“God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’” - Genesis 1:28b

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” - Genesis 2:15

Two days last week I was a part of the Pet Blessings at both the School and the Church. They were wonderful days full of excited pet and “lovey” parents and children. It is a time when we get to appreciate our pets not only in fellowship but also in acknowledgment of God’s place in that relationship.

As you can see from the quotes above, we are given charge over the creation that God made and calls “good.” Including us. We are the “them” in the first quote. We are blessed and to pass that blessing on to creation itself. We are to have “dominion,” or authority over creation, we are to till the soil and to “keep” it. In other words, we are to have stewardship over creation.

It is a simple phrase, but I believe it to be an important one. Especially here in a church with paid staff and volunteers. In a church the size of Holy Spirit both are very important and necessary for the proper functioning of the church. Well, it’s necessary for any sized church really but Holy Spirit is a betweener. Spanning the gap between a Pastoral size church and a Program sized church. We are knocking on the door of a Program sized church. Which means resources are stretched, usually.

This is not a stewardship message. It does sound like one yet what I am trying to do here is say thank you. Thank you to the stressed staff and volunteers that are working hard to make things happen at Holy Spirit. Not for the sake of making things happen, but I believe for the sake of fulfilling the churches calling to invite, welcome, connect, teach, and send out people into the world in the name of Jesus. In other words, to make disciples.

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.