Featuring Aaron’s sermon from Sunday, a new recording from the Parish Choir, some suggested reading from our community, Go and Do!, and links to several of our content clearinghouses for all your SJC content needs!
Featuring Rob’s sermon from Sunday, an anthem from the Parish Choir, Diocesan News, Go and Do!, and links to all our content!
Featuring Anne’s sermon from Sunday, and a piece of original artwork on the theme.
Featuring Aaron’s sermon from Sunday, as well as links to several of our content clearinghouses for all your SJC content needs!
Humility - for a person of faith - is knowing exactly who you are, what you are capable of, and where you fall short. It also means knowing that your deepest identity lies in the Christ that you are waiting for. In America, in November 2020, maybe humility is the most radical and disturbing challenge in the Gospel.
Bishop Rob offered this prayer, written in another tumultuous time (16th Century Spain) by Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, better known to us as St. John of the Cross. His prayer resonates with me as I pray for patience in this time of waiting and I offer it to you with my prayers for you, for me, and for our nation.
How will they move forward? How do they make sense of everything that happened in the past few days? What is their role in the future that awaits them? How will they live out their faith when so much has changed? Where is God in the midst of all this? I’m starting to ask myself the same questions. For now, the answers aren’t clear. But the waiting remains.
Have patience. Easier said than done. I hear people say that they are, “Praying for patience.” I must confess that I think to myself…”Oh DON’T do that!....Pray for GRACE!” I know it is just theological gymnastics but, right now I believe the world needs grace. Grace to hear, grace to see, grace seek to understand, grace to let a winner win and grace to let those who lose grieve and God willing GRACE to remember that we are all in a part of the same family…the human family.
When you are 8, 5, and 3, you aren't consumed with worry about the political environment or nervous about COVID. They are excited about the changing seasons. Building the "biggest" pile of leaves and getting your parents to jump in it is nirvana. The only thing better is thinking about the next season and how much snow we might get[Randy Philbrook] (starting, quite possibly, this coming Friday!). My dad was right - kids do sense things adults don't, and the opportunity for joy is around every corner.
Let your light shine!
My point is: there is a heightened awareness of grace right now. And this week, I felt that grace because of the response that both I had and my peers had to my epic mom fail. That levity kept me going this week, I have to tell you. Life is pretty serious right now and it felt good to throw my hands up in the air and acknowledge the fact that I don't have it together right now. And, no one else does, either.
“Joy comes as a gift when you least expect it. At those fleeting moments you know why you were put here and what truth you serve. You may not feel giddy at those moments, you may not hear the orchestra’s delirious swell, or see flashes of crimson and gold, but you will feel a satisfaction, a silence, a peace—a hush. Those moments are the blessings and the signs of a beautiful life.”
It has been said that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Paul, formerly Saul, was accustomed to second chances. That’s a good thing because on Malta Paul was first thought to be a murderer. Why else would a viper have fastened on has arm? But things changed that morning. In a matter of a few hours, Paul went from deplorable to divine.
As Anne and Rob have quoted again and again (from a West African proverb), “When you pray, move your feet.” Jesus invites us to become beloved community, and to believe that our communities and nation can achieve that vision. The way we will achieve that vision is by practicing our faith, letting it form and shape our lives. We will have the opportunity on November 3rd.
I am more comfortable in my other “PRACTICE.” That is spreading good cheer and liveliness at my Mom’s Old Folks Home. My mom, whom some of you may remember from her many visits to Portsmouth is now 88 and has dementia. She lives in an assisted living home where I’d been able to visit her (nearly) daily.
This past week, I came across the following spiritual practice offered by Steven Crandell, the Director of Content and Communities for Spiritual Directors International. This practice is ‘inspired by the power of Held Evan’s intention to find and apply the balm of healing by standing firm for spiritual hospitality, by defending everyone’s right to dignity, respect and the freedom to find one’s own path to grace.’ I offer this practice to you. May you find it a blessing.
