Dear People of St. Christopher’s
This Sunday, the people of St. Christopher's gather for 1 service at 10AM to commission our Search Committee. The Search Committee is a group charged to identify candidates for the position of rector in the life of the church. It is the responsibility of the search committee to clarify the job description and identify the qualifications that are needed for the job. Additionally, the search committee will work with our diocese to advertise the position and seek applications and nominations; to review applications, supporting documents, and references; to interview applicants; and to recommend one candidate to the vestry who is charged with final responsibility for the selection or appointment. The morning will be a prayerful and wonderful celebration of the mission and ministry of this place.
Last week, our Advent Wreath theme was "Worship." This week it is "Search." As we seek to live out the hope and the love that Jesus taught during his ministry, we pause briefly during this second week of Advent to consider what it is that we seek from God, from Jesus, from the people of God. John the Baptist appears in the wilderness, calling us to the waters edge, to repent, to turn towards God, and to see the world as God sees the world.
Roberta Bondi, one of my favorite present-day theologians, says in her book To Love as God Loves, “Being a Christian means learning to love with God’s love. But God’s love is not a warm feeling in the pit of the stomach. It has definite characteristics we learn in the course of our life, in the behavior and teaching of the early faith followers, as we ponder over what we can say about God as God deals with us, and finally, as we model our own lives on what we have learned.”
During the Advent Season, as you gather around the light of your Advent Wreath, pray to love God's world as God loves the world. Pray to see the world as God sees the world. Pray to invite Jesus into your heart. As we seek to understand a God who broke through time and space at a particular time in history, I invite you to consider this reflection from Madeleine L'Engle.
First Coming
by Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
(From The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle)
Faithfully,
Kevin
This Sunday, the people of St. Christopher's gather for 1 service at 10AM to commission our Search Committee. The Search Committee is a group charged to identify candidates for the position of rector in the life of the church. It is the responsibility of the search committee to clarify the job description and identify the qualifications that are needed for the job. Additionally, the search committee will work with our diocese to advertise the position and seek applications and nominations; to review applications, supporting documents, and references; to interview applicants; and to recommend one candidate to the vestry who is charged with final responsibility for the selection or appointment. The morning will be a prayerful and wonderful celebration of the mission and ministry of this place.
Last week, our Advent Wreath theme was "Worship." This week it is "Search." As we seek to live out the hope and the love that Jesus taught during his ministry, we pause briefly during this second week of Advent to consider what it is that we seek from God, from Jesus, from the people of God. John the Baptist appears in the wilderness, calling us to the waters edge, to repent, to turn towards God, and to see the world as God sees the world.
Roberta Bondi, one of my favorite present-day theologians, says in her book To Love as God Loves, “Being a Christian means learning to love with God’s love. But God’s love is not a warm feeling in the pit of the stomach. It has definite characteristics we learn in the course of our life, in the behavior and teaching of the early faith followers, as we ponder over what we can say about God as God deals with us, and finally, as we model our own lives on what we have learned.”
During the Advent Season, as you gather around the light of your Advent Wreath, pray to love God's world as God loves the world. Pray to see the world as God sees the world. Pray to invite Jesus into your heart. As we seek to understand a God who broke through time and space at a particular time in history, I invite you to consider this reflection from Madeleine L'Engle.
First Coming
by Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure.
In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
(From The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle)
Faithfully,
Kevin
