HomeWord Blog

We are thrilled to finally invite our people into the rite of Confirmation this year, and from now on, it will be an integral part off the membership process at Christ Church. Confirmation is something that all apostolic traditions practice, and yet it is new or confusing for many of us. To that end, I'd like to help us answer four major questions about Confirmation....

Greetings brothers and sisters!We are excited to officially announce a new course at Christ Church Madison: Christian Foundations. We discussed this briefly at the all-church retreat, and now we have more details about what it is, why we are rolling this out, and how you can sign up. Christian Foundations is an 8-week course designed to teach the essentials of the Christian faith and introduce our...

During the last week of June, representatives from every diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, and many international guests, gathered at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, PA for Provincial Assembly. It was a long, very full week of meetings, worship services, and opportunities to connect with people from across our denomination. I was privileged to participate as a delegate from our di...

If you attend our church and recently journeyed with us through Holy Week, you may have noticed that on Palm Sunday we suddenly had this new, gorgeously built cross. This is the story of where that new cross came from and how it was built. Every year on our church birthday (All Saint's Sunday) we have given the congregation a gift. This past November was our 5th birthday, and......

Hello brothers and sisters!As many of you know, we are currently our way through the book of 1 Thessalonians on Sunday mornings, and this past week I preached on Paul’s stunning teaching on the Second Coming of Christ in 4:13-5:11. One of the things we considered in 4:13-17 is how, by his Cross and Resurrection, Jesus transformed death into sleep for his followers, and that at his Second Coming “t...

Our church follows a daily Bible reading plan called the Lectionary. You can find it starting on p. 738 in the Book of Common Prayer (2019), and in the Bible portion of our App. We just finished 2 Kings, and had a shift in the Old Testament reading – we’re starting to read from the Apocrypha. If you’re thinking “Hold up a second, Kaitlyn… the Apocrypha?! Why is that in the Lectionary, alongside th...

All Saints has always been special at Christ Church Madison, since it was when we officially launched as a church plant back in 2018. To be specific, we celebrate our birthday on All Saints Sunday - the first Sunday after the Feast of All Saints, which is November 1. Over the decade+ that I’ve been Anglican, All Saints has come to be one of my personal favorite feasts of the church (if we’re allow...

READING THE BIBLE DAILYWhen I was 18 I started a Bible reading plan that took me through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice every year. I have tried to stick to that discipline in some shape or form ever since, and I can confidently say no other spiritual practice has been more transformational or consequential in my life. When I began, sometimes my daily reading was explosive and ...

Nearly two years ago now, Fr. Scott shared with me an invitation from our church leaders to discern a calling to the diaconate. As an Anglican church we recognize three ordained orders of ministers in the Church - bishops, priests, and deacons - but Christ Church hasn’t had a deacon yet. After a lot of prayer, conversations with mentors and friends, references, background checks, and taking my ord...

“Why did you start wearing a robe? Are you going to wear one forever?”This is a very understandable question that I have been asked recently. Over the last 4 or so years of Christ Church’s life, I never wore a robe. And all of a sudden, this past Holy Week I started wearing an alb (the proper word for white robe) during Holy Eucharist on Sunday mornings, and I haven't stopped. I know that for thos...

Now that we have been able to return to regular, in person worship, we are entering into a new chapter of our church's COVID story. Starting July 3, we will be phasing out the livestream and serving those confined to their homes in a more embodied and eucharistic way....