Official Diocesan Blog

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Lenten Series: Marking the Scriptures
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"To 'mark' the Scriptures is to pay careful attention to them... There's a sense that we respond to what we read and hear in the Scriptures. It's helpful to understand that we are not just reading these for interesting ideas or interesting thoughts. It's about helping us to learn how to change or alter our lives." 

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Lenten Series: Reading the Scriptures
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"There is indeed an expectation and exhortation to us to read the Scriptures, not because it's an obligation or duty, but because it is the best way that we have of understanding and knowing the word, the mind, and the person of God." 

In this third message of his 2024 Lenten series on the Scriptures, Bishop Alex continues to delve into why and how we read the Scriptures. Catch up on the entire series here.

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Lenten Series: Hearing the Scriptures
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"One of the most important things at the time of the Reformation was the reading of the Scriptures in the church—that people could hear them on a Sunday.

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District Caucus at Convention 2023
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All members of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh may submit names for consideration to our 2024 Nominating Committee. We are currently seeking nominees for the Array, the Board of Trustees, the Committee on Constitution and Canons, Standing Committee, and deputies to Provincial Council, to serve beginning in 2025.

The deadline to submit nominations is April 15, 2024. Complete the nomination form here.

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Lenten Series: The Power of the Scriptures
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"I want to invite us all this Lent to embrace afresh the great discipline and joy—ultimately—of being acquainted with the truth of God that is revealed to us in the Scriptures." During Lent, Bishop Alex is unpacking what it means to "hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Scriptures." 

In this introduction to the series, the Bishop recalls an instance in his ministry where a single Bible verse changed the course of someone's life.

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Invitation to Ash Wednesday
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"That's why Lent begins with that particular sign, a sign of our mortality. To remind ourselves, 'I am not going to live forever, and given that, is there something I need to do?' That's the great invitation of Lent—to self-examination and repentance." 

In this week's message, Bishop Alex points out the grace of the Lenten season—that it is an annual opportunity to reflect on our regrets and to reorient our lives—and invites us all to commemorate the start of Lent by joining an Ash Wednesday worship service on February 14. 

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Celebrating the Unremarkable
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"The great, vast wash of Christians throughout the ages are not remarkable, and yet are those who wear the crown of glory in heaven. I want to encourage all of us as we live out our mundane and unremarkable Christian lives to remember that the work of pastoring, ministry, service or discipling, while it may be remarked by no one, is remarked by the Lord. And it is that thing that ultimately builds the life of the Church." 

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The Church as the Original Redemption Center
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"When I first moved to the United States about 20 years ago, I was driving down the road one day and saw this place with a big sign that said 'Redemption Center,' a place that you took your bottles or cans to be redeemed. I laughed out loud because I thought, 'Isn't the Church the Redemption Center?'" 

What characteristics do we share with discarded bottles? Find out in Bishop Alex's message, where he explains the meaning and hope within our "redemption" in Jesus.

 

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Invitation to the Becoming Whole Conference
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"What I discovered a few years after my very powerful conversion experience is that the first experience didn't fix everything. That in fact, not everything in my life was what it should be... there were things within me and relationships that were broken that I did not know how to heal. There were people who hurt me that I did not know how to forgive. What I realized is that that is an ongoing work in our lives." 

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Hope Beyond New Year's Resolutions
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"At the heart of New Year's resolutions is a hope in our own resolve or our own capacity to make this better. And indeed, there are things we need to do to make efforts toward that. But in the end the Christian church has always understood that without God, without his action in our life, without the intervention of a holy God in our lives and in our world, we'll ultimately always fall flat."