May 25, 2014 Acts 17: 22-31 John 14: 15-21 Rev. Catherine Purves Somehow, our hearts are all deeply moved when we think of the plight of orphans. Visions of bleak Russian orphanages where forgotten children suffer, the desperate plight of African children whose parents have died of A.I.D.S., refugee children alone in the world because their mothers and fathers were killed in ethnic fighting, and the lost and abandoned children who wander homeless…
May 18 2014 John 14: 1-14 Rev. Catherine Purves Last week I was sitting with you in a pew, which was a very strange experience for me. I was sitting there because I had only just arrived back from California at 6:30 that morning which felt to me like 3:30 AM. You would not have wanted me in the pulpit last Sunday. Most of you know that I was in California for a…
Psalm 103: Baruch atah Adonai: Bless the Lord May 11, 2014 Psalm 103 Rev. Andrew Purves Every Monday morning at 11.30, in the chapel at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, we have a Taize Prayer Service. Taize is an ecumenical monastic order in Burgundy, France. Composed now of over 100 brothers, both Protestant and Catholic, it was founded in 1940. The brothers represent over 30 countries around the world. Over 100, 000 people make an…
May 4, 2014 Luke 24: 13-35 Rev. Catherine Purves Where is Emmaus? No one actually knows. There are a few small villages that might have been the biblical Emmaus. Even knowing that it was about seven miles from Jerusalem doesn’t help archaeologists pinpoint the site of what was a little-known place of no real significance, apart from this story. Emmaus seems an almost mythical place. What is its significance for us?
April 27, 2014 1 Peter 1: 3-9 John 20: 19-31 Rev. Catherine Purves Our granddaughter, Isla, is already 5 months old. She still has very little hair and seems to spend most of her time eating and sleeping and growing. While she is beginning to experiment with sounds and she has started to smile and watch moving objects, you can’t really have much of a conversation with her yet. Andrew says that she…