This coming Sunday, September 29, beginning 9:00am in the Winters Activity Center, come and celebrate with Holy Spirit Episcopal Church’s (HSEC) largest ministry, Holy Spirit Episcopal School (HSES)! In 1962, two years after HSEC became a parish HSES opened and over its 62-year history it has been not only a large part of the church but also a large part of the community.

Come this Sunday and meet a family that is benefiting from being a part of HSES. Come have breakfast, watch the programming, and then join the common worship during the 10:30 am service. I am so looking forward to this event, and I hope to see you there!

Scripture can be a difficult thing to study. There are so many genres: Stories of Creation and the development of the identity of the People of God, lists of commandments and counting people. Even instructions on building a Tent and Temple for God. All in the first five books of the Bible. There is poetry, wisdom, prophecy, and some history. There is a genre called Gospel. There are also letters written to communities working out their faith. Among others.

While we are not all called to be Bible scholars, we might want to try to read and understand parts of this collection of books better. There are many ways to gain understanding. There are study Bibles that have some interpretation and references. There are Bible scholars that write commentaries which can be helpful in understand background, audience, and word meanings. There are group studies online and in books for learning more about the Biblical texts. And of course, there are podcasts and blogs too. There is also the church.

Service is a way to transform our minds and rediscover the best part of who we are: neighbors. Obviously, today is a time of distraction. There are so many things competing for our attention. Mostly, and I really hate to say this, the concern for our attention involves monetary gain. Now before we had these connected computers in our pockets the way advertisers got our attention was via billboards, radio ads, newspapers, and television. There was also a time, if you had cable T.V., when you could watch without advertisements.

Reflection is looking back over the past and learning from it. Observing the highs and lows of a given time period allows us to celebrate the good things and to think upon those things we could have done better. Reflecting gives us an opportunity to step outside of ourselves and look at given interactions more objectively since we are no longer in the action. The emotions and environmental influences are more distant, and we can take an honest look at things as they actually were to the best of our recollection.

Reflection is not meant to be a time for beating oneself up over the past, or to wish for those wonderful things that occurred in the past to happen again. It is a time to be grateful. It is a time to be grateful for all of those wonderful past things. Those things that we remember well and are fond of and desire to “return” to. The interesting thing about the past and good things is that even as great as they where, they can never happen again. The only wonderful things that can happen in the future are going to be new and different from the wonderful things of the past. The wonderful future can be just as good and will always be different.

It’s that time of year again, the beginning of Sunday School. Where the children learn a bit about the Bible, and each other. Truly in hearing the stories of the Bible told for the first time for the younger children, and for older kids and adults hearing the old stories and the lectionary stories and learning to ask questions, are the fruits of learning about God’s love for the world. Including God’s love for them and how we can love God back. In other words, learn to love God.

This Sunday we came together for worship and fellowship as usual. With extra fellowship. The extra fellowship was that during the service I invited all youth with backpacks, and adults with briefcases, to have them blessed in preparation for a new school year. We prayed for students and teachers, for questions and answers, for many things but most of all that the school year will be a good one. Where Children can accept information all the while being “in formation.”

By “in formation” I mean that the students learn how to be inquisitive in such a way that they become lifelong learners. They no longer necessarily need a teacher to give them information, but rather the ability to learn has been transferred to them. Transforming them in such a way that they can find the information they need.

I had a great day last Thursday with the Chaplain at HSES, Suzy Spencer, as we walked around saying blessings and sprinkling Holy Water all over the school. (I even blessed the Office and the Bayou City Blessings space among others. No place unblessed.) After the blessing we had an all-school Eucharist with the teachers and the school support staff. It was a wonderful event.

The School Blesses the church with the sounds of teachers and staff preparing for the children to begin another year, start their first, or start their last. The service made me look forward to hearing children playing in the playgrounds and praying in the Sanctuary.

Showing up can be direct by being with the body of Christ face to face like ushering, and showing up can be indirect by helping others to show up with you working in the background and maybe not even seeing who you help.

Camille and Jimmy were about to embark in a ministry called Logos. Logos is a multi-generational ministry where one night a week people from every generation come together to eat, pray, play, and Bible study together. It was scheduled for Wednesday evenings during the school year, and I thought I was going to enjoy some time by myself every Wednesday night. Then they left.

I don’t think I made it through the first Wednesday before I wanted to participate.