This homily reflects on how the stories we tell and the meals we share reveal God’s presence, centering on the Emmaus account where the disciples recognize Jesus when he blesses, breaks, and gives the bread.

It invites listeners to trust that Christ meets us on the road, helps complete our incomplete stories, and calls everyone into a universal lineage of faith through communion.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Reverend Mike Reardon, Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal, and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

The Rev. Mike Reardon

Assistant Rector & Vicar of the Church of the Advocate.

Mike Reardon joined the staff at Trinity Church in January of 2024. Born and raised in eastern Connecticut, Mike earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut before attending Berkeley Divinity School at Yale for his Master of Divinity.

Mike previously served at Grace in Asheville, Haywood Street Congregation in Asheville, and as a seminarian at St. Paul’s in Willimantic, Connecticut. He was ordained to the priesthood on the Feast of Julia Chester Emery, January 9, 2020. In addition to his role at Trinity Church, Mike also serves as vicar at Church of the Advocate. In each of these pastoral contexts, Mike is committed to cultivating a spirit of gentleness and an abiding sense of the blessedness we share with all God’s creatures.

Mike is a passionate cyclist, competing in bikepacking and gravel races. He loves to make homemade pizza, read, tend to his garden, and watch his beloved UConn Huskies play basketball.

This episode reflects on the Easter story: the grieving women at the empty tomb, the angel’s words "Do not be afraid," and how the resurrection overturns worldly assumptions about death and power. It contrasts human reassurances with the radical invitation to trust that God makes the impossible possible.

Through trembling ground and astonished joy, the homily encourages listeners to move from fear into faithful action—living out love and justice with the assurance that God is doing a new thing and Christ is risen.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Reverend Dr. R. Scott White, Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal, Nanette Popa and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

This episode features a Palm Sunday homily inviting listeners to participate in Holy Week, explaining the procession into Jerusalem, the contrast between Jesus’ humility and Roman power, and the significance of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter.

Through biblical reflection and personal stories, the speaker encourages the congregation to remember Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and to join the church for the week’s services.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow and leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Deacon Peter Hartwig, Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

Deacon Hartwig is Chaplain at Christ School in Asheville, North Carolina, where he serves as Director of Spiritual Life, overseeing the chapel program and anchoring the school's pillar of Spirituality. He has also taught Public Speaking and three other religion courses. His final ordination as a priest in the Episcopal Church is expected to take place early in the 2026-27 academic year.

Mr. Hartwig was an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, receiving his B.A. in Religious Studies & Classics in 2016. He then went on to receive master's degrees from the University of Cambridge (Master of Philosophy) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity).

Prior to joining Christ School, Mr. Hartwig held posts at Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash., and the Westminster Theological Centre in the United Kingdom. He also served as a Communications Associate for Global Endowment Management, LP in Charlotte.

Reverend Amy Peterson reflects on Psalm 23 alongside Isaiah 25, imagining what it means that God "prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." She explores images of enemies bound, excluded, and—in a hopeful turn—invited to the banquet, using these poetic visions to consider reconciliation, safety, and divine care.

Reverend Peterson stresses this is descriptive, not prescriptive, and offers a final reading that our deepest enemies can also be the faults within us, which God meets at the table with transforming love.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal, Nanette Popa and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

The Reverend Amy Peterson – Associate Rector

Amy Peterson joined the staff at Trinity Church in July of 2022 after completing her Mdiv at Duke Divinity School and serving as a deacon at Saint Joseph’s in Durham. Amy grew up in Arkansas and Texas, and studied English (BA Texas A&M), Intercultural Studies (MA Wheaton), and Creative Writing (MFA Seattle Pacific University). Before her call to the priesthood, Amy worked in cross-cultural academics and student development, teaching for two years in Southeast Asia before returning stateside to teach in California, Arkansas, Washington, and Indiana. Most recently, she taught creative writing, intercultural communication, and interdisciplinary honors courses at a Christian college in the midwest.

Amy is also a writer; her work explores the intersections of faith, language, and culture. Her most recent book, Where Goodness Still Grows, invites conversation about Christian virtue and public life.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

Rev. Mike Reardon reflects on Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, highlighting her isolation, his unexpected humility, and the life-changing offer of "living water." The sermon traces how this encounter reveals human powerlessness and God's sustaining grace.

Framed for Lent, the message invites listeners to receive the gift of grace they did not earn, to recognize their need, and to draw deeply from the well that quenches all thirst.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Reverend Mike Reardon, Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal, and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

The Reverend Mike Reardon

Assistant Rector & vicar of the church of the advocate

Mike Reardon joined the staff at Trinity Church in January of 2024. Born and raised in eastern Connecticut, Mike earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut before attending Berkeley Divinity School at Yale for his Master of Divinity.

Mike previously served at Grace in Asheville, Haywood Street Congregation in Asheville, and as a seminarian at St. Paul’s in Willimantic, Connecticut. He was ordained to the priesthood on the Feast of Julia Chester Emery, January 9, 2020. In addition to his role at Trinity Church, Mike also serves as vicar at Church of the Advocate. In each of these pastoral contexts, Mike is committed to cultivating a spirit of gentleness and an abiding sense of the blessedness we share with all God’s creatures.

Mike is a passionate cyclist, competing in bikepacking and gravel races. He loves to make homemade pizza, read, tend to his garden, and watch his beloved UConn Huskies play basketball.

Rev. Amy Peterson explores John’s encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus, reframing “being born again” as a tender rebirth from God’s womb with the Spirit as midwife. The sermon invites listeners to rest in God’s nurturing care and to be transformed into a whole new life rather than relying on mere self-improvement.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal, Nanette Popa and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

In the wilderness temptation, Jesus refuses quick fixes: bread to satisfy appetite, power to secure control, and spectacle to prove faith. This sermon explores how Lent asks us to practice honest 'no's to make room for God's sustaining grace, showing that faithful refusals can shape us as deeply as our affirmations.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Reverend Dr. R. Scott White, Reverend Amy Peterson, Dr. Kevin Seal, Nanette Popa and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org

As Epiphany ends and Lent begins, this homily reflects on God’s proclamation of Jesus as the beloved Son and the urgent command to “listen to him.” Using the image of a lamp in a dark room, it calls us to name the darkness, attend to the light Jesus brings, and discern true teaching from false by how it echoes the prophets and Christ.

Practical and pastoral, the message urges daily practices—prayer, scripture, and attention to beauty—to keep the lamp lit, confront injustice and falsehood, and follow Jesus toward Calvary with compassion and courage.

We’re glad you’re here.

This homily was offered by the Reverend Amy Peterson; in the presence of the congregation.

If this reflection offered a moment of peace or perspective, we’d be grateful if you’d share, follow or leave a review. Your support helps others find 60 Church Street — and perhaps discover their own quiet moment of grace.

Contributing to this episode: Dr. Kevin Seal, Nanette Popa and Karen Marie Frederiksen.

https://www.trinityasheville.org