Natalie's Grace Notes

Friends, as I’m sure you well know, this weekend marks the observation of a relatively divisive holiday: Valentine’s Day. Some of you are thinking, Wait, how is Valentine’s Day divisive? And if you think that, you’re very lucky. Count your blessings.  For Sean and I, Valentine’s Day is the day we gird our loins. Our kids come home from school, and everything seems quiet and normal for a mere moment. Then the goody bags of candy erupt over every flat surface in our home. A tsunami of sweets. I spend three to four days on average walking around my house with a trash bag collecting wrappers, the cards the kids didn’t read, the sticks from the lollipops, candies that were discarded after one bite, fruit candies that are now stuck to tables, walls, and floors, and slime (because some kid passes that out every year). FEMA could learn a few things from me. Then, of course, the effects that high levels of sugar have on our dear children. Friday night, I went in Lily’s room to tuck her into...

  Friends, here we are, at the very end of the Christmas season: Epiphany. We’re also in a whole new year, 2026, and on the first Sunday of the new year I have a beloved annual tradition of researching what the top New Year’s resolutions were, and then sharing them with my flock. All the information I’m about to share with you comes from a data collection group called Statista, the exact same researchers I quoted from last year. They surveyed 539 American adults between the ages of 18 and 80 in October and November of last year. Bear in mind, the numbers you’re about to hear won’t add up to 100 because some of the folks surveyed reported that they weren’t going to make any New Year’s Resolutions, and many folks gave a long list of resolutions that overlapped with other folks’ lists. So–the top New Year’s Resolutions for 2026: Exercise more (48%) Save more money (46%) Eat healthier (45%) Spend more time with family and friends (42%) Lose weight (31%) Improve performance at work (24%...

  Froeliche Weihnacht, friends. That’s “merry Christmas” in German. Now you have an ice breaking anecdote for your next awkward family dinner. Today is Christmas Eve, the day we’ve been looking forward to. Maybe. Kind of. It’s the day our kids have been looking forward to, anyway. Christmas Eve is a lot of different kinds of things, depending on who you are, and who you’re celebrating with. It could be a day of church with your family (thanks for coming!). It could be a day of baking cookies and drinking hot chocolate while watching Miracle on 34th Street.  Or Home Alone . Or Elf . Or Love Actually . Or Die Hard . Hey, whatever floats your boat. It could be a day of singing carols around the piano. It could be a day where you dry shampoo your hair and run around the house for half an hour, already late for service, trying to find your other shoe. It could be one of three days every year where you have to tolerate the presence of your mother in law without picking an argument. ...

  Friends, we’re now in the third of four weeks of Advent, and now that we’re past the halfway point, our ancient foremothers and forefathers planned this day to give us a break, and a reward. In the first week of Advent, we generally hear something apocalyptic, about the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus, but nothing about his birth story, or anything even remotely Christmas-y. In the second week, we usually meet an important cousin, John the Baptist, but still, nothing cute, fun, or festive. Plus, those first two Sundays we light those dark purple candles. The first two weeks, historically, have centered on the themes of hope and peace, and have required seriousness, atonement, and discipline from us. Week three is different. It’s Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete” is a Latin word that means “rejoice”. Instead of lighting another dark, somber, purple candle, we light the happy pink candle! If pink is your favorite color, this is your Sunday! Today we focus on the spiritual g...

  Friends, we’re now in the Second Sunday in Advent. The painting you see up on the screen is one I asked Mary to put up there, so you’d have it for reference, because I’m going to draw your attention to it in a few minutes. In the meantime: take a look, and consider what you see up there. Now that we’re in week 2 of Advent, we’re spending some time with the first of the vital characters that help bring us Jesus–his weird cousin John the Baptist. Preachers with a sense of humor (and that very much includes me) adore our friend John. Stage actors portraying him have a field day. He’s not a calm, cozy character, the one who would hold your hand and read you a gentle bedtime story while sipping some chamomile tea. He’s a walking cartoon character, and the evangelist Matthew wanted to make sure we knew that. There’s “rough around the edges”, and then there’s this guy. Despite having mild mannered, highly respectable parents–a Temple priest and his doting wife–John the Baptist chooses t...