It is the late 12th century in central Italy, Assisi to be exact. Italy itself is not a united country but is made up of city-states of varying sizes and degrees of power, the largest and most powerful of which is the Papal city-state. Traditionally these various city-states had been controlled and ruled by members […]

Our Old Testament reading for this morning comes from the Book of Esther. This is the only Sunday in our entire three-year lectionary cycle that we hear from this book, so I am willing to bet that most of you do not know the story that this book tells. For that reason, I am going […]