All Posts By

Teena Brown

Jul 20 2025
Love0
beautiful sunset with grass in forefront

A Broken Open Heart

By Talks

In relaxed “summer sharing mode,” Rachael brings a random collection of things: a book she loves, news about her upcoming move, a poem, and wisdom from two beautiful humans who passed away this week – poet Andrea Gibson (d. 14th July) and environmental activist Joanna Macy (d. 19th). A thread weaving through them all is the call to let the co-existing beauty and pain of life and the state of our world keep on breaking us open to more love and interconnectedness, daring to trust that this is in itself a big part of the solution we need.

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Jul 13 2025
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wild geese at the edge of a lake

Communities of Belonging

By Talks

A huge need in people’s lives is to feel a sense of belonging. Jess, Lorna and Janell all share various stories where they have seen or felt this sense of belonging exist. They acknowledge its meaningfulness and how its goodness can trickle outward beyond an individual’s immediate communities. They further reflected on how communities of belonging create a dwelling place for God’s love and peace.

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Jul 06 2025
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birds of a different feather

Meeting People Where They Are

By Talks

As we intentionally grow community together Marilyn encourages us to each reflect on how we can both give and ask for support – asking each other questions about what would be most supportive and reflecting so we can invite others to care for us.

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Jun 29 2025
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little bird sinsing on a twig

How About A Little Good News?!

By Talks

Lorna talks about God’s generosity and gentleness in bringing healing in those areas of her life where she has most often felt fear and anxiety. She shares some ‘good news stories’ from a recent holiday, and the truth of Jesus’ familiar words in Matthew 11, that ‘my yoke is easy and my burden is light’.

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Jun 08 2025
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Practicing Rest

By Talks

During our Second Breakfast Potluck, Jess shared a selection of readings about practicing rest, and opened up a conversation about what gets in the way of prioritizing rest in our lives.

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Jun 01 2025
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painting of Beethoven

Beethoven, Joy and Strife

By Talks

Walter used Beethoven’s example of finding joy in the midst of suffering to talk about the value of celebrating joy even when times are hard. (He was going to start listing all the ways in which we’ve been feeling hardship and loss lately, but the music got him too choked up.)

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May 25 2025
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God in You Has Your Back

By Talks

Walter’s homily shares a conversation that resonated with Jesus’ promise in John 14 that the Advocate would teach us everything. He went on to leave us with the paradox that God is in us and beyond us.

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May 18 2025
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The Cost of Safety

By Talks

Mark explores a story of Jesus’ encounter with a man cast out by a well-off society–a clear illustration of how bringing someone to safety costs someone else their comfort. The gospel story is a challenge particularly to the comfortable: stop protecting our own peace at the expense of others… and start creating safe space, even when it costs.

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May 04 2025
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open tomb

Death & Resurrection

By Talks

Last Sunday, we were privileged to experience this powerful message from a long-time friend of St. Croix Church, Dr. David Moore. David challenges us to consider the death and resurrection of Jesus as a message of divine solidarity and hope to all the Lazaruses of the world — to all the oppressed, tortured, cast out, and left for dead, Jesus says, “Come out, rise up, this is not the end.”

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