Thanksgiving Eve Service, November 21, 2018 Dear Parish Family, I am very excited to experience Advent and Christmas with you all for the first time as we continue to glorify God, follow Jesus Christ, and serve all people through the power of the Holy Spirit. With a new liturgical year comes a new Gospel. Over the last 10 months, we have been primarily reading from the Gospel of Mark. This year (Year C), we will be reading mostly from the Gospel of Luke, which is the only Gospel that describes angels and all the hosts of heaven appearing to the shepherds in Bethlehem to announce the arrival (adventus) of the Christ child. Ever since angels first came up in a discussion in one of my Discipleship Groups, I have been looking forward to exploring their meaning with you all during this season. I look forward to discovering how our communal reflection on angels will help us uphold our values of worship, discipleship, fellowship, outreach, and hospitality. I have some initial thoughts… Worship: I believe that angels join us for worship every time we gather. The great English historian Bede (673 – 735) also believed that angels were present during communal prayer services. In fact, Bede apparently said that he never wanted to miss a worship service because he did not want the angels to be left wondering, “Where is Bede? Why has he not gathered to worship and pray with his fellow believers?” Along with our Sunday morning services at 8 and 10:30 AM, we will have many other opportunities to worship and glorify God with the angels this Advent season, including Lessons & Carols, Choral Compline, Ferndale Community Choir concert, Christmas Eve Family service and a Christmas Day service. Discipleship: On Tuesday nights, we will gather in Lewis Hall for a delicious soup supper and discussion about angels. These discussions will deepen our knowledge of Scripture and the Christian tradition and help us follow Jesus Christ more authentically and faithfully. We will conclude our discussion each night with Compline prayer in the chapel. Fellowship, Outreach, and Hospitality: The Bible urges, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). By continuing to reach out in love to those in need and warmly welcoming guests, visitors, newcomers, and apparent “strangers” into our church, we may indeed be entertaining angels. I hope to see you often during this season of Advent and Christmas as we uphold our common core values. And I invite you to consider giving a portion of your time, treasure, and talent to help us fulfill our mission of glorifying God, following Jesus Christ, and serving all people through the power of the Holy Spirit and with the help of God’s mighty angels. 2 3 Advent Silence The Season of Advent, the first season of the church year, quite fittingly is in the relatively quiet end of autumn and beginning of winter. In our madly energized world, with all our electric lighting of the night, we may hardly notice the change. If we do notice, we certainly give it little heed, because all we have to do is turn on the lights to make the darkness go away. Not so for most of the world; not so for all the world of past times. Cultural Anthropologists speculate that early humans were not sure the light would ever come back as it got darker and darker as the season progressed. Indeed, they speculate, the various mid-winter celebrations were usually celebrations of light, perhaps bidding the gods to bring back the light and the warmth. So it is that the season of Advent touches something quite primal in us, as we await the coming of the Christ, the light of the world, the lamp unto our feet. As the famous Advent hymn says. “O come, thou Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by thy drawing nigh; disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadow put to flight.” (Hymnal, 56.) Despite this calling back of the light, we must endure the period of waiting. In this period are often long times of silence. It is appropriate that, in our worship, times of silence are called for. Indeed, the rubric, “Silence may be kept,” appears throughout the prayer book, but it is especially suitable and appropriate that we heed this bidding during Advent. It is even more fitting that we should do this during times of prayer. However, there is an even more important and very human reason for allowing for silence in our worship, and that is that most human hearts have to be quiet for a few moments before they can open sufficiently to hear God’s voice speaking. There is so much cacophony going on in the average human brain and we are so busy trying to attend to so much activity and to quell so many piled up worries that we can’t really worship unless we let at least some of it settle down. God has promised us that he will “remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh.” So this is a time of giving it all up to God, and then of listening for that still small voice, that exquisite sound of divine love that we all really want to hear, to come in and sooth our sin-sick souls. “There IS a balm in Gilead”! It is the voice of God! Don’t you all want to hear it? If you take a deep breath, and then take the time to listen for it, you WILL hear it. Then we can be quiet enough to allow God to “melt the clouds of sin and sadness [and] drive the dark of doubt away.” (Hymnal, 376.) Turning again to the Hymnal, #66, we will pray, Come thou long expected Jesus, Born to set thy people free; From our fears and sins release us, Let us find our rest in thee. (Italics mine) Amen! 4 A few months back, I was lucky enough to make my first visit to our beautiful Saints Martha and Mary Parochial Mission in Trinidad. I like to tease Father Daniel that I will be forever scarred by the fact that he didn’t tell me it was a potluck dinner and I showed up empty handed! Once inside, that worry was fleeting and I left with a full stomach and a happy heart. The reason for our visit was to have some face-to-face time with the small congregation and to strategize about the future of “Sts M&M.” As many of you know, the mission was founded in 2006 by several very dedicated and resourceful couples that worshipped at Christ Church but lived in Trinidad or close by. Through the years they built the congregation and maintained an active schedule of Holy Eucharist and Morning Prayer services. Though still small, they have become a calming and prayerful presence in the community. In the last twelve years, and most recently, things have changed in the Episcopal Church on the national level and several members of the leadership at Saints Martha and Mary have decided to depart from the mission. This has been a very difficult and emotional experience for the remaining members in Trinidad. So we were there that night to simply talk to them about the direction of the mission. What I found was a small but mighty group of parishioners with unique stories and histories with a common love for their small congregation and a desire to see it move forward. They have since come together to work on the finances, altar guild duties, housekeeping, record keeping for the diocese and more. To quote the group, “What we may lack in size and number, we make up in our enthusiasm and dedicated participation”. Praise be to God! We continue to talk about our new mission statement and as a Vestry we are committed to making sure everything we do can be directly linked back to this premise. Saints Martha & Mary Parochial Mission seeks to glorify God, follow Jesus Christ, and serve all people through the power of the Holy Spirit. So for now, the mission is committed to continuing to be a Christian presence in Trinidad. If you have an opportunity to attend a service in Trinidad, I am certain they would be glad to see you! As advertised on the home page of the Christ Church website, Sts M & M gather for Sunday worship (which alternates between Morning Prayer at Eucharist) at 9 AM at 401 Trinity St. in Trinidad. July 29, 2018: Fr. Daniel’s visit to Sts. Martha and Mary on the parochial mission’s matronal feast day. 5 Merry Christmas everyone!! Too early? Never. I want to start this article by extending my get well wishes to our beloved Sexton John Hammond. In November he a had a medical situation that has prevented him from being here at church for a little while. Aside from being a great help to me as Junior Warden, he is also a terrific person. So, I am sending my prayers and best wishes to him for a speedy recovery. And thank you to all of my church friends for stepping up to help me clean and close up the church each night while John is recovering. It is so very much appreciated. I must admit that I was a little stuck on what to write this month. Last year, I shared how much I enjoy the advent season here at Christ Church and that the Christmas eve late service is one of my very favorite services to be a part of.