Our Celebration is Joy!
As Korey and I planned our final adult Sunday school class together described below, we quickly came upon the topic of celebration. Throughout the history of humankind, celebration has been an important part of survival, meaning, wellness, and community cohesiveness. Since the early days of people gathering in Bethlehem in Mary’s house at Christmas or praying in Peter’s house by the sea of Galilea, Christians have focused our celebration on what God has done for us and proclaimed the love of God which gives every single other thing in our lives and world meaning.
There is so so much to celebrate in this moment in our shared life of faith. As you heard this week, Korey has been called to be Rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station. Sometimes when a community identifier becomes truly normalized it becomes harder to see. Holy Spirit has always been a place that forms and supports religious leaders in our church. As far as I know, there have been more ordinations at Holy Spirit than any other non-cathedral Episcopal church here in the US. We have welcomed retired clergy and those in transitional moments in their ministry. Our seminarian, Andrew Lazo, will be graduating from Virginia Theological Seminary in the Spring. Holy Spirit is a formative community. And so, it is no surprise to me that Korey is not only well equipped to lead ministry, but also ready to go forth and do so in this moment. You all have been an essential part of his formation which means that Holy Spirit continues to have a significant and lasting impact on the greater church.
I’d also like to turn your attention back to what we will be doing in this season to celebrate God’s goodness. There are wonderful fellowship opportunities that you can read below. Some are traditions brought back post-pandemic like St. Nick’s visit, Lessons and Carols, the Christmas pageant, Christmas Eve candlelight services, and more. We are also doing some special events this year to create more fellowship space to reacquaint ourselves like dinner and a movie with St. Nick this Sunday night, the Christmas Cookie exchange, and a Ladies Night Out event with special outreach opportunities to support the Mission of Yahweh.
Every single thing we do, whether it be a significant event or a fleeting moment of shared joy, is rooted in the event we will celebrate at Christmas. God came into the world to proclaim hope, to promise our salvation, and to give us the community we share in Jesus’ name. I pray you will not only find great joy in our celebrations this month, but also wonderful peace in the love that is the foundation of all that we share.
We love you and God loves you,
Josh Condon+