We do not worship together in this space each week for the sole purpose of sending our praises and prayers up to God. We also come together to feel the movement of the Holy Spirit in the worship experience itself. Reading scripture, singing well-loved hymns, and simply being aware of the presence of God in this space are ways that God can provide us with strength, peace, and comfort. Worship is not just us offering something to God, it’s an opportunity for God to offer us something, too. May we be open each morning to receiving God’s sustaining power through our worship together.

Last year I married my amazing husband. The second iteration of my professional life was booming. Life felt secure, stable, balanced — a true feat for children of chaos. Yet something felt off. My soul was getting crispy. My sass, humor, and wit were becoming bitter. I let myself feel the discomfort deeply and then heard a “psssst,” a knock. It wasn’t Avon calling, it was my God.

God had something to share, so I heeded my grandfather’s advice: I shut my mouth. I shut my eyes. I listened. Through the algorithm of social media, God whispered, and I found myself researching Palmer and then live-streaming the service. I listened deeply. Was it time to reconnect with others? To reengage in a communal journey? God said, “Maybe. Go find out.”

So, I fought my social anxiety. With the bell tower providing the soundtrack, I walked through the massive doors. The pew wasn’t as comfy as my recliner, but I settled in and took a deep breath. Eyes closed, mouth shut, I listened. The organ rattled my core, sending shivers through my skin, and I stood up. The incense passed, my head cleared. The crucifer passed, my head lowered. And silently, I said, “Maybe.” By the end of the service, I felt pretty certain — yes, it was time.

A Sunday or two later, God confirmed it through a fine-tuned algorithm while I was driving in and approaching the Mecom Fountain. My Spotify shifted from Sir Elton John to Sir John Rutter. “For the Beauty of the Earth” played. My eyes welled up; Rutter is a favorite I had not heard in ages. Then, like a kid, I opened the windows, the sunroof, and turned up the volume as if it were disco music. The song finished as I pulled into the lot. And after communion, the final hymn started … “For the Beauty of the Earth.”

After walking out those massive doors, I had a moment with God unlike any other. I found myself sitting alone in the grass, sobbing, my back supported by the nave. Except I wasn’t alone. Next to me, holding my hand, was the spirit of my God whispering, “Welcome back.”

Thanks be to God for moments big and small. For moments of connection, disconnection, and reconnection … for the beauty of the earth.

My faith journey began in earnest during the early 90’s. Unbelievably, my Sunday morning golf game would be replaced by Sunday services, daily prayer time, and Bible studies. One day I received a call from Palmer asking if I would be willing to teach a Bible study to people who were homeless. I still envisioned many self-important plans for myself, and teaching Bible study to the homeless was not one of them. I politely declined the invitation.

While reading the Bible during my quiet time, I turned to the Book of Luke, Chapter 4, Verse 18. It stated that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” The timing was interesting, coming just a few days after the Church’s invitation to do just that. I considered it for a few moments, but then chalked it up to coincidence.

Shortly thereafter, I received a call from an old college friend. We had never discussed scripture before or since then. He said he had just read something that he thought might be important to me. He said it was from the book of Luke, Chapter 4, Verse 18. I felt goosebumps spring up all over my body as I realized that none of this had been a coincidence. I felt certain that the Master was asking me to do this, but for what purpose? I immediately called the church and told them I would love to teach their Bible study to the homeless. Could I start tomorrow?

I soon joined Jackie Campbell on the patio teaching our Way Station guests about scripture. The Way Station was Palmer’s ministry to the homeless. Without me realizing it, God had been preparing me for my purpose in life. In time, He would make clear that He wanted me to help poor and marginalized people make it through life.

My friend Bob Hawley and I would host the Palmer Golf Tournament for the next 25 years. Proceeds were used to pay expenses for the breakfasts that the Way Station served to our guests.

God has allowed me to serve Him in a variety of ways over the years. I have learned that the most exciting journey we can take is the faith journey. I learned that God is not a myth, as some people believe, but is reality. And this reality is the cornerstone of my faith. He wants to be in intimate relationship with us and has a unique purpose for each of our lives. He has revealed that He is just as concerned for the downtrodden today as He was when he walked the earth over 2,000 years ago. Most importantly, He has gifted me with a clear image of the enduring and eternal nature of the living God.

Proverbs, Chapter 29, Verses 11-14

Palmerage Bonus Content!

Pilgrimage is a weird concept because the pilgrim retreats from their own world often in the hopes of entering a world past. Pilgrims immerse ourselves in the stories and site of ancient, medieval, and modern times. We desire a taste, touch, encounter with the holy, to be pulled from our own time into a time when gods clashed, miracles abounded, dragons breathed fire, and sacrifices of lamb, ox, and human flesh appeased deities and soothed their anger. We travel great distances physically in order to come closer to past times, leaving our own world behind.

And yet. Even on pilgrimage the world continues to turn, wars continue to wage, historic buildings burn down, nations attack others, children call asking for more screen time, and our emails still follow up with requests for meetings. Time never stops and the pilgrim is never far from their own world even if they’ve traveled halfway across the globe. 

Perhaps this is the way it should be. Maybe encountering the holy means holding the past and present in each hand, honoring both, knowing we cannot hide or escape to the past in order to keep present horrors or demands at bay. 

Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem in pilgrimage for the Passover and in preparation for his death. During Holy Week we are pilgrims with Jesus, immersing ourselves in his footsteps from triumphal entry, to sitting at table with his friends, to the cross. And finally, we meet Christ with Mary Magdalene in the garden, facing an empty tomb. 

Pilgrimage transfigures our hearts. We become crossroads of the past and present, recognizing the Holy is in this world, unique to no particular time. simply waiting for each of us to look for her. 

Crete and (no) Santorini 

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the 5th largest of the Mediterranean islands, lying at the convergence of the Mediterranean, Crete, and Aegean Seas. The Dodecanese islands (Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, etc.) lie to the northeast, the Peloponnese to the northwest. 

Crete is known for three things: the best olive oil in Greece; the Minoan Palace at Knossos (and the legend of the Minotaur); the capital city of Iraklio (Heraklion), which has the best archeological museum in Greece second only to the one in Athens. 

The Minoan Palace at Knossos is a labyrinth, designed to keep the royal family safe from intruders. It was inhabited until the first rumblings of an earthquake when the people abandoned the settlement for safer ground. Before they could return to their land, the Mycenaeans, led by Agamemnon (of Iliad fame) overran their island home. 

Like many other islands in the sea between Greece and Türkiye, Crete was inhabited and occupied by many peoples—the Greeks, Persians, Romans/Byzantines, Ottomans, and finally were autonomous in the late 19th and early 20th centuries until 1923 when they unified with Greece for greater protection. 

Many families in Crete on and operate olive farms, pressing olives for oil and using the wood to make beautiful olive wood wares. I bought olive oil in Crete and Bishop Hector has agreed to bless it while we are still in pilgrimage, either today or tomorrow! 

The original plan for our day included a stop over in Santorini where the group had a pre booked excursion to the famous city of Oia (with the whitewashed walls and blue dome roofs). Unfortunately our crew was advised to stay at port in Crete because the weather was too bad in Santorini. Even in Crete the wind was ahowl, whipping around corners, blowing away anything not tied down. 

After our initial disappointment some of our group disembarked into Heraklion again and some of us stayed on board participating in various onboard activities. 

This is our last night aboard the cruise. Tomorrow we disembark at Piraeus and make our way to Corinth. Apparently the canal is a good place for bungee jumping and I’ve challenged Bishop Hector to bungee with me in our clericals. What do you all think? 

Drop a comment below! 

Rhodes: thankfully not shipwrecked 

The book of Acts mentions Paul was shipwrecked at Rhodes during his journey and preached the gospel there. Imagine—hearing a word of liberation and God’s love on a fluke because the preacher was shipwrecked on your island on his way to his real destination!

While finding oneself shipwrecked at Patmos would be chilling and a reason to question the whys of the universe, a shipwreck at Rhodes doesn’t seem all that unfortunate. Known as the Island of the Sun, because of its patronal deity, Helios, the sun god, Rhodes gets an average of almost 3100 hours, or 300 days of sun each year. The people of Rhodes profit from the sun’s shine on their island—along the ocean front boat after boat offered snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, and quick bay hopping for those desirous of water play. There are even submarine tours for those wanting to explore the deep, clear waters of this part of the Aegean. 

Old Town Rhodes bears all the signs of having been a crossroad city during the Neolithic and Classical periods, as well as Late Antiquity. Rhodes sat at the crossroads of trade, culture, and religion as everyone from the Egyptians, Romans, Anatolians, and Persians stopped on the island to trade and linger in the glory of its sunny days. 

In the late Antiquity and Medieval periods, Rhodes was first part of the Byzantine empire and church, and eventually came under order of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, known as the Knights Hospitaller. In 1522 Rhodes fell to the Ottoman Turkish empire and the old town also bears witness to that in the Arabic epigraphs above doors, in the now ruined and abandoned medieval Islamic cemetery, in the tell tale ablaq arch designs in many buildings and in the single minaret still standing in Old Town,  not too far from the Jewish Square and the Knights Road.

Rhodes was a heavily besieged and equally heavily fortified city on the Aegean. The coty was surrounded by a well built wall which included three drawbridges and two waterless moats. The people of Rhodes kept the moats waterless, forcing their enemies to spend days trying to fill the moats themselves in order to bring about a successful attack. The time and labor required for this usually made would be attackers reconsider and move on to another target. 

The city wall still surrounds the much of the city, an enduring symbol of the strength of the people of Rhodes. And yet, so much has changed. The easily recognizable plinths upon which the ancient world wonder, the Colossus of Rhodes, stood until toppled by an earthquake in 226 BC now serve as regal stands for the island’s more recent mascot, the fallow deer. 

More so, this island is still the beloved of the sun, and while it was breezy and overcast most of the day, the sun came out fully as we pulled away from the port, a sign of well wishing as we make our way away from the Dodecanese islands to the island of Crete.

Tomorrow: Crete—Minoan Palace at Knossos—Santorini 

faithfully, ryan 

Ephesus & Patmos: Gathering and Exile 

“But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ But when the town clerk had quietened the crowd, he said, ‘Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple-keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven? Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. You have brought these men here who are neither temple-robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.”

—Acts 19

We woke up in the beautiful port city of Kușadasi, on the west coast of Türkiye. From there we headed to the House of Mary, a cave like structure purported to be the last home of Mary after she traveled to Ephesus with John, the youngest of the apostles. 

While at the House of Mary, I led morning prayer using Morning Prayer from the Iona Community for our group to mark our time there and prepare us for our next stop in Ephesus. 

Ephesus! Originally a port city, the bustling and cosmopolitan city of Ephesus served as the home to the Temple of Artemis, their matronal deity, and the great library of Ephesus, the temple honoring Hadrian, and, after early Christian communities began to form in Asia Minor, the temple Diocletian built to declare himself as lord above all. It was also a major stop along the Silk Road. 

Paul and Silas landed in Ephesus making a big first impression—many people we moved by their message of Jesus Christ in the world, and we baptized. Some however, feared this new lord would diminish devotion to other deities, namely that of Artemis whose wares and talismans they sold in the agora.

Acts testifies to Paul’s time in Ephesus, where he establishes a community of believers, a church. His letter to the Ephesians helps us understand the concerns of that church in such a large city. Boasting an amphitheater that could seat 25,000, and often serving as the first and last port of call for those traveling the Mediterranean, Ephesus was no small operation and the founding of an early Christian community there proved a critical and significant undertaking for Paul. This community was located at what felt to many as the center of the world. A prime spot in which to make disciples and send them out to do the work God has given them to do. 

Earthquakes upon earthquakes caused silting of the land and at some point and the sea receded five miles from Ephesus rendering it useless as a port. The once great and powerful city Ephesus fell into disrepair and, once the capital of Greece was designated at Constantinople, it fell into ruins until finally grass and rock covered this once majestic site and it faded from collective memory much like the frescos on the walls of its buildings have faded over millennia. 

Before heading back to the dock we stopped at a Turkish rug heirloom school. Turkish rug making is an ancient art, passed down from generation to generation, but now there are schools for young people to learn the craft. We watched as a rug maker spin silk from silk worms and another rug maker worked on her loom. Then we had a private rug viewing in which we were able to touch and walk on different Turkish rugs and learned how to tell them apart from knockoffs. My favorites were the silk rugs—so soft! The best part of the tour was the complimentary apple tea provided—delicious. 

Today was a long day on land and sea. We reboarded our ship and set sail for Patmos, arriving around 3 hours later. Today’s disembarkation was by tender boat, we skipped over choppy water right to the dock. 

Pulling into Patmos was eerie, it feels like you’ve fallen off the edge of the Earth (thank goodness we know the earth is round!). Patmos is a lonely place and it is easy to imagine what John must have felt when his captors rowed him to shore—desolation and despair. 

Patmos is not like that now. Again I thought about the ways solitude and exilation were perhaps easier to accomplish in the ancient world. In Patmos, only one or two cruise ships can tender at a time because the presence of their passengers completely overwhelms the main town of Skala, not to mention St. John’s cave and the monastery. Today only our boat arrived at 4pm and the sites were still overrun—we moved incrementally around the main island with multiple tour groups running into one another and waiting somewhat patiently for the group ahead of them to finish at each icon, painting, point of interest. 

I was hopeful that Ephesus or Patmos would provide an opportunity to procure olive oil for the bishop to bless for our Chrism, but alas, no such luck. I did find some wonderful smelling incense in Patmos that I am very excited for us to use in the coming weeks at the 11:15am liturgy. 

It was on Patmos that John had his apocalyptic vision, a voice telling him to write an important message to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Ephesus was on such church. John was in Ephesus, he knew the greatness and vastness of the city. And suddenly he knew the depth of exile. When we read Revelation we witness this: John writes of gathering and exile in this text, unveiling for us the ultimate desire of God, that those who have known the weight of exile would be regathered in God, God

making God’s home among them and them making their home in God. 

tomorrow: Rhodes, a medieval city where Christianity meets Islam.

faithfully, ryan 

Pilgrimages make demands of each person: engagement, focus, physical exertion, mental and spiritual energy. Today’s pilgrimage destination demanded rest. We embarked on our Aegean Sea cruise at 11:30 and pulled out of the port near Athens at 1pm with Mykonos as our first port of call. 

The four hours aboard ship were unstructured so many of us took naps or sat on the deck and soaked in the soft Mediterranean sun. 

Once we docked in Mykonos we disembarked and  walked through the maze like streets on the town. The Mykonosians intentionally desired their streets in a labyrinth layout in hopes of deterring pirates from constantly pillaging their cities. 

Today was a nice rest day.

Tomorrow, Day 7: Mary’s House, Ephesus, Patmos

Today we walked The Sacred Way in Delphi: the Athenian Treasury, the Temple of of Apollo, and the Theater. The Delphic archeological site is also home to the Pythian oracle and the ompalos—the navel, or center, or the world, according to Ancient Greek cosmology.