Sunday, May 18, 2025

It is always interesting to me how much interest the world takes in the naming of a new pope. While a substantial portion of the world is Catholic, most of the world (around 80%) is not. Similarly, while Christianity is the world’s largest religion (Catholic and Protestant combined), it only makes up around 30% of the world’s faith.

Still, news casts, non-Catholic populations and a large percentage of the world tune in to understand what is happening with the naming of Pope Leo as the head of the Catholic faith.World leaders attended the funeral of Pope Francis and many will be present for the papal inauguration of Leo. Again, I find this interesting.

The Catholic Church continues to be the most powerful and influential Christian denomination. Maybe this is why we are attuned? Is it simply respect that compels world leaders to show up? Is it the history of the Vatican that calls to us? Pageantry? Tradition?

I tune in because I appreciate the reminder that leadership changes, the church changes, faith changes, but God is consistent and ever present and calling to us again and again to be the community of faith for our current time. Regardless of how we name our faith tradition or denomination within that faith tradition, God is calling to us even now to be the church.

So, I invite you to think about this for yourself. If you tune in, why? If not, why? What is calling to you to be engaged in faith? In THCC? In your relationship, encounter, belief in God? Consider these things, and I’m sure our faith community will grow stronger via your exploration and contemplation.

Now, I am inspired by the Catholic Church and their choice of Pope to lead them in this next chapter of their ministry. Always, I am inspired by the presence of God who continues to mold us and the church into that which is needed right now.

With gratitude for your faith, our shared faith and God’s faith in us,

 Mark

Sunday, May 11, 2025

The scripture passage for this Sunday has a lovely, feminine image of God. Appropriate for Mothers Day, right? It is nestled in apocalyptic discourse which doesn’t feel as appropriate. Nonetheless, here we are. It is always a good reminder that in the midst of beauty, we often find challenge. In the midst scarcity, we find hope. As we gather to celebrate those who mother, we are met with the same dichotomies. Some have mothers who were ideal, while others never knew their mothers. Some mothers were biological, while others were chosen. Some took to mothering naturally, while others struggled. Regardless, of our experience with mothers, Jesus reminds us that God desires to mother us in healthy protective ways. The question is, will we receive it?

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Hi,

Grace and peace to you.

What a privilege it is to begin to serve alongside you at Talmadge Hill Church! I look forward to meeting many of you this summer and pray that our time together will be meaningful, fruitful and aligned to the good work God is putting before us.

Lisa took care of writing a wonderful introduction for me and I look forward to rounding that out via sermons, conversations, meetings, coffee chats, etc. As noted, I really do look forward to getting to know you and hope that you will reach for me as you are ready. I will be reaching for you as well.

Until then, as I begin any new call, I pray Isaiah 43:19, repeating it and seeking the ancient wisdom made new. As it is helpful for me, I pray that it may be for you as well.  The passage says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?” It is a good reminder that God is already at work and our greatest task is simply to perceive it, to pay attention, to align with that which God is actively unfolding. THCC has such a rich history in service, leadership, faithfulness, and congregational engagement. This foundation is strong for THCC, and the trajectory of ministry that has been in the past carries forward to the future. God invites us to hold onto those things that continue to serve us and our purpose as Christians. We are also compelled, required even, to perceive the ways God is moving us in new directions. How good and exciting is this work and this time for THCC? Certainly, there is anxiety, but the love and compassion of God outweighs doubt and nurtures us into the new.

May God continue to bless us all, that we may be the hands and feet of Christ today.

With gratitude and hope,

Mark

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Dear Friends, 

I will save most of my parting words for Sunday morning.  But for those who may not be around for Sunday worship, I will share a few thoughts.

First, I want to say ‘what a privilege it has been to be one of your ministers for these 15+ years’.  Privilege is an elevated word.  It is well chosen.  To have stood with you for weddings, funerals and baptisms is a high honor.  You let me in, and I tried to share something of God’s presence while standing on sacred ground.  

At the same time, we have been through countless other peaks and valleys.  I remember the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Closer to home, we have been through tragic losses within our own church family.  We have loved and lost ministers.  We have loved and lost daughters and sons.  We have loved and lost wives and husbands.  When the pandemic landed, we stepped up and found ways to be the church.  Throughout, we have sent people to Nicaragua, Honduras, Kenya, and the streets of New York City.  God has been faithful.  You have been faithful.  We have been faithful.  

I have never pretended to be more than I am.  Over these 15 years, my personal life has been a mix of chaos, poor choices, better choices, and a slow uneven journey towards more sanity.  Yet by God’s grace, I have hung in there.  I have consistently worked to put my best foot forward when it counted the most.  I have tried to respond to late night calls.  I have tried to preach worthy sermons.  None of these efforts merit a pat on the back.  I would only want you to know that the call to be your minister was always a serious matter.  

Here is my cheat sheet.  Practice vulnerability.  It is the gateway to personal and spiritual growth.  Practice forgiveness.  It is the greatest gift in human relationships.  Love lavishly.  It is your superpower.  This is the fertile soil of resurrection.  

Thank you Talmadge Hill Community Church.  You have been my spiritual home.

Carter  

Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025

Dear Friends,

Holy Week is many things.  It is the human experience in its fullness.  It is about power.  It is about the ugly side of human nature.  It is about our mortality and death.  It is about fear and faith.  It is about re-birth and hope.  

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he asked both directly and indirectly for us to look more closely at ourselves.  He asked for us to examine our shadows, our default patterns of thought and behavior, our inertia, our resistance to change.  He was brilliant.  He saw us.  He invited us to see everything differently.  

So my question is a simple one: “What do you want to get out of Easter this year?”  It may sound like a silly question.  But I think not.  Is Easter about family?  Sure.  Is Easter about a church service that feels obligatory?  Maybe.  Is Easter about dressing up and eating good food?  I hope so (particularly if those things are good for your soul).  Yet alongside of these considerations, our tradition tells us that Easter is a seminal event.  It makes proclamations about ‘who we are’ and ‘what matters most’.  

John O’Donohue writes poignantly about the journey into Easter: 

 In out-of-the-way places of the heart, 

Where your thoughts never think to wander, 

This beginning has been quietly forming, 

Waiting until you were ready to emerge. 

For a long time it has watched your desire, 

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, 

Noticing how you willed yourself on, 

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

 Then the delight, when your courage kindled, 

And out you stepped onto new ground, 

Your eyes young again with energy and dream, 

A path of plenitude opening before you. 

Though your destination is not yet clear 

You can trust the promise of this opening; 

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning 

That is at one with your life's desire.       

See you on Sunday morning,

Carter