March 31, 2020 “Batter my heart, three-personed God; for, you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.” –From Divine Meditations 14, by John Donne East Tennessee Friends, I am writing to you on the death day of John Donne, poet and Anglican priest from the 17th century. I am writing to you in a time
Read MoreAnnunciation Day Pastoral Update Letter by Bishop Brian, March 25, 2020
March 25, 2020 The Annunciation of the Lord Dear East Tennessee Friends, I am writing to you on a most holy day, the Annunciation of the Lord. This is the day in the Church calendar when we celebrate the announcing angel declaring to Mary that she is most favored by God and will conceive and bear a son, who will be named Jesus. In the Middle Ages, this story from St. Luke’s Gospel was depicted in sacred art with
Read MoreA Message from Bishop Brian March 19, 2020
A message from Bishop Brian with prayers and words of comfort for our community.
Read MoreA Statement from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee
A Statement from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee Friday, March 13, 2020 Father Brad Whitaker, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, has this afternoon been diagnosed with COVID-19. Last week, Fr. Brad sent a letter to the members of the church sharing that he began to feel ill shortly after returning from the annual conference of the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes in Louisville in February. He was diagnosed and treated for pneumonia, which included a long period
Read MoreA Statement from Bishop Brian on COVID-19
March 12, 2020 Dear East Tennessee Friends, When St. Paul wrote to the Christian community in Philippi, he did so with thanks even as he was imprisoned. I write to you today with thanks even in the midst of the storm of the COVID-19 outbreak in our country and across the globe. As the facts on the ground have changed daily and hourly, I write to you now, hoping that this letter will remain helpful to you in uncertain
Read MoreReconciling Thoughts: Instruments of Grace
This past Sunday, the new Goulding & Wood pipe organ was dedicated and blessed at St. John’s Cathedral. I preached at the service, reflecting on Jesus’ healing of the deaf and mute man. In healing the man who could not hear, Jesus began with touch. When we gather to worship, we work with symbols and signs, we work with images and instruments, we work with things both longstanding and solid, with things ephemeral and unseen. Our desire is to worship
Read MoreA Statement from the Bishops of West and East Tennessee
Compassion Across Tennessee: A Statement from the Bishops of The Dioceses of East Tennessee and West Tennessee Regarding the Tornadoes in Central Tennessee Dear Clergy and People of the Dioceses of East Tennessee and West Tennessee, We are watching with heavy hearts the destruction, injury and loss of life left behind by the tornadoes that swept through central Tennessee last night. We have been in contact with Bishop Bauerschmidt in the Diocese of Tennessee to let him know that all
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