Official Diocesan Blog

Image
Types of Prayer and How Delight in the Lord Might Improve Our Health
Body

“Awe is a pathway to physical and mental health.” 

Bishop Alex continues his series on prayer with a video about various types of prayer and how being in a state of awe and worship might lead us to better physical and mental health. Which type of prayer could you use more of in your daily time with God?

 

Image
An Invitation to Pray with Us
Body

On Tuesday, March 14, we will begin a pilot project of weekly prayer at the diocesan office. All are welcome to join us at 8:30 a.m. each Tuesday throughout Lent and into the Easter season for a short service of Holy Eucharist and to pray for mission in the congregations across our diocese.

Image
Church of the Savior - mortgage burning
Body

On February 12, Church of the Savior in Ambridge, PA, held a ceremony to burn their now-paid-off mortgage papers in the alley behind their church. This financial feat was made possible by a capital campaign initiated in 2017, which raised over $350,000 in just five years—45% coming from Church of the Savior’s members and the remainder from outside donors—enough to fund much-needed upgrades to the building and to pay off the remainder of their $404,000 mortgage years earlier than expected. 

Image
Collect for Ash Wednesday
Body

So it’s Lent. And what is Lent, anyway? We might perhaps think of it as that annual morose and mopey time of year, marked by giving up some treasured food or habit, that engenders a sense of holy deprivation which is supposed to be good for us. But neither moping nor deprivation is the point, nor the true value.

Image
Q&A with Bishop Alex on Prayer thumbnail
Body

As a follow up to Bishop Alex's recent blog series on daily prayer, we asked him how he recommends creating space in our busy lives to pray each day and what to do when our devotion time starts to feel like a burden. Watch on our YouTube channel below.

 

Image
Earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Body

As many of you will already know, earlier this week a severe earthquake struck southeast Turkey, killing thousands of people and devastating a large portion of Turkey and northern Syria. This earthquake was followed by a second earthquake nine hours later, and several aftershocks. 

Image
I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
Body

The other day I was praying Morning Prayer and came to the recitation of the Apostles’ Creed. As is often the case with those regular and well-known words, something jumped out at me: “I believe… in the forgiveness of sins.”

But do I? So many of us assent to this verbally but live something very different practically

Image
A corner for prayer at the diocesan office
Body

A couple of weeks ago I encouraged us to approach this new year with the attitude, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” That all sounds great, you might think, but how do I listen? How do I hear from the Lord? For that, there is a central source and a necessary attitude or habit.