Julia McCray-Goldsmith, Author at LiftUpYourHearts

Fat Tuesday: Collision

car crash I was struck by another vehicle today as I was parking my car in San Francisco. Although nobody was hurt, it was a frightening and costly experience, the latter in both financial and relational terms. I had been on my way to visit the hospital where my father at that very moment in surgery, and after the impact I spent … Read the rest

With Charity for All

Epiphany 6A abe lincoln

Some of you may know that one of the great privileges of my first year of service at Trinity is to shepherd our Catechesis class, which is a 20-week long immersion in the Christian and Episcopal traditions. And this past Wednesday and the coming one, we’re studying Holy Scripture: the Old and New Testaments. From a teacher’s perspective, … Read the rest

Leveling Up to God

Epiphany 1A/Baptism of Our Lord columbia-river-mouth

Last Sunday on the Feast of the Holy Name, my colleague Marlene preached about the importance of letting go of names that no longer suit us. So in the three months since I’ve moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been practicing a new way of naming myself: Oregonian. I’m actually the fourth … Read the rest

Indelibly Inked

For years I have carried the memory of a sermon in which an Episcopal priest posed the question of why we don’t anoint people with indelible oil. That is, when we are baptized—marked as Christ’s own forever—why isn’t the mark more visible? The obvious answer to this rhetorical question being that the visible sign of our identity as Jesus-followers ought … Read the rest

The Stable and the Supernova

John 1:1-14

Explosion of planet or star

Merry Christmas!

If you happen to have been here Christmas eve—I was, I go to church a lot—you might recall that yesterday’s readings and pageant were all about shepherds, angels, and the baby in the manger. The familiar—if peculiar—story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is a tale of wonder and courage and extraordinary generosity on the part of … Read the rest

Things Hoped For

Advent 2A

“What was written in former days was for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope,” wrote the author of the letter to the Romans. Which sounds comforting in a season when I am actively searching for signs of hope. And of course there are plenty: even in the … Read the rest

Evangelist of Few Words

st-andrew Feast of St. Andrew

“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you.” In our first reading we heard the Deuteronomist teaching about the imperative of both observing the law and also of passing on faith. Which ought to both reassure and terrify us. We’re told that it’s not hard, but practicing and … Read the rest

Practicing to be Unprepared

Proper 28C

What a week, no? I think we’d all be in our rights to seek a little distraction, so I’m wondering: what’s your favorite genre of scary movie? I’m not talking about anything you might have seen on CNN or MSNBC or Fox News…

Myself, its crime dramas. You know the scenario. Someone does something wicked, but the culprit … Read the rest

Subjunctive Saints

All Saints

In these final painful days of our electoral season, when saintliness seems remote from the public sphere, the familiar words of what’s popularly known as the Golden Rule: “do to others as you would have them do to you” seem to take on a special urgency. Mostly because they are the words of our Lord, whose teaching I … Read the rest

Blessed be the Seeds

Proper 22C

I never imagined myself saying this in church—or anywhere else, for that matter—but this morning I feel a bit like a mulberry tree. Some very faithful people said “be uprooted from your 13 years of service on the staff of the Bishop of California and be planted at Trinity Cathedral,” and here I am. Feeling a bit out … Read the rest