In-Person Sanctuary worship will resume when the pandemic environment has improved enough that we can provide a safe and healthy worship space for our congregation. Click here for Virtual Service Information.
On a fair summer day, looking out at the expanse of water between Luing Island and the Isle of Mull, surely one of the most stunning views in the Inner Hebrides, there is not a more peaceful sight in all the world. The water can appear so blue, the sky so clear, you’d swear your […]
Pascal’s Other Wager Michael Jinkins Imagine a person sitting in their living room alone. We don’t know why they’re there. They are just sitting. Alone. With their thoughts. They are facing what Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher, saw as perhaps the most important challenge any one can face, to be content with themselves sitting alone […]
The Invention of Hell Michael Jinkins I rather suspect that some long long long time ago, in the dim mists of antiquity, somewhere in Mesopotamia, an ordinary fellow anonymous to history, sat in front of his television set watching spineless politicians argue about non-issues while real needs multiplied in the streets of Ur, and […]
The Love of a Good Woman Michael Jinkins A mega-church super-pastor of national renown recently got into trouble over an extra-marital affair, and the wise guys with whom I almost daily commune had a long virtual conversation about it. I would not, for anything in the world want to expose these guys to the […]
Good Advice is Wisdom in Comfortable Shoes Michael Jinkins The best advice I ever got on a horse came from a nun, but I didn’t take it. We were at Churchill Downs for a special event. Sister Mary Margaret and I were standing in line waiting to place our bets on the third race. […]
Be it Resolved Michael Jinkins Every year lots of folks make New Years Resolutions. I don’t anymore. They tend to lead to New Years Disappointments in my experience. I save my resolution for Ash Wednesday and the weeks that follow, thinking that I’ll have a better chance of being good if (a) the period […]
In All of Life We Are Dealing With God Michael Jinkins As you can probably imagine, your pastor has been struggling this week to find appropriate words to address the events that occurred in Washington D.C.. Recently a colleague with whom I was speaking, ended his conversation with words I’ve heard him say dozens […]
“Doom Scrolling:” My Phrase for the Year 2020 Michael Jinkins This is my choice for new word or phrase of the year, “doom scrolling,” the pernicious and addictive habit of scrolling through one bad news story after another on the internet or television. Someone coming up for air after watching two or three hours […]
The Language of Christmas Michael Jinkins Christmas doesn’t speak in prose. Not fluently, at least. It speaks in music and lyrics and poetry. How could it be otherwise? Christmas touches the face of eternity with the hands of an infant. Upon getting the news from Gabriel that God intended to make her the mother […]
Fairy Tales Can Come True Michael Jinkins We read “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” to our children when they were young. At about that same time, the BBC produced a film version for television. The production values weren’t what viewers today would demand. Actors in woolly suits pretended they were animals. But […]