Nicole Walters

St. Columba's Inverness, CA October 12, 2025 22nd Sunday After Pentecost Luke 17:11-19 Listen: Read: It’s good to be back with you. The last time I was here was in July, but this time, my family is with me. My kids are seeing Inverness for the first time, and it feels a little like watching them meet part of my heart. It’s a gift to be among you again, this community that has taught me what faithful presence looks like, what it means to care deeply for one another and for the creation God so...

Church of the Nativity - Fayetteville, GA October 26, 2025 20th Sunday After Pentecost Luke 18:9-14 Watch: Listen: Read: I have to confess something: I’m not naturally a contemplative person. People probably assume I am. I just spent three years writing a doctoral dissertation on how churches can engage more deeply with contemplative practice. But silence and stillness do not actually come easily to me. The truth is, I’m a fixer. A doer. A planner. When I see a problem, I want to solve it....

The Incarnation declares that God is not distant but with us—in Christ, in creation, in the ordinary fabric of daily life. Contemplation is simply learning to notice this reality: resting in God’s nearness, receiving Christ in bread and wine, and seeing the sacred in the everyday. My research found that when congregations embraced silence and sacramental stillness, people discovered God’s presence not as an idea but as a lived encounter.