St. Paul's Salisbury, NC

Time for being with God in nature, and each other in conversation

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:23:14 GMT

One of the beautiful crosses/crucifixes around the buildings and grounds at Kanuga.

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

We’re using this space to think about doing and being church in new ways.
And you’re invited to join us!

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This weekend, members of St. Paul’s are traveling to Kanuga

- an Episcopal retreat, camp and conference center in the mountains of North Carolina.

The primary purpose of the retreat is to step away to a beautiful, intentional space to reflect and discuss the future of St. Paul’s as a community of faith.

The broader context: the collapsing system of the traditional church model (the Episcopal Church is losing members and closing churches every year). This is putting pressure on all congregations about how they will function today - and in the future, and St. Paul’s is no exception.

We’re encouraging ourselves to be “fearless and faithful” in discussing what St. Paul’s could look like - or wants to be - in the future of church.

There’s a lot of Good News - and it may require bold decisions.

Fr. Cathie plans to retire on August 1st, 2029.

After that, she will no longer be St. Paul’s Sunday priest , but hopefully we can stay in ministry together in some ways. She feels passionately about St. Paul’s dreaming and discerning about the next three years - and beyond.

The retreat is designed for gentle, unhurried conversation about 3 big questions and unstructured time together to be with each other and God.

Dewey Preslar facilitated the retreat taking place at Kanuga because of how strongly he feels God’s presence there.

All members are encouraged to consider the questions (which are listed below), and to share thoughts with Jerry Taylor, our senior warden, or a vestry member (or any other member) if they are not planning on being at the retreat.

Sunday worship will be live streamed at 10:30 am.

Here’s the general schedule for our time at Kanuga:

Kanuga schedule

Thank you to Donald Hartmann for this beautiful photo of the flowers at St. Paul’s - and his care for the garden.

We’re glad you’re here, and we’re already praying for you.

In fact, if you have a prayer request, you can make it right here:

Prayer request

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

But mostly, just know you belong here - as part of God’s family and this community.

We would love to know more about you, too!

You are already on our subscriber list. If you’d like to be part of St. Paul’s digital membership - and participate with us in discipleship, spiritual growth, and worship, please fill out our Connect Card (share only the information you want to).

Connect Card

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Church this week

Conversations about the future of St. Paul’s

The only Good News we get today is that it's only the first day of the week

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:15:20 GMT

Photo courtesy of Dewey Preslar. Taken in the Holy Land 2020

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Join us for Holy Week and Easter services:

Holy Week and Easter

Palm Sunday Scripture:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 26:14- 27:66

Notes from ’s sermon:

Today we take our part

We walk in procession, wave our palms, say ‘Hosanna!” (God save us)
We cheer for Jesus, we betray him, we deny him, we shout for him to be crucified. We realize he really is the son of God.
Today, and all through Holy Week, we walk through the story again. With our whole bodies, our whole selves.

Egeria is a Spanish woman who lived in the late 380s

She could have been a nun or a noblewoman - we don’t know
She went from Spain to Jerusalem on a 3 year pilgrimage to Jerusalem to see how Christians spent Holy Week. And she wrote about it (incidentally, this is one of the first published works from a woman)
Pilgrims poured into the city and went from one place to another where Jesus had been - the cave where Jesus taught, a cathedral built by Constantine, Jesus’ tomb.
They prayed and sang, they wept, they shouted. They participated with their whole selves. Anamnesis. Living remembrance.

This is one reason we know that the Christian story is true

it’s not just Scripture - the Bible is important, but it’s not God.
It points us towards God.
Liturgy - how we worship - does the same.
We come back to these places and walk through these stories, and take our parts, again and again.
Ever since Jesus was there in person.

Egeria’s writings were disseminated throughout the Christian world

And throughout Christian history
All the way to us
We’ve been walking through Holy Week - remembering with our lives
Ever since the first Christians did
Ever since the first crowds followed Jesus.

Today, we take our part

Inhabiting all the ways we react to Jesus…
- Hosanna’ (God save us)
- ‘Surely I will not betray you’
- ‘I do not know the man’
- ‘Crucify him’
- ‘He saved others, he cannot save himself’’
- ‘Truly, this man was the Son of God’
  And Jesus keeps going forward, towards his destiny. Towards our salvation.

The only Good News we get today is that it’s only the first day of the week

Join us for the Virtual Vigil at the Altar of Repose through Trexo - Maundy Thursday evening into Good Friday morning…

Trexo: Gym for your Soul

Staying awake with Jesus in Holy Week

Jesus asked his disciples to stay awake while he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest…

a month ago · 3 likes · Fr. Cathie Caimano

We’re glad you’re here, and we’re already praying for you.

In fact, if you have a prayer request, you can make it right here:

Prayer request

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

But mostly, just know you belong here - as part of God’s family and this community.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Connect Card

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Church this week

Stay awake with Jesus during Holy Week

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:40:38 GMT

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

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this photo was taken by St. Paul’s parishioners in the Holy Land, 2020.

We’re glad you’re here, and we’re already praying for you.

In fact, if you have a prayer request, you can make it right here:

Prayer request

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

But mostly, just know you belong here - as part of God’s family and this community.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Connect Card

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Church this week

Follow us as we follow Jesus

Fr. Cathie is with us 2 Sundays a month, so twice a week you’ll get sermon notes/video, plus St. Paul’s announcements and any special events going on (we’ll do this every week).

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.

We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

Do you have an announcement for church this Sunday?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:08:08 GMT

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

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ONE BIG CHANGE (that’s actually pretty small):’

Find the St. Paul’s announcements in the Church Center chat.

Join us at Trexo as we participate in the Practice of Fasting this Lent:

Trexo: a gym for your soul

St. Paul’s DOK members at St. Margaret’s, Waxhaw. Fr. Cathie did a Lenten retreat about Trexo, and Marsha Collins, Judy Smith, and Katie Coffield were there in support!

We’re glad you’re here, and we’re already praying for you.

In fact, if you have a prayer request, you can make it right here:

Prayer request

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

But mostly, just know you belong here - as part of God’s family and this community.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Connect Card

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Church this week

Follow us as we follow Jesus

Fr. Cathie is with us 2 Sundays a month, so twice a week you’ll get sermon notes/video, plus St. Paul’s announcements and any special events going on (we’ll do this every week).

'It's a love story'

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:49:25 GMT

St. Paul’s announcements are in the church chat!

We’re trying something new. We’re making the announcements via church chat while they are happening! So even if you’re not there in person, you can still see and respond to the announcements - and ask questions if you need to.

Access the chat via Church Center…

St. Paul's Church Center

The First Sunday in Lent Scripture:

Exodus 17:1-7
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
Psalm 95

Notes from ’s sermon:

The Samaritan woman is one of my very favorite Bible stories

Along with the raising of Lazarus
The longest conversation Jesus has in the Bible
Jesus reveals he is the Messiah - the first and most direct
To a Samaritan (a foreigner - someone deeply distrusted, even hated by Jews).
But the reason I love this story - along with Lazarus - is that it is so easy to imagine HER.

What does she look like?

(I imagine a faded dress, even though of course she would not have been wearing a dress!)

It’s hot, it’s dusty, it’s noon. And this woman is tired.
She’s seen it all before.
5 husbands - plus one. this is not a moral judgment. (he does NOT say, ‘neither do I condemn you’)
Whether she’s been divorced 5 times, or widowed (or a little of both!)
This is a woman who knows what it’s like to have her heart broken.

And she’s at the well. Jacob’s well.

Moses - who strikes the rock and water gushes out of it for his people, met his wife Zipporah at a well.
His son Isaac met his wife Rebekah at a well.
And his son Jacob met his wife Rachel at THIS VERY well. And wept when he kissed her. It’s a very romantic spat. Full of life and hope.
The well - in the desert - is a place of life - literally!
It’s also a community gathering place. People meet up here, this is where they come for their water, after all. Every day.
They gossip and they catch up and they trade news - and sometimes, they fall in love.

The woman thinks Jesus is hitting on her.

Of COURSE she does. This strange man striking up a conversation with her - all alone in the middle of the day.What else would she believe?
And she is LONG past believing in love.
So she brushes him off the way women have been brushing off unwanted male attention since the beginning of time.
First she says, ‘you’re not my type.’ My people don’t mingle with your people.
Then she points out the obvious - Jesus is at the well but he doesn’t have a bucket to collect water. No offense, but someone who can’t even think ahead far enough to bring a jar to a well is maybe not marriage material.
At first, she doesn’t see it.
Jesus IS offering her love, but not in the sense that she understands. Her heart is hardened, like those Israelites wandering in the desert who turned against Moses because they were thirsty and afraid. But God saved them.
But Jesus talks about the living water - and reveals himself as the Messiah - in such a way that the woman comes to understand that he is offering LOVE.
But not in the classic sense - in the eternal sense.
Jesus offers her what her heart really needs. not romantic love - something a million times stronger. the living water - the source of life - that is the love of God that saves us all.
‘He knows everything about me,’ she says. Isn’t that what you say about someone you fall in love with?
Jesus’ persistence wins her over.

She has fallen in love with what we cannot live without - love that saves us. Love that heals us. Love that makes us whole.

We come here, to this altar, week after week. The source of our life with God.

This could be a place of dusty, old traditions.
We could just come here because we’ve always done it, and our family before.
OR - it could be a place that despite all of our dashed expectations, in spite of our heartbreaks, despite all our world-weariness,
We come because we BELIEVE
That we just might - unexpectedly and powerfully - meet the love of our life.
The love of ALL of our lives - Jesus Christ. Who gave his body and blood for us. And for the salvation of the whole world.

Congrats to Donald Hartmann for his performance in the Pirates of Penzance! Several St. Paul’s parishioners attended the show (shown here: Andrew DeFabo, Linda Sufficool, Judy Smith, Katie Coffield).

Don’t forget to join us at Trexo for your spiritual workout. Hearts up!

Becoming a Community of Practice

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:31:58 GMT

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

See below for more on how we are thinking about church differently into the future…

Join us at Trexo as we participate in the Practice of Fasting this Lent:

Trexo: a gym for your soul

St. Paul’s Announcements :

St. Paul's Announcements

We’re glad you’re here, and we’re already praying for you.

In fact, if you have a prayer request, you can make it right here:

Prayer request

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

But mostly, just know you belong here - as part of God’s family and this community.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Connect Card

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Church this week

Fr. Cathie is with us 2 Sundays a month, so twice a week you’ll get sermon notes/video, plus St. Paul’s announcements and any special events going on (we’ll do this every week).

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.

We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

'We're only human'

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:24:37 GMT

If you would like the announcements for St. Paul’s, click the button below:

St. Paul's Announcements

The First Sunday in Lent Scripture:

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Psalm 32

Notes from ’s sermon:

The very first fast was in the Garden of Eden

At Trexo, we’re focused on fasting in Lent.
God says to Adam and Eve: ‘DON’T EAT of that fruit’ - but of course they do!
God should have known - God DID know
We’re only human. - God made us human
Our origin story - ‘original sin.
People often reject this doctrine - ‘‘We’re not born bad’. There’s no way babies are born bad’.
But this story is about our limits - and also the adventure of being human.
It’s about the fact that we are made in the image of God - but we’re not God.
We have limits. We make mistakes. We must die.
It’s what makes our lives SO beautiful and precious.

What would have happened if Adam and Eve had NOT eaten the fruit?

They would have stayed in heaven - in the Garden
Which would have been wonderful - but would it?
they would have gotten bored! not appreciating the splendor. ‘Ho-hum another day in paradise…’
What I believe: humans are made to LOVE. Our mission in life, the whole thing about life, is that we learn to love and be loved.
If we never fail at love, we can’t ever know what love really is.
We want to get out there and LOVE!
That’s why suffering is baked into the human experience. It’s awful - we don’t want it. GOD doesn’t want it.
But if we don’t disobey God - which God knew we would do - we never get to see the consequences that not loving brings.
We’re experimenting all over the place! And failing sometimes (and sometimes succeeding spectacularly)
This is not about punishment - it’s about teaching us that LOVE is the MOST valuable thing. The thing we want most. The thing we keep striving to do and be.

Which brings us to Jesus - tempted by the devil

I always think the same thing: come ON! Jesus is GOD, is he really tempted by the devil?
But Jesus is fully God AND fully human.
What does that mean? That’s a theological conversation we’ve been having for thousands of years. (Heresies).
Some people say it means that Jesus grew into his understanding of himself as the Messiah, so right here at the beginning of his ministry, he doesn’t KNOW he can stand up to Satan.
But I’m not sure of this.
Jesus is fully God, from birth. We just celebrated Christmas and Epiphany, and we saw how people reacted to him, even as a baby. HE KNEW.

Jesus’ temptation was to ONLY be God - he doesn’t have to be human!

Jesus could have just smited Satan. He could have walked around throwing thunderbolts and healing every sickness and banishing death just like that.
But instead he chose to LIVE as a human, LOVE as a human, SUFFER as a human, DIE as a human.
Why? For the love of us.
So that we can continue the adventure of being human - learning to love and be loved.
AND - so he could bring us back to Paradise by dying for us - and rising again,
To save us from thinking Adam and Eve made the wrong choice.

And so we come to Lent

DON’T eat - we tell ourselves when we fast during Lent. And maybe we’re tempted like Eve is: the devil maybe whispering that it doesn’t really matter - there are no real consequences if we don’t keep our Lenten discipline.
And he’s right - sort of.
Because just like the consequences of all our failed attempts at love, it’s not about punishment, it’s about what we miss out on.
The adventure of life.
Living in this tension of being made in the image of God - but also having the freedom - and the limitations - of finding our own way.
Learning to love. Learning how precious and beautiful this life is.
Learning the gift that Jesus has given us with his own life.
We’re only human, after all.

Don’t forget to join us at Trexo for your spiritual workout. Hearts up!

Follow us as we follow Jesus

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 22:16:40 GMT

February 18 is Ash Wednesday.

We begin the season of Lent with a solemn service of Holy Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes at 7pm. Get all the details below:

Church this week

St. Paul’s announcements:

Announcements

Follow us as we Follow Jesus

We’re starting something new at St. Paul’s. We’re figuring out how we’re called to live into the Future of Church as a community - and you’re invited to come with us!

As a paid subscriber of St. Paul’s Substack, you’ll get to come along as we re-imagine our own ministry, and how we hope to thrive as a Community of Practice.

We’re not so worried about being a congregation in the traditional sense (though we’re part of the Episcopal Church and we follow the doctrine, discipline and worship of our denomination).

We’re more interested in how to become formed in the Christian faith by practicing the way of Jesus within our context.

We’re also the first ‘Chapter’ of Trexo, so we’ll base our own Practices on the basic Practices at the ‘gym for your soul’.

———

Fr. Cathie is with us 2 Sundays a month, so twice a week you’ll get sermon notes/video, plus St. Paul’s announcements and any special events going on (we’ll do this every week).

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.

We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

We’re also creating pathways for true digital membership - welcoming new members into our Community of Practice, and practicing with you! You’ll learn more about this as we explore how we’re called to the Future of Church.

We’re glad you’re here, and we’re already praying for you.

In fact, if you have a prayer request, you can make it right here:

Prayer request

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

But mostly, just know you belong here - as part of God’s family and this community.

'Salt and Light' - God calls us to be steadfast and joyful

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:08:27 GMT

If you would like the announcements for St. Paul’s, click the button below:

St. Paul's Announcements

The Fifth Sunday of Epiphany Scripture:

Isaiah 58:1-9a, [9b-12]
1 Corinthians 2:1-12, [13-16]
Matthew 5:13-20
Psalm 112:1-9, (10)

Notes from ’s sermon:

‘You are the salt of the earth.’
‘You are the light of the world.’

Salt: Flavor and nutrition (your body needs it).
Light: Warmth. Clarity and our body’s rhythm and mood

Too much of either will kill us! We will die from too little, too.

Salt = Preservative. It was once used as currency (because it meant people could eat in the winter).

Light = Growing food. Candlemas (blessing candles because light was so important). Energy. Photosynthesis (plants need light, we need plants for food).

Jesus wants us to be this: Essential.

We call someone ‘salt of the earth’ and say someone ‘lights up a room’’

Salt of the earth: honest, good, dependable, reliable. Hard-working.

Lights up a room: warm, positive energy; their energy is enough to change the energy of the environment’. alive, animated, welcoming.

Spiritually speaking: Steadfast and joyful. ‘Grounded goodness’ and ‘Radiant presence’

This is your calling, right here. Jesus wants us to be this. Jesus tells us we ARE this.

Notice that Jesus goes right from this to talking about the Law.

‘I did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it’

The Law = 10 Commandments (+ lots of other things)

No ‘thou shalt not’s - it’s in the ‘imperfect tense’

It’s a statement of identity. ‘As my people, you are now the people who do not kill, etc.’

But humans being humans, it’s hard not to get caught up in fine print.

Abiding by the letter of the law - or not. Trying to figure out every ‘stroke of the law’ - are we doing good, or not?

Judging ourselves - and each other.

Jesus is born into this world for precisely this reason.

The new covenant - our new relationship with God is about returning to our identity, and not getting caught up in the Rules.

NOT because the rules aren’t important, but because the rules - the Law - points back to our identity as God’s people.

This is who we’re meant to be

Conversations at St. Paul’s

We’ve started to talk about how things might be different here - how we might living into our calling as a community in new ways.

This is my vision for you: that this becomes a community - a ‘chapter’, a religious school (or ‘gym”)

Where you focus all your attention and energy on the Practices of Worship and Prayer, Hospitality and Service.

To not worry so much about the ‘rules’ of what we can and can’t do as Episcopalians, or even some of the things that we ‘always’ do here.

But to intentionally build a communal ‘Rule of Life’ where we specifically outline our own identity statement.

It’s a little scary - it might be uncomfortable.

But I believe this is - it can be more of - where we live into our calling to be a school for becoming steadfast and joyful. ‘Grounded goodness’ and ‘radiant presence’

A place where we practice being salt and light.

Don’t forget to join us at Trexo for your spiritual workout. Hearts up!

Our job is to believe

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:59:14 GMT

Epic snowfall across North Carolina meant another week of online worship!

Watch the recording by clicking the button, and Fr. Cathie’s sermon is below…

Online Worship Recording

St. Paul’s announcements:

Announcements

Fr. Cathie’s sermon:

As part of my job, I visit lots of churches - big ones and little ones, churches in cities and small towns and way down country roads.

Some are struggling , some are thriving, but all seem to have a few things in common: usually, a lot of care goes into worship, and this shows - liturgy is well-done, music is beautiful, there are flowers and silver on the altar and bulletins in the pews.

Some kind of formation happens at every church I see - there is Bible study or a lunch bunch or an adult forum before or after the service, and if there are any young people at all, there is Sunday school and youth group.

And finally, every church I know participates in some kind of outreach - they feed the hungry or help the homeless or pack backpacks for kids who don’t have enough to eat or tutor children after school or support other ministries in their area. Or sometimes, all of the above.

These are all good things. They are wonderful things. It is amazing to me that so many churches in so many places manage to do so many things, especially since so many of them do so with dwindling resources, both human and financial.

And that, I have to say, is something else I see in almost every church I visit:

there is not enough of what there once was - people, especially young people, time for spending at church and on church related activities, and money.

A lot of people in a lot of churches are tired. They are dedicated, they are faithful, but they are tired.

And something about how we are and who we are as the church has changed in a way that it has never changed before, some things are just not happening the way they used to, and somewhere deep inside, all of us know this.

We may not know why. We may not know how. But we know that fewer of us are spending time, energy, and money on keeping the church alive.

So those of us who are still here have to do more of all of this.

I wonder sometimes, what would happen if we just stopped.

It’s kind of shocking, really, but what if we just stopped doing all this work to make church happen?

If we no longer had bulletins or hymns or coffee or sermons or Christmas Eve or Easter or Lent?

What if no Bibles were studied and no children learned the parable of the lost sheep and no hungry people were fed or sorrowful people comforted?

What would we miss if we no longer kept the seasons or the rituals or the feasts or the traditions, the work of our life as the church?

And even more importantly: what would be missing from the world?

Today’s Gospel story is a hard one. At least I think it is.

This section of Matthew is well known as the Sermon on the Mount.

It begins with the Beatitudes:

‘blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry’,

and it goes on, the chapter ending with Jesus saying

Turn the other cheek

and

Love your enemies

and finally concludes with the words,

Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is a tall order from Jesus - asking us to ponder behavior that tests our very limits in terms of relating to one another, and it sets an impossible standard.

Yet Jesus says that this is what he expects.

We are left, reading these words, with either believing Jesus doesn’t really mean them - that he is exaggerating to point out how important it is that we love each other and treat each other well.

Or else that he does really mean them,

and therefore each and every one of us falls woefully short of the Christian ideal of discipleship.

All I feel when I read this is that if Jesus is serious here, I am in trouble.

And then what I fear the most is that we don’t really hear this at all.

That all these words mean to us is either a moralistic ideal that we will never reach, or a condemnation of all the ways we fail to love.

That because of this, we tune it out.

We leave it to the saints and the televangelists to dwell on these particular verses and we focus on the parts of the Gospel that help us get through our regular lives in the real world.

And yet…

I start to wonder about the power of these phrases when I stop taking them personally.

If I quit fretting that I don’t measure up to these impossible standards and think instead about what the world would look like if it were simply true.

Not:
‘Am I a sinner because I am divorced?’

But

‘what if we lived in a world in which divorce was never contemplated, because we loved without anger and never objectified each other?’

What if we lived in a place full of peacemakers, where we simply and easily prayed for our enemies and blessed those who curse us?

What if Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven, and our job is not so much to make it happen as it is to believe that it is possible that it could happen?

That it exists. That God means for it to exist.

Sometimes I think it is enough to just imagine that we could live with love in our hearts and cast fear from our minds. That this is the ideal because this is the world that God wishes for us.

Our job is not to make this world, it is to inhabit it. To believe that we can and we will.

The Sermon on the Mount is not so different from Jesus walking on water or feeding the five thousand or raising Lazarus from the dead.

We believe these things are true

Not because there is any proof they could be
Not because we have seen it with our own eyes

but because we believe that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has proved in the most powerful way that nothing is impossible with God, and that life and love will always triumph over death and darkness.

We have heard it and felt it and it has changed our hearts and captivated our lives, and this is why we believe.

When we are baptized, we are asked five questions about our new life in Christ, and we - or our godparents if we are too young - answer each one with,
‘I will, with God’s help.’

It is never presumed that we enter the life of faith alone, without a community, and especially not alone, without the power of God to light our way, without the hope of God’s Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus may exhort his followers to ‘be perfect’, but I don’t think that’s an order, I think it is a vision.

And I think it is our work as religious people to have this vision, too.

Not necessarily to make it ourselves. Just to see it.

Which brings me back to the life of the church as we know it:

We could put everything down.

We could, I think, stop trying so hard, stop working so much to save what we know, or to make something happen that we think will take us on a new course, or back to the old one.

Here’s what I think would happen:

As long as there were still some of us who believed, who saw the vision of this impossible, improbable Kingdom of God,

the stories would still be told
the seasons kept
the songs would be sung
the bread would be broken.

We just wouldn’t be able to help ourselves.

As long as the church is still following Jesus, I don’t see how it can ever disappear.

This is what it means to us, and to the world.

We are the ones who hold the vision, who believe in life and miracles and resurrection.

This is God’s work and we are the ones who simply say ‘yes’.

After that, I don’t know what would or what could become of structure and the organization of the church.

But I believe that if we made it our job to believe - and not to try and figure it out -

God would - God will - God is -helping us find a way forward.

We are the place to go, after all, if you want to believe in a world where there is no more need for anger, or lust, or warfare.

We are the people who know it might sound crazy, and are far from writing the manual on how to do it, but we actually do believe in turning the other cheek.

And faith moving mountains, and sight for the blind and life for the dead and no longer having to be afraid.

We are not perfect. But we are meant to be. This we believe.

originally preached on February 16, 2014, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Roxboro, NC.

Thank you to our senior warden, Jerry Taylor, for these fabulous photos of St. Paul’s in the snow!

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The message about the cross is foolishness

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 18:51:16 GMT

Snow, sleet, and ice disrupted our ability to gather in person, but not our worship! We gathered online for Morning Prayer. You can watch the recorded service here. Cathie’s sermon (from the archives - 2008!) is below.

Morning Prayer recording

Thank you to our senior warden, Jerry Taylor, for these fabulous photos of St. Paul’s in the snow!

St. Paul’s announcements:

Announcements

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

Sometimes, being a Christian can make us feel helpless.

When something goes terribly wrong, when someone is terribly afraid, when we reach out for something, needing a word about where God is in all of this, sometimes it is hard not to feel like answers are inadequate.

‘Things happen for a reason,’ we sometimes say, ‘God has a plan.’

But even as these words leave our lips it is hard to imagine that there is any plan in God’s book that involves suffering for those who are innocent, or over-burdened.

It is hard to believe in a loving God who has plans to make us stronger by first causing us pain, or confusion or frustration.

God is here but not doing anything about our suffering, we seem to end up saying. God could stop this terrible situation but chooses not to.

But why?

And here we get into answers of the variety that we are not good enough, not strong enough, not faithful enough.

And we know that this is not right, not from what we have learned about Jesus, not from what we know about being loved and saved no matter what.

So we say how sorry we are to those who are in trouble, we give of ourselves to those in need, but we start to get a little nervous when pressed about where, exactly, God is when it is all looking very dark outside.

The message about the cross is foolishness.

It is foolish to believe that someone who died two thousand years ago has anything to do with what is going on in our lives today.

It is foolish to think that our belief in this death, and what happened afterwards, is really going to be much help to us in our current problems, is really going to be a solution to what seems unfixable in the moment.

And so it seems only natural that we would try to understand our religion in terms that make more sense – God helps us if we ask right, or think right, or do right.

God has reasons why we suffer. God is on one side and not on the other. Anything to keep us from feeling in the moment, that we believe in Jesus, but we have no idea if that is helping us with anything.

And this is where Paul finds the Corinthians in today’s Epistle reading.

Lacking any firm understanding of the benefits they are receiving from being baptized into the life of Christ, they have factioned into camps according to which of their leaders they like best:

I belong to Apollos. I belong to Cephas. I belong to Paul.

Since real spiritual benefits seem so intangible, they have taken to more fully identifying with the messenger than the message.

And of course they are in conflict.

Because once we decide that only one way can be God’s way, or once we decide that there is a certain definite answer to any number of the mysteries of our life with God, then we are left having to defend them as if our lives, or God’s life, depended on it.

The message about the cross is foolishness.

It is foolishness to believe that we cannot reduce God to a plan, to a mindset that will guarantee us success – that we will be healthy and happy and pain-free and our lives will be full of meaning at all times if we just get this right.

Not that we have given up trying, of course.

I don’t have to tell you about the myriad of ways that apparently spiritual leaders promise us all of these things – money, relationship happiness, good kids, even weight loss, if we abandon the foolishness of not having all the answers, the foolishness of not really knowing for sure, and instead embrace the God of whatever person wrote the newest book on the right way to believe.

On God’s firm opinion about our suffering and how to conquer it, how to get the answers right.

I belong to Apollos. I belong to Cephas. I belong to Paul.

And the thing is, all of these things can work – deciding that suffering is God’s will, praying for our way out of debt or heartbreak, there is nothing wrong with this - until the day that it doesn’t work anymore.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, writes:

The only defense religion ever has or ever will have against the charge of cozy fantasy is the kind of experience or reflection normally referred to by Christian writers … as the ‘dark night of the spirit... It is the end of religious experience, the very opposite of mysticism… In the middle of all our religious constructs – if we have the honesty to look at it – is an emptiness. It makes nonsense of all religion, conservative or radical, and all piety.

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

When we get to the end of the line or the end of our rope or the end of our understanding of what God is doing in our lives, that is the moment when we give up needing God to make sense and start needing God to save us.

The moment we are willing to believe that God’s opinion and our opinion do not have to align for God to have the power to change our lives, that we are willing to stand in the place where our hearts are open but we are not sure what is going on or where God is in all of this, that is the moment where we go from losing our lives to finding them, from perishing to being saved.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

We read this in both Isaiah and the Gospel this morning, and it seems to me that sometimes it is the darkness that helps us to recognize the light.

Not that God brings us suffering so that we will come closer to God.
Not that God is trying to teach us something by having this darkness surround us in the first place, but that sometimes it is in the darkness where we really start to realize that there is a place where our ability to find things, to fix things, to make everything right by ourselves comes to an end, and it is there that we realize that anything more that comes to us is not of our doing, we don’t know how it is happening.

There is a moment when we stop pushing the darkness away, and this is where we understand precisely what the message about the cross really is –

that Jesus himself did not push the darkness away, that Jesus himself brought all the darkness to him, became all manner of least and lost and lonely not to give us the answers but to become the answer, to be what shows us that all the troubles of this world cannot overtake the power of love.

It can change the whole way we look at the world.

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved it is the power of God.

There is a moment when we understand that we no longer want to be fixed, we are no longer looking for the answer or the solution to whatever it is that is causing us pain, but we want to be saved. We want to know that there is something larger than our pain.

We want to know that no matter what – life or death, darkness or light, there is something there, that mysterious other that is love beyond anything that we know.

And when we find it we follow, no matter what the cost, because in this we find that all of our suffering is redeemed, in this we know that God never wants us to suffer, God is always here, always leading us to the light, always taking on whatever darkness is in the world, even if we can’t see it at the moment.

We don’t really know how. We don’t really need to know how.

This is the light that Peter and Andrew and James and John threw down their fishing nets for. This is the light that Paul reminded the Corinthians is worth giving up our political factioning for. This is the light that Isaiah promises to the war-weary Israelites.

Sometimes, being a Christian can make us feel helpless.

Sometimes there simply are no words when we feel lost or frightened or alone. But if we can stand to bear these moments, if we can be there without being able to fix them and without moving away, we will find that something, something we don’t really know is there for us, moving us forward, leading us towards the light, bringing us home.

To those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

originally preached on January 27, 2008, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Wichita, KS.

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'Come and See' - we are drawn to the holy

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:09:44 GMT

all monk photos courtesy of Marsha Collins, Laura Murdoch, and EP Ratledge.

If you would like the announcements for St. Paul’s, click the button below:

St. Paul's Announcements

I managed to not stand in front of the camera while preaching, but you should be able to turn on captions if you want to, so hopefully that’s helpful.

The Second Sunday of Epiphany Scripture:

Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
Psalm 40:1-12

Notes from ’s sermon:

Monks walking

Their primary aim is to promote the idea that “peace begins within.”
Theravada tradition of Buddhism (often distinguished by their saffron or ochre-colored robes). While the temple is Vietnamese-affiliated, the group is multi-national, including monks of Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, and Malaysian heritage.
Why are we drawn to them? Why did you go out to see them?
We are naturally drawn to the holy

A very powerful parallel to our Gospel story

John and the disciples see Jesus walking by. ‘Behold, the Lamb of God’, says John. ‘Look, it’s the Messiah’
The disciples ask, ‘where are you staying?’, and Jesus says, ‘Come and see’.
As we know, this is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. As his ministry goes on, people start following Jesus on his way. VERY similar to how crowds follow these monks - give them flowers, kneel and pray, just try and get close to them.
We are hungry for peace. For goodness. For kindness. For love.

‘Come and see’

There is a Buddhist term in the Pali language (of the Theraveda Buddhist Scripture) called Ehipassiko (Ay-hee-pass-i-ko), which literally means ‘come and see’.
It means ‘come and see for yourself’. To test the teachings with your own experience and logic. Don’t just believe what I say, practice and see the results.
When Jesus says, ‘Come and see’, he’s saying: come to God.
John the Baptist says, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God’. John says, LOOK - see, this is the Messiah. This is your destination.
Don’t just follow me, a person. Follow the Lamb of God - the one who sacrifices his life for the sins of the world. God with us.

Buddhism and Christianity

Buddhists do not believe in a Creator God.
They venerate Buddha as the supreme teacher and a guide who found the way out of suffering.
Famous Buddhist analogy: the teachings are a ‘finger at the moon’. The finger is not the moon, it is just showing you where to look.
John the Baptist is a finger at the moon. He is showing the disciples - and us - where to look.
Buddhists do not necessarily believe that the ‘moon’ is Jesus, but it is not a violation of Buddhist beliefs.
If the monks walking point us to peace, and we believe peace is found in Jesus, then that’s ok.

Christianity says one more thing

The monks are on a pilgrimage. By definition, they are ‘passing through’. They are on a journey for a reason - they are living out their ‘ehipassiko’, and inviting everyone to see that peace is possible.
And it’s intoxicating.
In the Gospel story, when Jesus says ‘come and see’, he is answering the disciples’ question: ‘rabbi, where are you staying?’
‘Where are you ‘abiding’?’ in Greek. Where is your home?
THEN Jesus says, ‘Come and see’.
Jesus IS where we abide. ‘Abide in my love’ he says, over and over, especially in the Gospel of John.

Peace doesn’t have to just pass us by. We can live there.

Don’t forget to join us at Trexo for your spiritual workout. Hearts up!

Epiphany is about a star - and a lightbulb

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:17:53 GMT

St. Paul’s announcements:

Announcements

How many Episcopalians does it take to change a lightbulb?

Three: one to change the lightbulb. One to mix the drinks. And one to talk about how great the old lightbulb was…

Epiphany is about a star - but it’s often associated with a lightbulb.
Which suddenly goes on and illuminates what we had never considered before.
We know the story: wise men, following a star, realizing they are searching for the Messiah, finding baby Jesus..
We celebrate Epiphany year after year - to us it’s not new. It’s not a lightbulb moment.

Or is it?

Epiphanies are only the beginning.

If the lightbulb goes on but no one pays attention, then we just think about new ideas but never put them into action.
Or we just theorize about God, but never believe.
The whole new idea that was Christianity was dependent on the fact that people recognized, and believed and followed this child as he grew to be Jesus the Christ.
Even though this might have been just one more crazy idea.
It took the faith and the actions of those who recognized this birth for what it was, and who met it with wonder and joy and openness.

And it still does.

The magi are not the only ones who have an epiphany.

Herod has one, too.

The lightbulb has gone off for him, too, and he also gets that this is real - that Jesus is truly the Christ, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have been so upset.
The only difference between these epiphanies: the reaction!
The wise men are ‘overwhelmed with joy’.
But Herod is afraid, ‘and all Jerusalem with him.’
The magi are the seekers and the scientists, greeting each strange discovery as a new adventure.
Herod is determined that the world must turn according to him, and anything new looks like a threat.

This is what we hold up to the light at Epiphany.

God has come into our world.
We know this. we have just finished celebrating this at Christmas.
But the question is: do we see it? And how we will react to it?

Whether the lightbulb moments in our lives will be seen as God’s goodness manifest in the world - something easy to run from or dismiss.

What looks like a disaster to one person can look like a miracle to another.

What looks like some kind of craziness could also be the new idea that changes everything.

What looks like being lost in the wilderness with only the stars to guide us could also be God drawing us nearer,

Epiphany is about our reaction to God’s presence and power in our lives

Even if we are unsure, even if we are afraid. Even if it seems a little odd sometimes.
We can choose to greet the strange and wonderful moments in our lives.
It’s not how many of us it takes to change the lightbulb - it’s how many of us react to the Light with JOY.

Fr. Cathie’s Epiphany sermon, preached on January 7, 2026.

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The lives we live

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:58:49 GMT

St. Paul’s announcements:

St. Paul's announcements

Every year, on the last Sunday of December, the New York Times Magazine publishes an issue called ‘the Lives they Lived.’ It’s a chronicle of the accomplishments of 25 or so people who have died in the year that is just concluding.

I find it fascinating that it’s not just people we have all heard of and collectively mourn in our culture – like Jane Goodall, George Foreman, and Diane Keaton from 2025, But also people we likely never would have known about, but who still contributed to our world and our lives.

This year the Times included people like Anna Ornstein, a child who escaped from Nazi Germany and grew to be a psychoanalyst who changed the way trauma survivors are seen - as resilient, rather than damaged.

And Douglas Follett, a veteran park ranger who documented glaciers melting. And Agnes Gund - an art collector who sold a painting for 165 million dollars, then gave it all away.

I’m fascinated with this yearly remembrance of an eclectic group because it makes something clear:

This small sample of people, by merely offering their unique gifts to the world, changed the world for everyone.

And this makes me think that we each have that opportunity, that we are tied together and our actions have consequences in the larger scheme of things that are greater than we even dare to believe.

And of course it makes me think that it’s all tied back to our life with God,

God with us, God who came into the world as one of us, the Incarnation of Christ.

Because by choosing to take human form, by being born to us as a baby, full of potential and possibility, God has sanctified humanity itself.

Not that we are God, or could ever be God, but that some part of the essence of being human is part of God’s kingdom in the world.

That we share in the building of that kingdom, and our choices to accept and give back the gifts we have been given have something to do with God’s work in the world.

In today’s Gospel there is the very famous story of how many different people stared up into the sky and saw something that was a gift to them, and how it affected what they did next.

The story is famous because we have heard it many times before, but also because it is so familiar to us, to the story that each one of us lives.

Because the wise men looked up into the sky and saw a star and immediately they knew that they were called to follow it, that this meant something for their lives and for the world that they were meant to be part of, to bring gifts to.

But Herod was afraid, and all Jerusalem with him, and he set out equally determined to destroy this power that was unfamiliar and unwelcome to him.

And although there is a lot more drama here than we usually get in our own stories, the choices before us every day are, in fact, equally clear:

First, will we even look up into the sky and ponder what the stars have in store for us?

Will we believe that God born into the world means that each one of us has been given a gift, a call to follow this sanctified part of ourselves, a journey that only we can take?

And second, how will we respond?

Will we see this power that is beyond us as a threat to our security? Will we try to neutralize whatever it is that we know will disrupt our lives, even if it is ultimately for the better?

Or will we set out to bring our own gifts to the world, our own unique voice to give back to the needs that are all around us?

Even if it costs us, even if it is difficult, even if we may never know the final results.

The thing I love most about reading this tribute to those special lives we have lost this past year is that many of them seemed foolish, almost trivial, in the moment.

And not all of them were entirely fulfilling or long lives. One life included this year is Jill Sobule, a singer songwriter who was brilliant but struggled, and her life was cut short by tragedy.

There is a risk, of course, to offering our gifts, following our path.

We could get lost, we could stray far from the path, we could never find what that star leads to. But I wonder if that is worse than never setting out at all.

One thing I can’t help noticing about this Gospel story is that, while the birth of Jesus permeates and guides everything that happens in it, Jesus himself is barely noticeable in the action.

Several mentions are made of the ‘the child,’ and in the end the wise men are described as being present with Mary and her son, but almost everything that happens is the action of those around him, the response to those who receive the news of his birth.

God with us is the center of our own calling to seek the source of love and truth in our lives.

And since that day, when the star appeared above Bethlehem, we are also compelled to seek how the signs and patterns of the sky add up to something, make some sense to our lives and how we are living them, what we are making of them, where we are going.

The Incarnation is the center of this, but the choices and the directions are up to us to discern.

And it is up to us to believe that the gifts that we have to give will affect those around us, will build up the world we live in, will be part of the kingdom of God.

That all the chaos and randomness of the days and events of our lives, whether we realize it or not, is adding up to a pattern that may take years, even centuries, to see.

Or maybe only God will get how it all fits together. But each one of us clearly has a part.

This is the time of year for making resolutions, for taking stock of our lives and deciding what we would like to improve or leave behind or build on or change. And in our story with God, the Gospel, we see so clearly that we can resolve to dispel the power of the Incarnation in our lives or we can resolve to embrace it and follow where it leads.

What will the stars bring to your life this year?

What will belief in the power of God in your life lead you to be?

Fr. Cathie’s sermon, preached by Karen Jones (thank you, Karen!!)

Epiphany service: Wednesday, January 7 - 6:00pm

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A 'yahrzeit' for Haynes

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 14:18:05 GMT

This coming week, it will be a year since Haynes Murdoch died. He was St. Paul’s Senior Warden, and beloved spiritual and community leader.

His great grandfather founded St. Paul’s in 1887. His children and most of his grandchildren were baptized at St. Paul’s. He and his wife Laura - well, the term ‘pillars of the community’ comes to mind. Which could seem old-fashioned or stuffy, but was neither in describing these warm and loving people.

St. Paul’s announcements:

St. Paul's announcements

Haynes made me a communion kit shortly before he left us. I treasure it more than I can say. And I think it perfectly describes him: an engineer and an artist, who made beautiful things. A husband, brother, father, and friend who loved his own deeply and generously. And someone with the deepest faith.

I was once doing an instructed Eucharist with St. Paul’s - walking everyone through what we do in church and why. I got to the Memorial Acclamation:

‘Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again’.

‘Do you know why we say this?’ I asked.

And Haynes said, ‘because it’s true’.

Exactly. It is the bedrock of our faith as Christians, and it was the bedrock of Haynes’ faith.

In the Jewish tradition, the year after someone has died there is a remembrance called a yahrzeit.

One element of the remembrance is acts of service in the name of the dead.

On Sunday, December 21st, Senior Warden and I set out to visit seven parishioners and bring them Christmas communion.

We used the communion kit that Haynes made as we went from home to home, facility to facility, bringing the Body and Blood of Christ to our brothers and sisters who can’t easily make it to church.

We were sharing Christian community - and hope - along with the transforming love of God.

And we knew Haynes was with us, too.

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For unto us a child is born

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 13:46:00 GMT

.
Christmas Eve service was beautiful and powerful - a witness to the love of God bursting into our world. And the joy this brings.

Donald Hartmann sang a glorious rendition of ‘O Holy Night’, that fit right into the theme of the sermon - and Christmas itself…

Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices

Christmas Eve Sermon notes:

About six weeks ago, I had a dream…

I was in St. Paul’s, sitting on the floor, and there were shadows on the wall

Suddenly the shadows turned to the candelabra from the altar - and the candles burst into flame!
Everyone exclaimed in shock and joy
I fell on my face - prostrating myself in awe and wonder at God’s real presence
What does it mean? I don’t know!
Just that even though I was clearly dreaming, I felt the power of God’s presence. I knew God was speaking to me.

It reminded me of the shepherds in the field the night that Jesus was born

They all saw the same vision - angels announcing the birth of the Messiah
And they had the same reaction! Terror. And exclamation.’
And they ran to Bethlehem to see what had happened. And they told everyone who listened.
But they went back to work the next day. No one really knew what it meant for many years.
But they knew they had experienced the raw, immediate power and presence of God breaking into the world.

And this, I think, is what Christmas is really about.

Christmas didn’t really become a holiday until the 400s

Before then, people were much more interested in Jesus’ death - and resurrection - than they were his birth.
It was only after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire that people started really wondering where and how Jesus was born. What it was like.
And they reached back to the stories of the shepherds - all gone by then.
All the way back to the moment God was born into our world.
But the stories lived on. The testimony. ‘I was there. This happened’.

The shepherds witness of God bursting into the world - our world - breaking the boundary between heaven and earth.

I did a little AI research as part of my sermon prep

Given how the human population spread across the earth
There is about an 80% chance that any of us is related to one of those shepherds that night (I assume maybe 8-10 shepherds)
‘If you take the story literally’ says AI!
And that’s the thing - right??
Christmas isn’t just a heartwarming story about a young couple and some farm animals and angels.
And it isn’t really a question of ‘did this happen?’ or ‘did it happen the way we tell it?”
It’s an absolute certainty that at least a few of us are descended from those who were there - who saw the star, who heard the angels sing.

Who can testify to God’s literal presence breaking into the world. Born to us, for us.

Was it all a dream? Did it really happen?

I’m not sure that’s the question to ask.
I think maybe the question is: ‘IS God with us?’
And we know the answer to that. Because some of us were there.
God has come into the world - we DO see and feel God’s power and glory. Quite frequently, actually.
Tonight, we don’t just tell the story again.
We testify. We witness. We SING. We praise. We glorify.
We KNOW the power of God with us.

We don’t know what it means. We don’t have to. We just fall on our knees.

Merry Christmas!

May Christ, the Son of God, be manifest in you - that your life may be a light to the world.

And the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be upon you - and remain with you - always.

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Joseph, the regular guy hero of the Christmas story

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 21:20:29 GMT

Read Fr. Cathie’s sermon transcript below…

This week’s announcements

Click the button below for December 21st announcements …

St. Paul's announcments

The Greening of the Church

St. Paul’s gathered to decorate the sanctuary for Christmas after the Advent 4 service.

Senior Warden Jerry Taylor hosted the St. Paul’s Christmas party on Saturday night, December 20:

’s sermon (as it was written. It was delivered with a lot of help from the kids, which took it in other theological directions…).

Joseph is the great unsung hero of the whole story of the birth of the Messiah.

While Mary is the ‘highly favored one,’ as the angel refers to her in Luke’s Gospel, and she appears throughout the Gospel stories - including at the foot of the cross - Joseph is only ever heard of a couple more times in Scripture, and he is largely forgotten except for this one moment.

In fact, St. Joseph’s feast day is in March, of all things, and I found precious little in terms of his biography

as Joseph the Carpenter, he is considered the patron saint of the working man,

his spiritual biography reads in part, and

the little that is told of him is a testimony to the trust in God ... and gives an example of a loving husband and father.

In other words, Joseph was a fine man, as far as we know, but no one really remembers him at all.

And maybe that’s the point.

While Mary gets a great deal of adoration, she also has to be bear the burden for eternity of a very exacting standard of femininity - a virgin and a mother. She is so often seen as above and beyond us, pure and holy and good.

But Joseph is just a regular guy – so regular that he gets no particulars, so normal that he fades into the background.

So real that he could be one of us.

And like us, in his life he is presented with situations that don’t have easy answers.

No angel comes to explain everything to him – except in a dream, and how reliable are our dreams? No one tells him how it will all turn out, and what role he is to play.

Instead, he is faced with a wrenching, painful decision that requires him, at best, to sacrifice his own good name and standing for a woman who, as far as he can tell in the moment, has wronged him.

Like any one of us, the best that he can do is to try and remember his own values, to do the right thing even though he is hurting.

Like any one of us, it is not even immediate clear what that right thing is.

Like any one of us, he just has to gather the threads of what is before him and make the rest of his decision on faith.

And this, I think, is part of the miracle of God becoming human.

Not just BORN human, through his human mother, Mary. But raised human, by this regular guy Joseph.

I think this shows incredible trust on the part of God, incredible love for us, and belief that human love and care, even confused and conflicted human love and care, must not be such a bad environment for the Savior of the world to grow up in.

And that miracles, as amazing and outrageous as they can sometimes be, are also sometimes just the outcome of having our heart in the place, even if we aren’t really sure what that place is.

We really don’t have much biographical info about Joseph.

We don’t really know if he was a good father or a skilled carpenter or a successful man. All we know is that he was willing to trust in God, in his belief in God, no matter how strange and sketchy the information from God seemed to be.

That he was willing to put himself at risk, to go the extra mile for someone he loved.

And in this, beyond his wildest imagination, he made a decision that allowed God to be born to us, for us, as one of us.

Christmas is not quite here, but I think the reason we read the story of Jesus’ birth on the fourth Sunday of Advent is to remind us that sometimes the small, last minute decisions are the very best kind.

Joseph’s change of heart made room for Emmanuel – God with us.

And in these last few days of preparation, as we round the corner towards the best news we will ever get, I think it is the perfect time to remember and honor the small acts of faith made by ordinary people, and the profound effect this has on the coming of the kingdom of God.

How sometimes, our greatest gifts from God come not with fanfare and certainty, but in our dark and troubled moments, in our strangest, most puzzling dreams.

Sometimes the greatest rewards come from believing despite the evidence, going ahead despite not being sure, even risking being lost in all the drama of the rest of the story.

Sometimes the greatest, most heroic act of faith is just doing the next right thing, following our dreams and our hearts.

Christmas Eve service at St. Paul’s:

7:30pm Carols
8:00pm The Christ Mass

Join us for worship

If you can’t be here in person, join us online:

Watch service online

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The WHY:

The HOW:

The WHAT:

The WHERE:

Mary did you know?

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:45:48 GMT

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Dewey Preslar and the choir helped celebrate 'Gaudete Sunday’ - Mary’s Sunday.

This week’s announcements

St. Paul's Announcements

Sermon notes:

My initial read of the lessons and Gospel, I was trying to figure out what my conversation could be about today.

The Gospel lesson speaks to preparing for something among other things.

It could easily have been a conversation about John’s doubting.

John is no longer in the desert baptizing, he is in prison, awaiting possible execution. And he is beginning to wonder if Jesus is the one.

John, the very same person who devoted his life to preparing the way of the Lord is starting to have doubts.

And we could easily spend time about that for the rest of my conversation this morning.

But as I re-read the Gospel a number of times, a song kept popping in my head and thinking.

A song that prepares for what is coming.

Advent is a season of joyful waiting and preparation that marks the start of the church year, focused on both the first coming of Jesus at Christmas and his second coming in glory at Easter.

Advent is a time for reflection, hype, and anticipation using prayer and symbols like the Advent wreath to prepare our hearts for Christ’s arrival.

I talked to Andy DeFabo about my thinking for the third Sunday of Advent and he commented that it is ‘Mary’s Sunday’.

And so, the 3rd Sunday of Advent is called “Mary’s Sunday” because the liturgical readings and themes of this day are centered on joy and the anticipation of Christ, align with Mary’s role as the ‘herald of joy and hope’.

Her song of praise - the Magnificat - is a central focus and she is seen as the one who first shared the joy of Christ’s coming into the world.

In the Gospel, John sent word to Jesus by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus answered, Go tell John what you hear and see:

the blind will receive their sight, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are
raised,
and the poor have good news brought to
them.”

Mary did you know?

So when I read the Gospel over and over, that song kept playing in my head and heart. Mary did you know? Which is the anthem this morning.

Think about Mary when the angel appeared to her with the good news, and over 2000 years ago that she is about to deliver that good news.

Imagine Mary giving birth to a baby and laying him in a manger.

As she watched him, could she have imagined all the wonderful things that her son, the Son of God would do on the earth.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Did you know that your baby boy will save our sonsand daughters?
Did you know that you baby boy has come to make
you new?
This little child you’ve delivered will soon deliver
you?
The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will
live again, the lame will leap, the dumb will speak.
The praises of the Lamb.

The song might cause one to wonder was Mary aware of all that Jesus would do. The song might cause one to wonder was Mary aware of all that Jesus would do. She knew that he would be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

She knew that the Lord God would give to Jesus the throne of David. She knew that he would reign over the house of Jacob forever.

Mary did you Know? Yes, I believe that she knew.

Andy and I talked about maybe I was getting ahead of myself with this conversation the 3rd Sunday of Advent.

But I easily got there as we prepare what is coming in eleven days. So this Sunday, we light the rose or pink candle, symbolizing joy at the near completion of Advent and the coming birth of Jesus.

Mary did you know that the boy that you will be holding is the great I Am?

Respectfully submitted, December 14, 2025
Dewey Preslar

Advent 4

Holy Eucharist 12/21 at 10:30am

Christmas Eve

Carols at 7:30pm
Holy Eucharist at 8:00pm

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The WHY:

The HOW:

The WHAT:

The WHERE:

'Stop the world, I want to get off!'

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 22:22:19 GMT

No, it did not snow this week. But some of us were praying for it!

Fr. Cathie was under the weather Sunday, so special thanks to Karen Jones for leading worship and reading the sermon already prepared!

You can read it below…

This week’s announcements

Click the button below for December 7th announcements …

St. Paul's announcements

St. Paul’s Annual Meeting

was held after the service on December 7th. Click the button below for the minutes…

(editorial note: St. Paul’s does more ministry that most churches three times its size!!)

Annual Meeting Minutes

Breaking News

The Case of the Missing Meatloaf has been solved!

Apparently, it never left the freezer, it was just hidden behind some bags of ice. Of course, that’s just what someone might say if the guilty party felt bad and snuck it back in.

I guess we’ll never really know the truth.

Enjoy the meatloaf, EP!

It was there all along! Or was it?…

’s sermon …

Stop the world, I want to get off.

It’s gotten to the point that when I wake up and look at the news of the world, I just want to go back to sleep.

I just don’t want to hear it - another round of who’s at war with whom, how our government leaders would rather insult each other than deal with the nation’s problems, the latest sensational murder or terrorist attack.

Or most likely, the latest terrorist threat, since it seems that if we wake up to a day where there is not murder and mayhem in our streets, we find a way to remind ourselves that we all need to be vigilant, we still need to be fearful, because at any moment, there could be.

I don’t want to hear about the stock market, the job market, the real estate market. I don’t want to know how many people are out of work or homeless just when the holidays are here, just when it is darkest and coldest.

I am tired - so tired - of living in a world where it seems I am helpless to stop the stream of bad news filtering into my brain and my life, where I am angry and afraid even when I can’t actually put my finger on what exactly I am afraid of or angry at.

But they will tell me, I am sure.

They will tell me to be angry at whatever officials are currently in charge, those idiots we elected to office, until we elect new idiots and the cycle starts all over again.

They will tell me to be afraid of whoever does not look like me – those who practice a religion I am unfamiliar with, who come from a country that doesn’t speak my language, who live their lives in some kind of family configuration that doesn’t look like mine.

Surely if we separate ourselves from all of those people, then safety and security will reign.

I am tired of living in this world.

I want the world that Isaiah promises us this morning, the beautiful place with lions and lambs living together, a world so through with violence that even the wild beasts eat grass, a little child in charge.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

We could wake up in the morning to the play forecast, the news this time of year would be full of the excited anticipation of Santa and presents. And snow.

Wonder and curiosity would reign.

But that’s just a fantasy, right?

That’s just some religious yarn to get us through the darkness, spun by a man living through the destruction of his own country, his own culture, in his own time. The great kingdom of Israel brought to its knees by its own unfaithfulness and greed, now failing and being assaulted on every side.

So Isaiah sings them a lullaby, a beautiful song about how God will bring them a new world, something to distract them from the hard times they are actually living in.

And besides, we can hardly even hear that this morning because we have to listen to John the Baptist rant about vipers instead.

That man is so current he could get his own channel on YouTube.

Now, most of you know that John is my least favorite character in all the Bible, and not just because it seems by his description that he doesn’t smell very good and he does nothing for his image by eating bugs.

But especially today, especially this time of year, I just can’t take him because he sounds just like all those other voices that make me turn away.

I am tired of being yelled at and I am tired of bad news and I am especially tired of being told that even God is hanging around to punish me.

And that’s the really tough thing, isn’t it?

Sometimes, when I am up for more bad news, I look at the church statistics and see that fewer and fewer people, especially young people, find their way to our pews.

And yet I think, if they come here just to hear that God is going to get them if they don’t behave, then why should they come? Why should we?

John the Baptist does not make me want to say ‘thanks be to God,’ he just makes me want to turn off the radio and pull the covers over my head.

I want Isaiah’s world.

Not the world Isaiah lived in. The world Isaiah believed in.

And this, my friends, is Advent.

This is the time, this is the season, when we are acutely aware that we are waiting for something.

That something has got to give, that there has got be something more.

That we start searching the sky for the brightest star and scanning the horizon for a Savior because clearly, we have had enough of a world that cannot rescue itself.

And it happens to us again and again because again and again we have to be reminded that no matter how strong, no matter how smart, no matter how well-intentioned we are, we still need God.

We still need to recognize our weaknesses and limitations, our mistakes and our sins. We still need saving.

Stop the world, for just a moment.

Stop the madness all around us and really ask,‘What is the world coming to?’

Where are we going if we continue to believe in all this darkness?

And it seems to me that whenever we get here, if we really look, if we really wait, then sooner or later, a flicker of light appears.

Something happens: a small kindness, a moment of peace, we get some kind of sign that whatever the real world really is, it is not more bad news.

That even our longing itself is a sign that God wants more for us.

Isaiah, in a moment like this, wrote some of the most beautiful poetry ever written about the world at rest with itself, at one with its God. Isaiah heard God’s voice in all that darkness and could not resist how glorious it appeared.

Could the world really, someday, put away all its troubles? Can we all live in peace?

It seems to me, actually, that Isaiah’s vision and the one of John the Baptist were really different takes on the same thing: both were preparing the way of the Lord, both were prophesying about someone greater appearing, both were inspired by the power of God to deliver us from our sins and our suffering.

And both, according to our Christian beliefs, were forecasting the same thing: the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

It also seems to me that ultimately, of the two visions, John’s might have grabbed our attention first, but Isaiah’s was the one that was closer to the truth – a little child, attended by the beasts of the field, a new king who came not with a winnowing fork but with the songs of angels, innocent and vulnerable.

Whose judgment on the world, it turns out, was the judgment of sacrifice and love, not the judgment of division and violence.

Which says to me, to us, that no matter how many new ways we invent to believe in darkness, God keeps responding by bringing us light.

That whenever we are ready to believe this, to see this, it appears even brighter before us.

‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,’ Paul says to the Romans in our Epistle today, and it may be that hope is the best gift that we give back to the world.

Join us for worship

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The WHY:

The HOW:

The WHAT:

The WHERE:

We have a mystery on our hands

Fr. Cathie Caimano — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 12:55:03 GMT

EP is the victim … or is he?

I’ve always wondered how so many small churches find themselves bound up in a mystery - especially Anglicans! - when it comes to books and shows.

Now I’m seeing it first hand. There’s just something fascinating about a quirky group of excellent people, and of course our faith means we’re oriented towards righting wrongs and finding the truth.

And … there’s still the possibility that we could be hiding something in …

the Case of the Missing Meatloaf

Linda is the meatloaf chef. Was it actually too good to give away? Marsha refuses to say if she knows more about this story…

Here’s the facts:

Linda made a special meatloaf for EP (with excellent bread crumbs, using Martha Stewart’s recipe).
She wrapped it up and put it in the church freezer.
When EP went to retrieve it, it was nowhere to be found!
Everyone is a suspect.
And because we’re a church full of helpful people, everyone is also a crime solver.
Hijinks ensue.

We need your help!

Here’s the major suspects:

Fr. Cathie says she is obviously innocent, because she is a vegetarian. But did her Great Dane Sissy (who’s ‘always starving’, because clearly ‘no one ever feeds her’) push her into a life of crime?

Fr. Cathie is above reproach. Oh, who are we kidding?…

Katie says she was in the kitchen, but left church early to watch the Panthers beat the Rams. But that seems sketchy - when’s the last time the Panthers won a football game??

Bonnie and Katie are the nicest people you will ever meet. Is that their cover??

Gavin wasn’t even at church last Sunday. But he DID star in the Piedmont Players production of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ - where he played the bad guy!

Can we really rule him out?

Just because Gavin wasn’t there doesn’t mean he’s not a suspect…

Then there’s EP himself.

He’s the victim - or IS HE? Could the meatloaf be so delicious that he just says he couldn’t find it, because he’s angling for another one?

And Linda … well, if the meatloaf is so delicious, did she just ‘forget’ to put it in the freezer and really just tuck into it for dinner???

These are just the major suspects. At this point, no one is excluded.

Including Billie and Todd, who seem just a little too interested in helping solve the crime.

Billie and Todd are just bystanders. Or so they want us to think…

So it’s up to you, St. Paul’s friends. What do you think?

Who has absconded with the mystery meatloaf??

Stay tuned for our regular Monday newsletter, where hopefully the meatloaf marauder is apprehended.
Unless this is the beginning of a culinary crime spree…

Join St. Paul’s for worship every Sunday at 10:30am. Christmas Eve carols are at 7:30pm, followed by Holy Eucharist at 8:00pm.

Join us for worship

If you can’t be here in person, join us online:

Watch service online

At Free Range Priest, we’re reimagining ministry in the digital age.

Subscribe to any (or all!) of these publications to be part of innovative ministry for the future of church.

St. Paul's Salisbury, NC

Time for being with God in nature, and each other in conversation

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

This weekend, members of St. Paul’s are traveling to Kanuga

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Conversations about the future of St. Paul’s

The only Good News we get today is that it's only the first day of the week

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

Join us for Holy Week and Easter services:

Today we take our part

Egeria is a Spanish woman who lived in the late 380s

This is one reason we know that the Christian story is true

Today, we take our part

And Jesus keeps going forward, towards his destiny. Towards our salvation.

Join us for the Virtual Vigil at the Altar of Repose through Trexo - Maundy Thursday evening into Good Friday morning…

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Stay awake with Jesus during Holy Week

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Follow us as we follow Jesus

Do you have an announcement for church this Sunday?

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

Read more about this below in ‘Follow us as we follow Jesus’…

Join us at Trexo as we participate in the Practice of Fasting this Lent:

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

Follow us as we follow Jesus

'It's a love story'

The Samaritan woman is one of my very favorite Bible stories

What does she look like?

And she’s at the well. Jacob’s well.

The woman thinks Jesus is hitting on her.

We come here, to this altar, week after week. The source of our life with God.

Becoming a Community of Practice

Follow St. Paul’s as we follow Jesus.

Join us at Trexo as we participate in the Practice of Fasting this Lent:

St. Paul’s Announcements :

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

'We're only human'

The very first fast was in the Garden of Eden

What would have happened if Adam and Eve had NOT eaten the fruit?

Which brings us to Jesus - tempted by the devil

Jesus’ temptation was to ONLY be God - he doesn’t have to be human!

And so we come to Lent

Follow us as we follow Jesus

February 18 is Ash Wednesday.

Follow us as we Follow Jesus

As a paid subscriber of St. Paul’s Substack, you’ll get to come along as we re-imagine our own ministry, and how we hope to thrive as a Community of Practice.

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:30am: 930 South Main Street Salisbury, NC 28144.

We would love to know more about you, too!

Bulletin, readings, prayers, schedule, and how to watch the service online:

St. Paul’s is part of the Stained Glass Project at Free Range Priest:

'Salt and Light' - God calls us to be steadfast and joyful

‘You are the salt of the earth.’‘You are the light of the world.’

We call someone ‘salt of the earth’ and say someone ‘lights up a room’’

Notice that Jesus goes right from this to talking about the Law.

But humans being humans, it’s hard not to get caught up in fine print.

A place where we practice being salt and light.

Our job is to believe

As part of my job, I visit lots of churches - big ones and little ones, churches in cities and small towns and way down country roads.

I wonder sometimes, what would happen if we just stopped.

What would we miss if we no longer kept the seasons or the rituals or the feasts or the traditions, the work of our life as the church?

And even more importantly: what would be missing from the world?

and therefore each and every one of us falls woefully short of the Christian ideal of discipleship.

I start to wonder about the power of these phrases when I stop taking them personally.

What if Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven, and our job is not so much to make it happen as it is to believe that it is possible that it could happen?

Our job is not to make this world, it is to inhabit it. To believe that we can and we will.

but because we believe that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has proved in the most powerful way that nothing is impossible with God, and that life and love will always triumph over death and darkness.

Jesus may exhort his followers to ‘be perfect’, but I don’t think that’s an order, I think it is a vision.

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.

We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

The other two weeks we’ll post about how we’re thinking about church in new ways, and what we’re changing (and letting go of…) as we move into the future of church.

We hope you find this inspiring for your own community and ministry.

‘You are the salt of the earth.’
‘You are the light of the world.’