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Kristine Blaess

The Rev. Kristine Blaess, DMin, is rector at St. Paul’s Church, Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She spent her first decade of ordained ministry in rural Idaho serving congregations in majority LDS communities. Her doctoral work emerged from her desire to help congregations flourish as their leaders grow ever deeper as disciples and disciplers of Jesus Christ.

We Bought a Grocery Store

What happens when a church buys a property not for its own needs, but to serve its neighbors? This is a story of discernment and mission.

Dig Deeper

It was in the middle of the night just this time of year when I was in a carful of friends driving across the...

A Teaching Parish

What would it mean for a parish to take seriously the call to form others for ministry and mission? How would that shape their life?

The Tree of Life in our Midst: The Rood

At the center of the arching Biblical narrative of salvation is a tree: the tree of life, the cross of Jesus Christ.

Two Perfect Bananas

An unexpected gift reveals the mission of the church: to woo the world back to God through the self-giving love revealed in Jesus' Eucharistic sacrifice.

God’s Gift

The story is told about a ship that ran aground one dark night as it was trying to make its homecoming landing. The wind was...

A Witness to Unity: Eucharistic Commitment in a Divided World

Unity in Christ, centered on the Eucharist, involves both mutual submission and transformative relationships that reflect the triune God’s redeeming love.

What the Nativity Teaches Us

When my husband, Michael, and I first married, we bought an ebony Nativity made in Zaire. I love it for its sleek, dark figures...

The Holy Privilege of Preaching

On Sunday, as I stood at the back door of the church greeting parishioners, I was struck by the warmth and thoughtfulness of ’the...

A Few Hours of Catechesis

At the beginning of Advent, one of the elementary-age children in our church walked into her Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium and bee-lined...