This week, Peter Walsh and Elizabeth Garnsey explore how hospitality, welcome, belonging, and small acts of kindness can transform both individuals and communities. From Abraham's hospitality to the challenge of modern isolation, they invite us to see Christ in those we welcome and to become people who help others belong.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. How does Jesus redefine discipleship by emphasizing receiving and welcoming rather than simply going and doing?
2. How can seemingly small acts of kindness become spiritually significant?
3. What does it mean to recognize Christ in "the little ones" among us?

Personal Reflection Questions

1. What "cups of cold water" have others offered you during difficult seasons of life?
2. Where in your life are you being invited to practice greater hospitality?
3. Who are the "little ones" in your community who may need encouragement, support, or recognition?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. What does it mean to say that Christ is present in those we welcome?
2. How do churches balance radical welcome with the realities of human differences and disagreements?
3. What kind of world would emerge if hospitality became a primary spiritual practice?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

"I Have Not Come to Bring Peace, But a Sword." Did Jesus actually say that? And if so, what did he mean? Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy tackle one of the most challenging passages in the Gospels. From family conflict and social justice to fear, courage, and the difference between false peace and true peace, this conversation might change the way you hear Jesus' words forever.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. What "false peaces" do individuals, families, churches, or societies sometimes maintain at the expense of justice and truth?
2. How do we know when conflict is a necessary consequence of faithfulness rather than something to avoid at all costs?
3. What does it mean to acknowledge Christ publicly in a culture that often encourages faith to remain private?

Personal Reflection Questions

1. What part of this passage do you find most challenging or unsettling? Why?
2. Have you ever experienced tension, misunderstanding, or division because of your values or faith commitments? How did you navigate it?
3. What relationships or expectations have most shaped your sense of identity?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. What is the difference between divine peace and the absence of conflict?
2. How do we discern whether our deepest allegiances belong to God, family expectations, political identities, or cultural assumptions?
3. What might it look like to become, in C.S. Lewis's words, a "little Christ" in the world today?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

What does it mean to be sent into the world as participants in God's work? Peter Walsh and Rob Schwartz discuss the connection between proclamation and action, Jesus' deep compassion for those who are "harassed and helpless," and the transition from being disciples (learners) to apostles (those who are sent).

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. How do we recognize God's call even when we feel unprepared?
2. Why might Jesus choose ordinary and imperfect people to carry out extraordinary work?
3. What does it mean to move from being a disciple who learns to an apostle who is sent?

Personal Reflection Questions

1. When have you felt called to do something before you felt fully prepared?
2. Which aspect of Jesus' ministry comes most naturally to you: teaching, serving, encouraging, healing, advocating, or something else?
3. What gives you endurance when faithfulness becomes challenging?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. How can compassion move us from observation to participation in another person's struggle?
2. How do we discern where our energy is best spent and where it may be time to move on?
3. What role does prayer play in sustaining people who are engaged in difficult or demanding work?
4. How can we remain both "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" in a polarized world?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

This week’s reading brings us to Jesus calling Matthew the tax collector, dining with those considered outsiders, healing a woman suffering for twelve years, and raising a synagogue leader's daughter. Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy identify a common thread running through all these stories: mercy. Learn how following Jesus is a journey into greater mercy, deeper trust, and true spiritual freedom.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. Peter suggests that mercy might be a word worth carrying in your heart for an entire year. If you chose one spiritual word or practice to focus on this year, what would it be and why?
2. John notes that God often chooses unexpected people throughout scripture: Jacob over Esau, David over his brothers, and Matthew over more respectable candidates. Why do you think God is drawn toward people on the margins? 
3. Elizabeth argues that everyone in the story needs mercy, including the Pharisees. How does that challenge the way we typically divide people into "good guys" and "bad guys"? 

Personal Reflection

1. When have you experienced mercy from someone at a time when you least expected it?
2. Have you ever felt like Matthew, the hemorrhaging woman, or the synagogue leader, carrying a burden that left you feeling isolated, ashamed, or desperate?
3. Peter speaks about following Jesus as moving from a profession to a vocation, from simply doing something to becoming someone new. Where have you experienced that kind of transformation in your own life? 

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. The clergy describe Jesus as both faithful to his tradition and radically transformative within it. How can religious communities honor tradition while remaining open to new insights from God? 
2. The conversation suggests that many of society's divisions are fueled by fear, pride, and exclusion. How does the Gospel challenge these forces?
3. What is the relationship between mercy and justice? Can one exist fully without the other?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

This week, we explore the Great Commission and the mystery of Trinity Sunday. Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy discuss the Trinity not simply as doctrine, but as a lived experience of self-giving love. Along the way, they wrestle with power, mercy, division, spiritual formation, and what it means to live as a community shaped by the presence of Christ.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. What does it mean that Jesus commissions imperfect, grieving, and uncertain disciples instead of waiting for flawless faith?
2. How do you respond to the idea that the Trinity is better experienced than explained? 
3. What does “making disciples” look like in today’s world beyond simply growing church attendance?

Personal Reflection

1. Have you ever experienced doubt and faith existing side-by-side?
2. Do you tend to think of God more through fear, obligation, mystery, love, or relationship?
3. What part of the Trinity feels most accessible to you right now: Creator, Christ, or Spirit?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. Why has the Trinity remained one of Christianity’s deepest mysteries for centuries?
2. How does the Great Commission invite Christians into global responsibility rather than tribal identity?
3. What might it mean to understand salvation not merely as belief, but participation in the “life of love” described through the Trinity?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

We've never discussed THIS lesson before! Our Pentecost episode explores Jesus’ dramatic proclamation during the Feast of Booths: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me.” The clergy unpack the rich symbolism behind the water rituals of the festival, the imagery of rivers flowing from the temple, and the deep connection between Spirit, baptism, wisdom, and transformation. Along the way, they reflect on how authentic spiritual life is not simply about inward experience, but about living water flowing outward into the world through transformed lives and communities.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. Why do you think water is such a powerful image for the Holy Spirit alongside more familiar Pentecost symbols like fire and wind?
2. The clergy reflect on spiritual life as something that must flow outward into the world. What does “outflow” look like in real life?
3. What did you make of the discussion around Jesus acting strategically or unexpectedly during the festival? Does it change how you picture him?

Personal Reflection

1. Do you tend to focus more on inward spiritual experience or outward action? Why?
2. How do you personally understand the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life?
3. What emotions surfaced for you while hearing this Pentecost conversation?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. How can Christian communities avoid becoming spiritually inward-focused or emotionally performative?
2. What do you think the church most needs to hear from Pentecost right now: fire, wind, or water?
3. How does the image of rivers flowing from the temple connect with themes of healing, justice, and renewal in the world today?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

This week’s Gospel lesson gives us Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” from John 17, the final movement of his farewell discourse before the crucifixion. Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy discuss unity, divine participation, mystical knowing, and the kind of God Jesus reveals through his life.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. Jesus prays “that they may be one.” What do you think true unity looks like without erasing individuality?
2. The conversation contrasts “religion” with direct experience of God. Where have you seen faith become more about systems, appearances, or rules than transformation?
3. The clergy repeatedly return to love as the center of Christian life. What practices help keep love at the center instead of letting fear, outrage, or division take over?

Personal Reflection

1. Peter speaks about “tasting the banana instead of studying the peel.” What experiences have made faith feel real or alive to you?
2. How comfortable are you with mystery in faith? Do you prefer certainty, or are you learning to live with wonder?
3. What would it mean for you to participate more intentionally in “the divine life” this week?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. The clergy discuss mystical theology and contemplative spirituality. Why do you think those traditions often feel unfamiliar or intimidating to modern Christians?
2. What role does imitation play in spiritual formation? How are Christians shaped by the lives they observe?
3. If eternal life begins now through communion with God, how should that affect the way Christians live day to day?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

This week, the clergy continue to explore Jesus’ farewell discourse and the promise of the Holy Spirit as Advocate, Companion, and Spirit of Truth. Peter Walsh, Elizabeth Garnsey, and John Kennedy wrestle with the deep mystery of mutual indwelling (God in us, and us in God) and ponder what it looks like to live a life shaped by divine love, sustained by the Spirit, and rooted in truth that sets us free.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. What do you think Jesus means when he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”? Does that feel like a condition, an invitation, or something else?
2. How do you experience the Holy Spirit—as comforter, advocate, truth-teller, or something different? Which image resonates most with you right now?
3. How does the idea of “mutual indwelling” (God in us, we in God) challenge or expand your understanding of your relationship with God?

Personal Reflection

1. When have you felt most aware of God’s presence within you rather than “out there”?
2. Have you ever experienced something in community (worship, service, conversation) that felt like “catching” faith rather than being taught it? What was that like?
3. What are some “untrue” things you might be telling yourself that an Advocate—one who defends and tells the truth—would challenge?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. What role does truth play in spiritual life today, especially in a world full of competing narratives and “versions” of truth?
2. The episode suggests that the Spirit works both personally and communally. What happens when we overemphasize one at the expense of the other?
3. In what ways might the Spirit of Truth be at work beyond traditional religious boundaries? How do we recognize it?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

One of the most famous pieces of scripture is also one of the most divisive! Elizabeth Garnsey and John Kennedy take a closer look at what Jesus means by calling himself "the way, and the truth, and the life" while providing a wider and more compassionate lens. They also shift our focus from God above to God within.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. What do you make of the image of “many dwelling places”? Does it speak more to heaven, the soul, community, or all three?
2. How might Jesus’ statement “I am the way” be understood as an invitation into divine love rather than a weapon of exclusion?
3. What does it mean to pray “in Jesus’ name” if it is about aligning with Christ’s spirit rather than using a formula?

Personal Reflection

1. Have you ever experienced a sense of God’s presence within you rather than only outside of you? What was that like?
2. Is there a room in your life you keep closed off from God or others? What would it take to open the door?
3. When life becomes difficult, do you tend to pray for escape, endurance, wisdom, healing, or something else? Why?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. Why do you think exclusionary interpretations of religion can feel so powerful or appealing to some people?
2. How do contemplative practices help people experience faith beyond argument or ideology?
3. How do we hold together mystery, conviction, and humility when talking about salvation or truth?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

What does it mean to hear Christ’s voice amid so many competing voices today? Elizabeth Garnsey and John Kennedy unpack how Jesus speaks into systems of false leadership, fear, scarcity, and exploitation while offering a radically different vision: a life marked by trust, belonging, courage, and abundance.

Questions for Further Discussion

Themes and Application

1. Jesus says the sheep know the shepherd’s voice. What voices most shape your decisions right now, and how do you discern which ones lead toward life? 
2. The episode contrasts leaders who exploit with leaders who serve. What qualities do you believe define trustworthy leadership in church, community, or public life? 
3. The clergy discuss scarcity as both a mindset and a social choice. Where do you see scarcity narratives shaping people’s behavior, and how might generosity interrupt them? 

Personal Reflection

1. When in your life have you felt “called by name,” deeply known, seen, or guided?
2. Where are you longing for green pasture right now: rest, purpose, healing, belonging, peace, or something else?
3. Is there one next step you sense the Good Shepherd inviting you toward this week?

Broader Spiritual Considerations

1. How can Christian communities embody abundant life in visible, practical ways for their neighborhoods?
2. The clergy emphasize that every generation must rediscover a better way of living together. What might this generation be called to reimagine? 
3. How might churches help people move from fear-based faith to love-based faith?

Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org