Talking to God can be using the words of the Lord’s prayer, it can be off-the-cuff, it can be going through the Daily Office, joining Lectio Divina on Mondays, or it can be as simple as witnessing the beauty of the world. Prayer can connect us to our Creator, bring us closer to each other, and help us learn more about who we are and how to live our lives accordingly.

We have read these words. We have heard them preached and even put them on t-shirts. We know that hospitality means welcoming the stranger and seeing in the unfamiliar face someone made in the image of God. We know it is a practice of faith in exactly the same sense that prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor are practices of faith. It requires effort, intention, and discipline. But we still battle fear.

Taken together, these losses produce a recognizable landscape: loneliness, anxiety, depression, addiction, and an aching restlessness that many people feel but struggle to explain. It’s tempting to treat those problems as purely psychological. If the problem lives inside us, then the solution must also live inside us. Better habits. More discipline. Greater resilience. Those are all good things. But a river doesn’t rebuild its own banks because one elk develops better grazing

Preparing food for each other and eating together is such an intimate, familial experience. It is also deeply rooted in the traditions of the early church as we see it in scripture. Eucharist is not the only transcendent meal we share. With every plate we eat with one another, we are mysteriously and invisibly woven together as the body of Christ.

I wanted to write this blog specifically about what someone with kids might need to know in order to feel comfortable coming to visit our church with their littles, so hopefully you can come check us out with as little headache as possible!

When it comes to women in ministry, there are hundreds of examples across Scripture of women leading, prophesying, teaching, and breaking cultural barriers in the name of God. Yet, again and again, parts of the church bypass all of that and land on the two New Testament passages that seem to restrict women — passages that, conveniently, happen to confirm what our culture already expected. This pattern itself is ancient.

When my friend Chris told me he was driving up from Dallas to tell me something, I was very confused. It was a five-hour drive. Whatever he needed to say, couldn't he just say it over the phone? But maybe there are some things that need to be said face to face. We had been friends for more than a decade. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had noticed that Chris had never had a girlfriend, never even been on a date. I assumed he was shy. By the time I hung up the phone, I was

Looking back, I can only describe it as a kind of violent mercy — because what shattered was not really my faith in God. What shattered was an idol that had been wearing God’s face.

The nativity window of the west side of the Emmanuel Church building was installed in 1909. The following was written by Addie M. Pretty in 1949, in tribute to the window. The Nativity Window in the nave of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Shawnee is an usually large and fine piece of religious art. In fact, it is regarded to be the largest in the state, and, according to some authorities, one of the finest in the entire southwest. It is some 12 feet wide and 26 feet high, combin

Jesus could not have been clearer. In Matthew 25, he describes the final judgment—the separation of the sheep from the goats, the saved from the damned. The criterion? "I was a stranger and you welcomed me... I was a stranger and you did not welcome me." How we respond to the stranger, Jesus says, is how he will measure our souls. As immigration debates continue to intensify nationally and locally, and as we are bombarded with the same scenes over and over, it is good for us

Joy-Luke 1:44 May the joy of Christ be felt through us. Love-Matthew 25:40 Help us see ways to turn love into action this Christmas. Faith-Matthew 1:24 Increase our faith so we fully trust in Your promises. Peace-Isaiah 9:6 May the peace of Christ cover the busyness of this season. Light-Isaiah 9:2 May the light of Christ shine from within us. Promise-John 3:16 Thank you for the promise of eternal life through Jesus. Gratitude-Luke 1:49 Thank you for all of our blessings, not

Midwinter Retreat is coordinated and run by Emmanuel Episcopal Church through the hard work of our Youth & Family Minister Beth Canaday. We host this event each January at Jacob's Ladder Camp & Retreat Center in Chandler, Oklahoma. Midwinter allows an opportunity for youth 6th - 12th grade to grow closer to God and each other through a mini-camp experience.

On October 3, 2025, the Crown Nominations Commission appointed Sarah Mullally as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury. She is the first woman to hold this ancient office in its 1,400-year history. This was a historic decision and will clearly be a turning point for global Anglicanism.

The word "sanctuary" has deep roots in our faith tradition. This is why the doors to churches are traditionally, red. It was a sign of sanctuary. It means a holy place, a refuge, a space set apart. In medieval times, churches offered literal sanctuary to those fleeing persecution. Today, our calling to be sanctuary is both practical and spiritual.

Questions You've Always Had about Giving to the Church (and were maybe too afraid to ask)

On August 13th we celebrated the feast day of Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) at noon eucharist, a man who somehow managed to write beautiful...

he story of Jesus’ birth gives 1/2 of one sentence to the fact that there was not enough room in the expected places.

Emmanuel's member directory is an online resource reserved for access to participating members of the parish.

The Porch House is the informal name for Emmanuel's 100% volunteer staffed ministry to meet critical needs for those who are the poorest

You see these important volunteers every Sunday! Vergers & Acolytes are all lay-people who serve to enhance worship for all who attend.