A daily email and blog during the days of Lent:

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” go the words of Ash Wednesday during services. These words remind us we have a short time in this life as we know it. Some rephrase it “remember you are love and to love you shall return”, both are true.  Mary Oliver asks a very Ash Wednesday question in her poem The Summer Day “what will I do with my one wild and precious life?”

The Christian life invites us to regular intention and reflection (a thoughtfulnessabout our lives) but particularly during Lent we have 40 days set aside to do further inner work to renew our outer lives. Bringing the inner-self into alignment with God opens us up to share in the re-creation of the world. As Christians we don’t settle for the world as it is, but open ourselves upto the creative power of the Holy Spirit within us, that loves everyone, that loves us completely. This Sunday we will hear again that Jesus heard at his baptism and tested in the wilderness God’s word to him, “you are mybeloved, with you I am well pleased”. Take those words into your own heart, and let them change you, let them push away the other messages you haveheard or spoken to yourself, and then bring that truth to others in your life.‘My cup runneth over’ when I let God in Christ claim me as beloved,too. The spirit brings this word to Jesus over the water of baptism as itreformed the chaos of the world at creation. Now there is clarity about thecreation, the creatures, they are beloved of God, you are beloved of God iswhat Jesus communicates to all of us. If you have a bible, read Genesis 1:2 and Mark 1:10-11, note the work of the spirit reforming creation, in the first story order and light are brought, in the gospel, belovedness is spoken toJesus and through him belovedness is spoken to the world.

Take some time to change your pattern of reflection and prayer, self-care, and growth that opens you up to new possibilities in Christ. You are invited to send me a reflection if you would like to share one with the congregation thathas been helpful for your inner life—a reading, a reflection. Please see the Lenten resources available on www.diomass.org for more intentional planning for lent--the card on Lenten practice is one of the most helpful I've seen. Or use the guide for a rule of life--it is excellent. Services today are at 12, 4pm (childrens) and 7:30 pm today at St. Paul’s.     

In Christ, Jon+

From the Rector…

I am really grateful to be home from Haiti and to have had the time to be with the people of our sister parish in Holy Innocents, Port-de-Paix and the missions on the Island of La Tortue and in Morne Rosette. The healing was about connection. It was healing to connect with the gifts St. Paul’s has provided that are being used so well, and healing to finally be in the presence of people we are united with in Christ. I was so grateful to meet the people we have held in our prayers for so long.

We need the healing that they give us. We need the perspective of other members of the body of Christ to restore us. Being in relationship with our sister parish that is in such a struggling economy undoes the half-truths we tell ourselves about what truly matters. In the end, our relationships matter; in the end, what we do with what we have matters; in the end, treating all human life as sacred matters. A faith community with strong values of welcoming, worshipping and serving, matters in Haiti and here at home.

God is love. Everything else is just “stuff”.  Sharing and working with the love God has for creation and for all people, even ourselves, helps us sort out what life is about.  Look at your life through the lens of the love God has for us: the honoring of people that Jesus did, the sacrifice of his life, his enjoyment of others, but more than that, his invitation to new life always when he speaks “Peace” to the disciples after his death.  Let what you see be opened up by looking through God’s eyes of love for us, all of us. Let him speak “Peace” to you in love and let it change you. Let him bless you. It will give you enough to live in connection with God who loves us and invites us to a life of love.

This year’s annual meeting to review our work of the past year and take time to look ahead happens on Sunday, February 5^th with one service at 10am.  A combined church school will begin at 9:15am and combined children’s choir rehearsals start at 8:30am. We will share brunch after the meeting at 11:00am which will last just about one hour. Please see the sign up in Sherrill Hall for this time. It will prepare us for the same schedule with the Bishops visit March 11^th.

As I review this past year, there are so many ministry efforts for which I am deeply grateful: our continued support of Holy Innocents school and congregation, our strong children’s formation and youth formation programs, our adult formation offerings, our strong worship experiences which involve the community, the deepening of our music programs, our sponsoring of seminarians, Audrey O’ Brien and Ken Schmidt and next year, Stephen McCarthy and Stephen Trever.

As I look ahead, I am grateful for the excellent work done on our long-range plan. There is much good work to engage us in Christ’s ministry here and beyond our walls. May God bless us in moving forward towards new goals of vital ministry, vital refreshment, shared life in Christ.

We still have much to learn however, and that is our place of prayer, where we ask help from God and each other. Sometimes it feels to me we haven’t yet entirely “hit our stride” always at the 11:10 service and we will be inviting further ways to deepen that experience of worship.

One of the ways to deepen that I saw in our sister parish in Haiti, was the way their congregation could sing for a stretch of 20 minutes at a time with songs they all knew by heart. It was such an outpouring of joy and prayer. Could something like that be possible for us? We are striving to memorize several of St. Paul’s “favorites” for Bishop Shaw’s visit—please see Monique’s article.

But I’m also wondering if we need to keep opening up our musical vocabulary even more. Are there communal songs/hymns that are your favorites that you would like to be part of our worship? Could we develop a St. Paul’s “Top 20”? “Top 50?” hymns and songs we want to belt out at the top of our lungs? I know it’s not very New England-like, but singing with joy gives us even more spiritual strength. We do often sing with much joy, but we could strengthen that joy in our lives even more.  Please go to the website and submit 5-10 communal songs/hymns that are your favorite that you would love us to memorize, even if they are from another tradition, as long as copyrights aren’t too burdensome—or we can work with them, it’s very possible we could incorporate some new favorites. There is a survey link there.

Thank you for the good work you’ve done to “Close the Gap”.  Pray for our sharing responsibility for financial wellness together; and give thanks in all things. Your support makes a huge difference. See the bulletin board in Sherrill Hall to chart our progress. Thank you for your care.

In Christ,

Jon+

“Prepare The Way of the Lord, Make His Paths Straight.”

From the Rector…

When I pray, so often what I need to do is to let go of my resistance to the work of God in me.  The words sometimes start out cold and distant, but bit by bit, I relax and imagine myself being open to God’s work in me, in us, looking for where Jesus is at work, now.  I pray that my initial resistance will become energy that is transformed for good, for God, and I can join into Jesus’ ministry more fully.

Will you hear the Advent prophet’s call to us again and again “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”  This path straightening work happens to us personally and communally.

Where is God trying to move but is blocked in you, in us? Where would you like a more direct experience of God acting? Make straight the pathways in you, in us.

This joining together of heaven and earth in a new way is the possibility of Advent. This past month we have had some very Advent, actions:  Hearing Gabriel Bol Deng speak of the obstacles he faced as a child escaping violence in Sudan, was a powerful, prophetic call.  Many of the mountains he is trying to move are moving—the building of a school that can educate girls and boys has required much faith and openness.

 Joining in with the joyful work of our social/outreach events: in the Wine-Tasting gala and Holiday Fair resulted in making a pathway for us to raise over $12,000 this fall for those in need. Thanks to Melinda Stoops and Judy Shaw who co-chaired the fair. It was a privilege to see Melinda’s determination to support the Natick Service Council and other companions in ministry. Thanks to Corinne Daniels for her coordination of the Wine-Tasting Gala, along with Beth Brady and Linda Burgoon and Julia Collin-Davison’s amazing food. These are path-straightening activities. Thank you. God is discovered more present because of your work.

Thanks to the new formation of the Friends of the Natick Housing Authority which is supported now in our parish by Mark St. Hillaire, Kristin Arnold, and Dick Perry among a whole team.  That 30 youth participated in youth retreats this past weekend was also an amazing path-straightening activity—I sensed they all grew in the joy that comes when we connect more deeply to God and each other.

My heart goes out to those living in tents at this moment, in the Occupy movements around the world, protesting our imbalanced economic policies that support increasing disparity and block pathways for God. My heart goes out to those seeking deeper dignity in the Arab uprisings. My heart goes out to those children who are struggling to have decent food or shelter.  My heart goes out to those in our parish who are struggling in any way.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight this Advent.

With Gratitude in Christ,

Jon+

Turning Back to Jesus -- A Prayer in Secret

 

I was grateful for Paul’s sermon last month which described the Israelites going through the wilderness in stages, revealing God’s will for the Israelites was really the growth they experienced in the journey through the wilderness, not necessarily arriving at a certain goal. Spiritual growth, maturing, civilizing, and becoming a people who trusted in the goodness of God even through the difficult times was the goal of the journey.  Listen to it again (the sermon date is 9/25).

I pray that this is my work as a priest and pastor, and as a father and spouse, as a human being—to grow spiritually, to mature, and to become wiser and more joyful as I move into life. Yes, mistakes, missteps, wrong priorities are all part of the wandering, but God never gives up on me.

One of the gifts Christians have is always being able to turn to Jesus whom we can fully trust to illuminate, refresh and enliven the stages of life we are in.  Like the early Christians who discovered him mysteriously “alive”, “risen” we too can discover Jesus alive again and again. His wounds meet our wounds, his sorrow our sorrow, his delight in faith and generosity, meets our joy in serving, his forgiveness meets our repentance, the bond of love in him is never broken.

When we go to Jesus in our prayer, we find him ready to speak “Peace” to us again and again. Even after everyone has failed him, he returns to speak “Peace” (John 19:20ff). No matter how far away you have become, Jesus always says “Greetings”, “Shalom” to us when we simply turn our inner attention on his life.  When he discovered at his baptism that God’s voice for him was being beloved of God, his whole life’s mission was to communicate to us that everyone he met were beloved of God, beloved enough to share in ministry with him.  There is nothing more dignifying about life than to become beloved of God this is true for everyone.

When we return our attention to him in secret, with the attention of our heart, we discover again the invitation to join him, to reflect something of his love, his joy, his peace into this world. His love moves in us. Freedom gets traded for anxiety.

 he prayer that helps me most is that ancient prayer, the Jesus Prayer.  I like it because I join with millions of other Christians who have found grace in these words for centuries. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me a sinner” is a prayer which early Christians spoke and we have these words spoken in various forms in the Gospels by blind men (Matt 9:27, 20:30; Mark 10:47; Luke 18:38), the Canaanite woman (Matt 15:22), and elsewhere.  The healing power of his love reclaimed lives.

One practioner of this prayer, Seraphim of Sarov, a Russian monk, in the early 1800s committed himself to this inner prayer. ‘With this prayer on your heart’ he said of the Jesus prayer, ‘you will find inner peace and sobriety of the body and soul.’ At the same time it is dynamic in its impact, becoming like a spring of living water’ flowing ceaselessly in the soul. 

When you are overwhelmed, anxious, disconnected, stale, grateful, bored, proud, turn your attention to Jesus and let him speak. Let him invite you to his journey. Let him remind you, you are beloved, and discover again that the Holy Spirit is alive, the Christ is mysteriously present to you, and you will never go away hungry.  Say the name “Jesus” on your heart and let him transform your life, in secret. No need to tell anyone. He is trustworthy.  Get some time in quiet with him. You will never regret the time.

With affection,

Jon+