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A Season of Pilgrimages By Rev. Alicia Randolph Rapking I am not the same as I was last year this time. I have reached a time in my life when the youngest of our children will soon leave home and join his brother and sister as they find their places in this world, discovering what … Continue reading A Season Of Pilgrimages

Through Deep Waters By Rev. Alicia Randolph Rapking As I write this today, I am in Nebraska visiting my brother Richard and his family. This visit is long overdue. We see each other about once a year or so and it is unfortunate, but I have never ventured out to see him in the Midwest. … Continue reading Through Deep Waters

The Stack is Growing By Rev. Alicia Randolph Rapking Several weeks ago, I wrote about homelessness, a topic that I come back to over and over again. Over the years, the issue of homelessness, no matter how it occurs, has been an important issue for me to think about, preach about, write about, and most … Continue reading The Stack is Growing!

Every Time I Feel the Spirit By Rev. Alicia Randolph Rapking Music is a powerful gift in our lives. It offers us a way to express ourselves. It brings us together, often around a cause or a celebration. It is calming to us or cheering to us. It encourages us or sets a mood for … Continue reading Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Confessions of a New Mother from a Seasoned Mother Over the past few days, I have been thinking about this weekend as a day we celebrate mothers and I decided to share a prayer/sermon that I wrote shortly after becoming a mother nearly twenty-five years ago. The whole celebration of Mothers’ Day can be loaded. … Continue reading Confessions of a New Mother

  A Good Shepherd, Sheep, and a World-wide Flock So, I have been thinking about sheep this week. Quite a bit. More than I would like to admit. It could be that I have been thinking about sheep because I wrote about knitting last week and since I am a purest when it comes to … Continue reading A Good Shepherd and a World-wide Flock

Knitting in Defiance Back in the winter I had the opportunity for several conversations about homelessness. On more than one occasion I had been asked to explain to someone why I had made the statement that we have homeless folks here in Upshur County and that one of my daily prayers is always for the … Continue reading Knitting in Defiance

  Today is Easter Monday. At least, that is what this day was called when I was growing up in North Carolina because it was a statewide holiday. Often, as a child, Easter Monday meant a day to pull out shorts, go barefoot outside, think about planting gardens. It was a laid back kind of … Continue reading Easter Monday Reflections

Wings of the Morning By Rev. Alicia Randolph Rapking His name was Johan Conrad Goldtman, born in Gundheim, Germany in 1653 he died in Canada in 1711 and he was my 8th great grandfather. Over 360 years is a long time ago and it surprises me, still, that I have been able to trace my … Continue reading Wings of the Morning

On the first Sunday of Lent, the Gospel lectionary reading was Luke’s recording of Jesus in the desert, the Wilderness. Each year, the Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent is one of the three recordings found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is a powerful reading for me, one that I never tire of … Continue reading God is Not Absent