Adopt - A - Highway Cleanup - Saturday, September 26, 2026 - 8-10am
 

 

Drive-thru St. Francis Pet Blessing

Saturday, September 26, 9-11am

Episcopal Church of the Cross
18101 West Highway 71
Suite 120
Austin, TX 78738

Join Reverend Christine for an early St. Francis Pet blessing in the Church of the Cross Parking Lot. Saturday September 26th from 9-11 am. 

Register here: Registrants

Sunday, September 27, 2026 


9:30 AM Worship and Children’s Ministry
18101 W. Highway 71, Suite 120
The Sunday worship bulletin can be found here.  The service will be streamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/hWrYUN4CHaM?is=-pgirJwx2TJVltf-


Bring your phone to have one on one tutorial to help you join Realm. These services will be ongoing every Sunday after church.

My Friends in Christ,

 

I love watches. I have always been fascinated by them, and over the years I have collected a few. There is something about a beautifully made watch that makes me stop and look more closely.

Especially a mechanical watch.

From the outside, it can look simple. A dial, hands, crown, and bracelet. Maybe a beautiful case. But inside, is an extraordinary little world of gears, springs, jewels, and tiny pieces working together. Some of the most important parts are the ones you never see.

And the whole thing is designed around one purpose, to keep time. There is an old theological image of God as a watchmaker. God creates the world, winds it up, and then lets it run. But Christianity gives us a very different picture. God is not a distant watchmaker who steps away from creation. God is present in it. God sustains it. God is at work in the visible and invisible parts of our lives, including the things we cannot yet understand.

And then there are the hands. The hands of a watch sweep constantly across the face, quietly marking the passage of time. We rarely notice them moving. We simply look down and discover that they have carried us from one moment to another.

I find myself thinking about another set of hands…the hands of Christ. The hands that reached out to heal. The hands that welcomed children. The hands that blessed bread and broke it for others. The hands that washed the feet of his friends. The hands that were stretched out on the cross and still bore the wounds of love when he rose again.

The hands of a watch tell us what time it is. The hands of Christ show us what time can be for…an opportunity to love, to serve, to forgive, and to begin again.

We spend so much of our time worrying about whether we are doing enough, whether we are where we are supposed to be, whether our lives look the way we thought they would by now. We want to see the whole mechanism. We want to understand how everything fits together. But perhaps, faith asks something different of us.

Perhaps faith is learning to trust that there is more happening than we can see. A watch does not ask the individual gear to understand the whole watch. It simply does its work.

We do not have to understand the whole of our lives to faithfully live this particular moment. The hands keep moving. So does God. So this week, I wonder:

What part of your life are you trying to understand when you might simply need to trust it?

And,

If you looked at the time you have been given through the hands of Christ, what might you do differently with this particular hour?

We cannot stop time. We cannot hold on to it. But we can pay attention to it.

That is part of what faith gives us. Not control over time, but the grace to receive the time we have been given, and the courage to place our hands in the work of Christ.

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Christine+

Common Threads--

 Tuesday, September 22, 6:00-7:30 

at Sue’s apartment.
Bring a food to share for light dinner
Bring yarn to crochet or knit 
Or just bring yourself for fellowship! 

Wednesday evening Bible Study
September 30, 2026
7:00 - 8:00pm in-person at ECCLT or online via Zoom

Wednesdays Bible Study with Wale leading us through the book of Romans. Very informative and thought-provoking discussions. Come join us! 7:00 -8:00 at the church or on zoom. Contact Wale if you have any further questions: [email protected]

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/93714779977?pwd=oRvUALu4genwPOeGdBw1N8fpdPKTVN.1
Meeting ID: 937 1477 9977
Passcode: 325109

  Men’s Morning Fellowship- Friday, October 2

Los Pinos Jalisco, 11715 Bee Caves Rd, Unit 400, Austin, TX 78738.
7:30 AM to 8:30 AM

Gather for fellowship, to share a meal, and dwell in the scriptures.
Anyone wanting an update can reach out to Leigh Cariker at 817-313-8290

Sunday, October 4, 2026

9:30 AM Worship and Children’s Ministry
18101 W. Highway 71, Suite 120
 

Prayer requests and requests for lay pastoral care may be sent to [email protected]. Please specify if you would like your request to be confidential.

Daily Scripture Readings
 

Sunday, September 27:
AM Psalm 93, 96; PM Psalm 34
Esther 3:1-4:3 or Judith 5:22-6:4, 10-21; James 1:19-27; Matt. 6:1-6,16-18

Monday, September 28:
AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]
Esther 4:4-17 or Judith 7:1-7, 19-32; Acts 18:1-11; Luke (1:1-4),3:1-14

Tuesday, September 29:
AM Psalm 78:1-39; PM Psalm 78:40-72
Esther 5:1-14 or Judith 8:9-17, 9:1, 9:7-10; Acts 18:12-28; Luke 3:15-22

 Wednesday, September 30:
AM Psalm 119:97-120; PM Psalm 81, 82
Esther 6:1-14 or Judith 10:1-23; Acts 19:1-10; Luke 4:1-13

Thursday, October 1:
AM Psalm [83] or 146, 147; PM Psalm 85, 86
Esther 7:1-10 or Judith 12:1-20; Acts 19:11-20; Luke 4:14-30

Friday, October 2:
AM Psalm 88; PM Psalm 91, 92
Esther 8:1-8,15-17 or Judith 13:1-20; Acts 19:21-41; Luke 4:31-37 

 Saturday, October 3:
AM Psalm 87, 90; PM Psalm 136
Hosea 1:1-2:1; Acts 20:1-16; Luke 4:38-44