Heading for the Shore
This week my daughter graduated from Kindergarten. It is a strange thing to have graduation in September, but then again, this is not a normal year. We will have the Blessing of the Animals this Sunday in an unusual way and Trunk or Treat will be a bit different on October 25th, but we are holding fast to some of our community traditions so as to continue to create space to stay connect, grow in community, and deepen our connection to God. Through our Bayou City Blessings in a Backpack program, we continue to do the good work of feeding small children all over this city every weekend, something you can sign up to help with HERE. We have allowed creativity and vision to focus our attention and energy on the ongoing work of God in our lives and in the world.
Many of the things we get to share are at their core relational. I name this to acknowledge that the very nature of what makes what we share throughout the year wonderful, is part of what is challenging at this time. I have loved seeing many of you in church, but I miss seeing your smiles, shaking your hands at the peace, and singing out with you the wonderful hymnody of our church. We won’t get to have a reception in the courtyard for animals and neighbors to mingle this Sunday evening or have kids running around the parking lot and doing the cake walk at Trunk or Treat. We have a virtual All Saints Evensong planned on November 1 which will be glorious, but when we finally have our first in-person concert, Evensong, or Lessons and Carols service in person, I am sure you will be amazed by the vibrations of our wonderful organ and choir. It is ok to acknowledge that what we have at the moment is not our usual normal. It is also wonderfully ok to enjoy what we can share at this time.
Things that are different are in the process of being made new. This is the essential core of the adult education class Korey and I have been leading on Thursday nights. In God, only new life is possible. In God, “things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and…all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made” as our Good Friday prayer proclaims. This is an unusual time and things which we have established over the last 5-7 years as part of our common life will look different, but in God’s time and God’s love, new life is our hope.
I pray that God blesses you in the season ahead and that we all arrive on the opposite shore of this stormy sea safe and in the care of Jesus Christ, the one who saves.
We love you and God loves you.