 6, 2025 we celebrated the Transfiguration of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Luke, “about eight days after” Jesus foretells his death, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

Mohammad, 11, and his sister, Reham, 9, wait in a crowd outside a food distribution center in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Feb. 25, 2024. © UNICEF/UNI539224/ZAGOUT. by Pam Tinsley Overwhelming hunger abounds. We read daily reports of the abject hunger imposed upon the starving children in Gaza; famine in Africa; hungry children even in the United States. Hunger abounds, and the lives – and, surely, long-term development – of infants and children are at stake.

If you make friends with crows... the rope and bucketthat haul you up... Tiny violets reassure the hillside... a kid you don't knowsmiles at you anyway... Inspired by "Wonder is saving enough," by Steve Garnaas-Holmes by Demi Prentiss In the 1979 Book of Common Prayer’s Rite of Baptism, nestled between the water and the oil of chrism, is a beautiful prayer that helps us remember how we’re called to live.

by Pam Tinsley As I listen to the news these days, I’m distraught by the direction that our country seems to be heading. Our economy is impacted by our over-consumption; and our reliance on cheap – even child – labor deprives people of the dignity of a living wage. We’re destroying our planet with our over-reliance on fossil fuels, our wasteful attitude toward water, and the destruction of our forests and wetlands.

by Demi Prentiss Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash My grieving, following my husband’s death several months ago, has not been what I expected. I had never imagined that this time would unfold in this way. I have not viscerally felt his absence; I have been much more aware of my husband’s presence – in beloved possessions he left behind, in memories of good times and challenges and making our way through them, in his legacy of kindness and engagement with the under-resourced and marginalized, and embedded in my heart.

Join us, Thursday, June 12th at 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT for a No Kings strategic prep call designed specifically for No Kings event attendees! During the call, we will provide timely updates, walk thr...

Editor’s Note: The events of the past week have elicited comment from numerous faith leaders. “Living God’s Mission” blog has chosen to post the following news story from Episcopal News Service in addition to our usual weekly posting. Please be sure to scroll down to see Pam Tinsley’s “On eagles’ wings” blog, posted June 10. Partners for Baptismal Living blogger Brandon Beck writes, “Heading into the weekend, we amplify the voice of the collected California bishops:”

Jackie and Shadow, photo courtesy Friends of Big Bear Valley and Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam by Pam Tinsley Ever since a bald eagle flew over our son and daughter-in-law’s outdoor wedding – and a friend observed that eagles are a sign of blessing – I’ve been mesmerized when an eagle soars overhead. If I hear a murder of crows squawking fiercely, I’ll search the skies for a nearby eagle.

A. C. for Unsplash+ By Demi Prentiss Just a few days ago, the Christian church observed Ascension Day, commemorating the day the disciples saw the risen Christ ascend into heaven. The Western church often depicts Jesus rising like an Atlas rocket, soaring toward the heavens as though propelled by a NASA booster. The Eastern church tends to understand the Ascension less as a heavenward escape from…

Photo by Bill Fairs on Unsplash by Pam Tinsley Over the past several weeks I’ve been reflecting on the post-resurrection conversation between Jesus and Peter at the end of John’s gospel. Peter and some of the disciples had left the upper room in Jerusalem where Jesus had breathed the Spirit upon them, empowering and sending them to continue his ministry. But they don't seem to have done so.

Fred McDarrah, Untitled (Youths at Stonewall Uprising), New York, June 28, 1969 by Brandon Beck Picture it. June 28, 1969. Greenwich Village, New York City. The Stonewall Inn. You’re drinking and dancing with your friends, your neighbors, your “chosen family.” You feel safe and seen. Everyone is here. Really everyone: the homeless kids from the park, the old men from the café, the butch in the biker vest, tall black men in big wigs and dresses, skinny white boys, Cuban dock workers, NYU professors, high femme socialites – everyone from everywhere.

Photo by hadi hosseini on Unsplash by Demi Prentiss Nearly 50 years ago, a Roman Catholic archbishop told his flock, “How beautiful will be the day when all the baptized understand that their work, their job, is a priestly work, that just as I celebrate Mass at this altar, so each carpenter celebrates Mass at his workbench, and each metalworker, each professional, each doctor with the scalpel, the market woman at her stand, is performing a priestly office!

by Brandon Beck It’s not AI – I promise. I hope you will see beyond any skepticism that might have clouded your eyes recently. As I write this post, today is Maundy Thursday, or maybe it’s Good Friday almost already. I’ve intentionally not marked time since we stripped the altar. As part of my personal piety, I choose, every year since first invited by the Rev.

Photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash by Pam Tinsley A priest I know recently attended a meeting of local business leaders who were struggling to comprehend the many changes that are being thrust upon our nation. The meeting included an elected official who was also struggling for answers and how to respond in such times. The leaders conveyed a sense of hopelessness, pondering where to find hope.

by Demi Prentiss For in the water and the Word of baptism, we have been rooted into the very life of Christ. Photo by Anjas A V on Unsplash What a glorious vision of what takes place at every baptism, and even at the four yearly occasions when Episcopalians renew our baptismal covenant (Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, Easter, Pentecost, and All Saints’ Day): …