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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Put your answer to the question in the comments because sometimes readers make the best authors

open.substack.com

What Your Job Title Left Out

An open question for the comment section

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Was this at Platform 9 3/4? Or was it on the way to the North Pole?

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

It could be a both/and situation. But I'm Episcopalian so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

There's a line in #Compline that often raises an eyebrow: "shield the joyous." My twins asked me why happy people need protecting. The answer says more about how we treat our own joy than we'd like to admit. substack.com/@pewnote/not...

substack.com

Shield the Joyous

Why the prayer book asks to protect the happy, too

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I talk a lot, ask anyone. But the best thing I did in a discernment meeting last month was shut up and actually listen. Turns out that's leadership too.

substack.com

Listening Builds the Relationship That Leadership Needs

On the quiet act that turns listening into trust, and trust into leadership.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

A reflection on three Sundays away from Trinity, capped by a visit to Hartford's oldest African-American congregation, and zero guilt. What "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You" really means when you're the one who's been gone.

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Nobody's Counting

Three Sundays away from my own parish taught me what that lawn sign actually means.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Every Sunday, we end the same way: 'Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.' We mean it. Vestry service is one of the places the church actually prepares you to do that, inside the parish and far beyond it.

substack.com

The Vestry as Leadership School

Why saying yes to your parish might be the best leadership decision you make

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Most of us walk right past them. The flowers on the altar, the person who placed them, the hours of quiet work behind what you see on Sunday morning. That's a ministry. And it deserves to be named.

substack.com

The Quiet Saints in Every Congrgation

The ministry most of us walk right past

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The parking lot has space. The choir is down to six. The coffee hour is a box of store-bought cookies. But the people who show up in August when they could be at the beach? Those are my people!

substack.com

Summer Church

Parish parking gets easier in July

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

It's not easy to hear "no." It changes our mindset and even the narrative we have of ourselves. "No" also isn't easy to say, but it's the best answer to give. How do you handle "no" when you hear it?

pewnote.com

When the Answer Is "no."

When ministry doesn't go the way you hoped

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

My mom sat on a chair in the pew of Trinity, looked at the bulletin, and asked: “They tell you what to pray too?” It’s a fair question. Here’s what I told her, eventually.

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Prayers Someone Else Wrote

A charismatic mom, an Episcopal daughter, and one very good question

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

I'm not a cradle Episcopalian. I was brought up in a denomination that values (among other things) navigating the bible and memorizing scripture. Yet, here I am with a bulletin in my hand on Sundays. This article is an interesting one from The Average Episcopalian.

open.substack.com

Episcopalians Don't Know Their Bible, but Does It Really Matter?

I guess I'm gonna go there.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Church happens in the perish hall, too. substack.com/@pewnote/not...

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The metal folding chair has been in that parish hall for about fifty years. It has held a lot of people through a lot of things. The coffee is always a little too hot or not quite hot enough. People drink it anyway. Because they’re staying. Church is in the parish hall, too. #Episcopal

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

The Original Fire Service I spent 25 years in fire service. We had job descriptions. The disciples didn't. They walked out of that upper room filled with something they couldn't explain, speaking to people they hadn't planned for. Pentecost was everyone's first day. It still is.

open.substack.com

The Original Fire Service

Pentecost was everyone's first day.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Every parish has a version of this: The thing visitors find weird and members couldn't imagine giving up. That's often where the actual church lives. Trinity, Hartford has the most robust passing of the peace. Note: quirk vs. action that hurts. One builds community. The other tears it down.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I was going to post about how good it feels to know that God is good. All the time. I also know that same phrase distances me from people who don't always feel God's love.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The ministry nobody calls ministry: the phone call to check in, the errand you ran because someone needed it, the showing up when you’d rather not. That’s real work. That’s sometimes what holds everything together.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

The church picked up a quiet idea over time: that a real calling means becoming ordained. Some laypeople carry that around without even realizing it. But it's just not true. This week’s note is about the vocation you already carry.

open.substack.com

You Don't Have to Be Ordained to Have a Calling

“Have you thought about ordination?” That’s the first question asked when someone starts showing up differently, serving more intentionally, reading Sunday scriptures on their own time.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I'm just starting out and look forward to sharing more on lay leadership and discernment, hoping that people will be inspired to do more, even without a collar! open.substack.com/pub/pewnote

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The Pew Note | Substack

Notes about discernment, lay leadership, and answering a call without a collar. Click to read The Pew Note, a Substack publication. Launched 6 days ago.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Can clergy wellness in a parish happen without equipping lay leaders in the ministries of formation, pastoral care, preaching, and church leadership?

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I didn’t trust my spiritual gifts for years. Not because I wasn’t capable, but because nobody had asked me about them. Once someone named what I could offer, everything shifted. Still learning to believe it.

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The Pew Note @pewnote.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The Monday after my first Sunday at Trinity, Hartford, the priest emailed asking about my spiritual gifts. Nobody had asked before. Most of you haven't been asked either. Now I ask. Maybe you should too.

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