Living Stones
Father Dirk’s blog
Perfection, in the spiritual sense, does not mean perfect as in never making a mistake. It means reaching our full purpose. We each are called into friendship with God, a relationship we all have in some way. Lent is a time for us to take stock of where we are in that relationship, let go of those things that impede that relationship, and lean more fully into those things that grow that friendship.
One July 29, 1974, eleven women and three bishops processed into the packed, un-air-conditioned Church of the Advocate in north Philadelphia for an ordination service. For the first time in the Episcopal Church, the ordinands were the eleven women, all of whom had been to seminary, had been approved by their dioceses for ordination, and had already been ordained deacons, a necessary step for anyone to be ordained a priest. Church of the Advocate had been a prominent center of urban ministry and civil rights witness for decades.
uring my Rector’s Address, I introduced four ministry teams I would like to put in place to give structural support and more effectively carry out New Member Ministry, Baptismal Shepherding, Stewardship, and Pastoral Outreach. You can read descriptions of these ministries from my Rector’s Address here. If you feel called to learn more or participate in one or more of these areas and did not sign up at the Annual Meeting,
This Sunday, we have the rare opportunity to celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord. This feast day falls on February 2, and when it falls on a Sunday, it trumps the normal schedule of Epiphany season lessons. The Presentation of our Lord falls on the 40th day after Christmas and closes out the holy days marking the birth and childhood of Jesus. It is an English custom to keep the creche up until the Presentation, which is why we have done so here at St. Peter’s.
Some of the discussion at this year’s Annual Meeting will be on work we can do to strengthen congregational development. Nearly every congregation is a completely new community after the Pandemic. By now, we know who has come back and who has not. Natural transitions and new members post-pandemic have also re-shaped us and everybody else over the last five years. As God continues to make all things new, our work is to connect more faithfully and fully with how God is making us new.
I recently came across the term "pre-mortem," which intrigued me. I knew what a post-mortem is - an evaluation of what went wrong after a failure. It turns out the a pre-mortem is the practice of flipping that idea to ask, "If we implement this plan or project, why might it fail?" The exercise then looks back from a possible failure to see what weak points there might be in the planning. Finding them beforehand leads to a greater chance of a successful outcome.
I am excited that we are baptizing three wonderful children this Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, one of our five key Baptismal Sundays in the Christian year. We had a preparation class with the families this past Saturday, which began with a Bible Study on Sunday’s Gospel: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.
Several of the families picked up on the beginning of the passage, “. . .the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts.”
Mindful Christianity has a wonderful ministry on Facebook with regular posts inviting us into contemplation and offering encouragement, grace, hope, and wisdom. Their meme for the New Year says it all:
The beloved Christmas hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem, includes this verse;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
the everlasting light;
the hopes and fears of all the years
are met in thee tonight
The great joy of Christmas, and the great power of the Incarnation is that Jesus is that place where we can hold onto the best of the past, be freed of its burdens, and step forward into a wonderful new.
I feel this "new work come on hand" bubbling up around us in so many ways at St. Peter's, and as the New Year begins, I am eager to "live the year that lies ahead with fresh energy and hope."
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:
to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:10
A Christmas anthem from the 15th century shouts joyfully, “Alleluia, a new work is come on hand. Through might and grace of Goddes Son” a new work is begun when God stoops into our humble lives.
The Christian life is both a Christmas and an Easter life. The Christmas life is the sheer joy and hope of new beginnings with a God who breaks into our reality to redeem, heal, and make us new through the gift of Christ. The Easter life is the sheer joy and hope of new beginnings as God in Christ snaps free the chains of bondage, even to death, and raises us to the life of an unending glory with our creator.
I have sensed both the Christmas and Easter life at St. Peter’s in dynamic ways this year. This past fall, it has felt especially like a Christmas life with a new work come on hand.
A lunch program made itself new so that it could continue to feed hundreds each week. A new gala celebration emerged to celebrate those in our community whose ministry embodies our Crossroads value of welcoming, serving, healing, and celebrating.
A gift of generosity was met with generosity to reduce our mortgage and strengthen us financially for the year ahead.
Each month since September, new households have started worshiping with us and have become engaged in our ministries. We have had our largest topical Bible Study in years this Advent as nearly twenty people gathered together to explore angels - God’s messengers of hope.
Our energy is carrying into the new year as Vestry has already identified a full slate for the next Vestry class and we look forward to reviewing our ministry, identifying our strengths, and uncovering areas of growth for strengthening our work in the year ahead.
Even in ancient places like St. Peter’s, “a new work is come on hand.” As we gather at the manger “adore him, Christ our Lord,” we can take great joy that God continues to act, stir up, and make new in our own lives, in our communities, and in this world.
Jim and I thank you deeply for being our community this past year, and the ten that preceded it, and we wish you and all you love a joy-filled, hope-filled celebration of Christ’s birth.
