The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor My Dad died eight years ago yesterday. Of course, I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. I have not been thinking about the lessons he taught me. I haven’t been thinking about his accomplishments. I haven’t been thinking about the life he provided us or the love […]

© 2024, Dr. Tamilio  Even though there is a “Good Shepherd” Sunday on the liturgical calendar, readings about Christ as the Good Shepherd (including that much beloved Psalm 23) appear from time to time throughout all three years of the cycle.  Today is one of those days. I was recently listening to Dr. Charles Stanley […]

We’ve got four things to cover today.  Let’s begin at the beginning. Baptism.  When we baptize anyone — a child, a teen, or an adult — we are welcoming them into the wider Church, the body of Christ, which includes all Christian churches: Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox believers.  We are all one in Christ, as […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio As an ordained minister, I often find myself in curious conversations.  Let’s say I am at some event, or a party or a get-together, and I am just relaxing or engaged in a casual conversation, the minute someone finds out what I do, they […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio  Today is Pentecost: the day that the Church was born.  After Jesus ascended into Heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to the believers in Jerusalem.  Tongues of fire appeared over their heads, and they began speaking in tongues.  Actually, they began speaking in such […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Jesus is up or he’s down.  He’s in or he’s out.  There was a time when our culture thought worshipping him was a core American value.  Now, in some circles, we are seen as an antiquated prescientific spiritual worldview that upholds intolerance — and […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio I was reading the Gospel Lesson for today and it struck me: I think I know why people are not going to church the way they used to, although the trend seems to be changing.  Actually, there are several reasons why, but there is […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio I wonder how Jesus would speak to a modern audience.  He used examples and metaphors that would have been familiar to his listeners in first-century Palestine.  This is why he used farmers, fishermen, and shepherds as characters in his parables.  Today, he would probably […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor  © 2024, Dr. Tamilio We don’t talk about politics in this church.  It isn’t just because we do not want the IRS to rescind our nonprofit status, which can happen if a church endorses any candidate running for any office.  That is why the “No Politics” signs have […]

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Today is Thomas the Doubter Day.  Poor old Thomas.  He happened to be absent when the resurrected Jesus appeared to the other ten disciples (Judas had committed suicide at this point), so, when they told Thomas about the event, he said what most people […]