A Remembrance

This month marked the twentieth anniversary of the terror attacks in New York, Washington, and over the skies of Pennsylvania. What I remember most is the initial report that a parishioner relayed to me before the gravity of what was happening was realized, an initial kind of nonchalance that a plane flew into a building. “A strange accident to have,” I thought. Then I recall the shock of a nation, the momentary non-partisan response of our legislators, and the horror of watching - over and over and over again - the planes impacting the buildings and the response at the Pentagon and the accounts of the passengers who defended the flight over Pennsylvania.

There is no adequate way to explain the abject hatred that infects peoples’ hearts, but we try anyway. In responding to that tragedy, I noted that being made in God’s likeness, we are like God in that we have the freedom to choose: among other things, the freedom to choose God or not-God. The terrorists chose not-God; chose to be evil. God was not there with the perpetrators. God was with those innocents who were massacred, in their fear and the anguish of family and friends. God was with those who so courageously responded and sacrificed. God is with those of us who remember and choose to respond to evil, not with fear or despair or returned hatred, but with the will to overcome these things with the power of God’s presence in community and in hearts and actions that render the effects of hatred impotent.

If you can say a good thing came of the attacks, I would say it was good that we had our illusions of safety shattered, for that is what they were: illusions. We thought we were safe, but we were not, are not, never have been, and never will be. It is good to not live in illusion but in truth. And the truth is, if evil exists (and it does), it is good that evil is brought into the light of God’s day so that we understand our inability to rely solely on ourselves, but in interdependence among one another and upon the One God who ultimately is the only true thing that exists anyway.

Marc

Labor Day

Remember the episode when Granny Clampett – “Doctor Granny” had a visit from a fancily dressed woman with a hazy conglomeration of maladies?  The doctor cut to the chase pretty quickly.  “Get down on your hands and knees and scrub the kitchen floor!”  The lady stopped by the next day, most exuberant -- she had followed orders and slept like a baby…

Doing things.  Our work, for ourselves and for others, can have healing, holy properties.  Jesus had a clear sense of his life’s work; let us follow Our Lord’s example by prayerfully discerning our calling.

From Hymn 541:
Come, labor on.
Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain,
while all around us waves the golden grain?
And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.”

Brad Norris
Minister of Music

Let your light shine!

I mentioned in a sermon a couple of months ago that I think we live in a world where darkness truly is growing. It is only in my lifetime that the proliferation of drugs and gun violence and terrorism (now including domestic) and any number of other social ills really are worse than they were before, at least in the collective. Part of my daily prayer includes a reminder from the first chapter of John's gospel: A light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it; to bear the (baptismal) light of Christ. To be completely honest with you, I'm finding that increasingly hard to do as the darkness grows. My answer lies in holding tight to the understanding that if I try to be a lone light shining in the darkness, the darkness surely will overcome that light. But if I find others who are also shining Christ's light and those lights are combined, then it becomes light that the darkness does not overcome. From one light-bearer to another...and another and another and another...let's shine and combine our collective light so bright that no darkness will ever overcome!

Marc+

Pastoral Letter from Bishop Haynes: Jesus Christ Our Living Hope

We don't know, of course, what the summer of 2022 will bring. The landscape of our world is changing and taking unpredictable turns that leave us trying to catch our breath. However, currently, bishops in the Anglican Communion are planning to gather at Lambeth Palace in England next summer for a conference that happens only every ten years. It was scheduled to happen in the summer of 2020 but was postponed due to Covid.

To prepare for our time together, Archbishop Justin Welby has organized a series of Bible studies and conversations around the book of 1 Peter. The theme of the conversations is "God's Church for God's World." Yesterday, I was blessed to gather virtually with about 12 other bishops to discuss I Peter 1:3-9. We were from all over the world (in fact, I was one of only two American bishops on the call) and from many different time zones. Our greetings to each other ranged from "Good Morning!' to "Good Evening!" We didn't know each other but we quickly found brother- and sisterhood in the words of Scripture which we were studying together.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you...(1 Peter 1:3-4)

The question that we were charged to center our conversations around was: "How does the church proclaim Good News in the world when there is so much bad news in the world?" We discussed our different contexts and the bad news that assailed all of us – some were in countries where there is unrest and unstable government, one was from Canada where recently burial grounds were unearthed containing the remains of indigenous residential school children who never returned home, many were confronting the remnants and scourge of slavery, one was facing a suicide pandemic among youth in his diocese, some were facing natural disasters. All of us struggled with the deaths resulting from the pandemic. What, in fact, IS the good news in the face of such bad news?

By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope! Our focus is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the LIVING hope. He is the one that confronts our death-dealing world and conquers it. We must maintain our focus on this living hope. As one indigenous bishop described it – we create a Sacred Circle and put Christ in the middle where everyone can see Him and focus on Him. This is our inheritance. It is undefiled, imperishable, unshakable, unfading. And it is kept for us because we are God's children. This is good news in the face of bad news. We are not defeated – perplexed perhaps, slowed down, stymied a little, but certainly not defeated. The Church is God's Church for the world and we have a mandate from Christ Himself to keep Him first and foremost in the eyes of the world. Jesus Christ is the living hope and death is not the victor. Praying for all of you as you help your church to become God's church for God's world.

Blessings and peace in Christ,

+Susan

St. Andrew's Outreach Center makes a difference in the lives of children

One of our Outreach Center tenants is Families in Transition (FIT). FIT offers children from the neighboring community a safe and encouraging place for virtual learning. “In the last year there have been five shootings and one stabbing in the community these children call home,” said Maura Hampton, program director. “There is no way I can possibly communicate what our program meant to these children, and their parents, in the midst of this increased violence.”

St. Andrew’s Outreach Center helps to make it possible for FIT to provide this programming – art and STEM projects, Bible study, snacks, and a home base for field trips, including Monty’s for ice cream!

 

“We aren’t in a bad place here,” said one student. “When we’re at our houses, there’s a lot of noise. I actually get help here. They make sure I’m okay and believe in me a lot. They also make me finish my work – but in a good way,” said another. 

 

Learn more about FIT at www.fitnn.org.