Glimpses of Grace
Pastors are often collectors of stories of God's love made real in the world. These stories can come from what they observe in the life of the church, from what people share, and from their own reflections. Join Pastor Katie from St. John Lutheran Church in Mars, PA as she reflects on the stories she collects in her ministry and how God's love is made real in these everyday stories.
Pastor Katie is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Episodes
18 episodes
Ringing the Bell... Together
St. John has an old-fashioned church bell with a big rope attached to it for ringing the bell. This piece of tradition not only ties us to the past, but offers a place to reflect on the joy of all ages worshiping together and God's Word born am...
The Gift of All Ages Together Ministry
After focusing my energy on the Facets of Faith podcast (check out stjohnchurchmars.org/blog for episodes exploring scripture, recordings of sermons, and a 101 series on worship), it's time to come...
New Life in the Garden and in Baptism
Sights in the garden in the early days of spring invite reflection on our baptismal promises and the ways God is always making new life in and through us.
Are we hearing the story?
During Lent, St. John is taking a more creative approach to telling and hearing the gospel stories. In this reflection, Pastor Katie explores the way that this way of storytelling reminds us of the life in the stories of scripture that is still...
Holy Memory and Repeated Prayers
Memorization for the sake of memorization might be challenging, but prayers that are memorized and integrated into our faith can provide touchpoints and grounding in our faith in moments of crisis, failed words, and fading memory. Pastor Katie ...
Holy Curiosity and Hymnals
If everything we need for worship is in the bulletin, why do we still have the hymnals in the pews? Do people even know what hymnals are anymore? Kids' curiosity apparently can answer both of those questions! Hymnals invite us to explore and to...
Content Creators and Scriptural Imagination
Reels might not be where you first think to go for scriptural inspiration, but a reel shared by a confirmation student invites Pastor Katie to reflect on the imaginative conversation we can have with scripture as we engage with God's Word, God'...
Graceful Shovels
It has been a year since our last episode. God's grace has been abundant, but telling the stories fell by the wayside. Pastor Katie is eager to get back to sharing stories of Glimpses of God's Grace, beginning with reflecting on how caring for ...
Stained Glass People
How do you decorate your home? How do your decorations speak to who you are? Pastor Katie reflects on how the stained glass in the church speaks to who we are as God's beloved children and what God is doing in and through us.
A CAKE Congregation
In a leadership meeting, we talked about how we have cake after worship a lot... but it's not about the cake. It's about what happens through the cake. It's about God's grace showing up in a community striving to be a CAKE congregation.
A Quarter of a Prayer
A little quarter tossed into the prayer basket has become a source of inspiration and a reminder to rely on God's good gift of hope - the hope that is strong and tough, the hope that empowers us to be who God has created us to be, even in the f...
Dancing through Worship
How a little girl twirling in the aisle reminds us of the joy we have in God's abundant grace and forgiveness.
The Gift of Repetition
Sometimes it's nice to just let the worship service carry you. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and let God lead the worship, whether you're a tired pastor, a distracted worshiper, or even an antsy teenager.
"I didn't quite catch that"
We know Siri and Alexa are always listening... do we trust that God is also always listening?
Ask the Questions
A student in a class at church asked a surprising question, reminding all of us the value questions have in our own faith journeys. Whether we are just beginning to explore our faith or we grew up in the question, we can ask the questions. ...
Monster Trucks and Bats
God speaks to us through everyday moments and everyday objects. In one children's sermon, the children invited Pastor Katie to teach them about what it means to follow Jesus using their language and the images that were important to them. ...