Monthly Archives: November 2020

Behold the Man

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to share that another article of mine has been published by Plough Quarterly, this one on a topic that has long been important to me: the need for Christianity to put forth an idea of what it means to be a man that is grounded in Jesus, not in toxic cultural tropes. The piece appears in their winter edition: “What are families for?” And while conscience compels me to note that I disagree with the answers to that question offered by some of the other contributors, I am grateful to have had the opportunity and encouragement to expound on my understanding of Christian masculinity in some depth. Enjoy!

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/community/leadership/manly-virtues

Ingathering Sunday

The Rev. Noah Van Niel

The Chapel of the Cross

November 15th, 2020

Proper 28 (C): Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; 1 Thess 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30

I love this time of year. The air is crisp and refreshing. The changing leaves wallpaper the world in glorious shades of yellow, russet and red. The sun sags heavy in the sky, filling our days with a soft glow and dappling the ground in glimmering shadows. The birds are gathering up their stores. The cider is being pressed. And everyone, everywhere, is asking for your money.

Fall is a wonderful time, the world has decided, for a pledge drive. Calls have probably started coming in from your alma mater. WCPE just went for two full weeks. NPR was right along with them. I’m sure PBS isn’t far behind. And as I hope you are all aware, today, we, here at The Chapel of the Cross come to the symbolic end our annual fundraising campaign. “Ingathering Sunday,” we’ve taken to calling it. A harvest festival of sorts, where instead of the granary we aim to fill the budget for the coming year.  

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Feast of All Souls’ 2020

Friends,

This year we created an extra special liturgy for the Feast of All Faithful Departed (aka All Souls’). It is our hope that this liturgy captures the grief and loss of this year, but also the hope our faith can lend us as we move forward into the year to come. Many thanks to the team at The Chapel of the Cross for pulling this off, and especially to the Spiritual Life Guild for their hard work preparing the space.

In Faith, Hope and Love,

Noah+

Liturgy can be viewed HERE.

And my sermon can be heard below (but I encourage you to watch the whole service if you can!)