June, 2008

Dear Friends and Companions in Ministry,

One Sunday in May, our opening hymn was "Morning has broken." When I hear that hymn, I am taken back to a time when I was a child living in Vermont. I attended a two-room school in Jay, and it was there that I was taught that song. I remember sitting next to my teacher while she played the piano and helped me learn the song. I always think of that moment, remembering the dedication of my teachers, the joy of music, and the way God uses music and people to reach out to us.

On June 8, we will celebrate the end of the school year and have our parish picnic. That Sunday will also be the last time our choir will sing together until September. Please join me in congratulating and thanking Heather and our choir for a wonderful year of music. Their offering to God and to our community has been much appreciated, and we look forward to hearing them again in the Fall. God has reached out to us through their musical gifts.

We are also concluding the Sunday school year on June 8. Many thanks to all who led Children’s Chapel and our youth Sunday school. As my reflection above demonstrates, the time we spend teaching children has a life-long influence. The time we spend teaching children about the Christian faith provides a grounding that will support them now and in the future. Please consider bringing your children to our Vacation Bible School, to be held June 23-27. The theme will be "Love is an Oasis."

I hope that the summer is a great time for you, providing a break from the over-scheduled lives so many of us lead. Church will go on during the summer! Our community is not the same when members are absent, so if you are not away on vacation, I hope that you will come and be part of our weekly worshipping community. Come and see; come and be apart of what God is doing and will do among us!

Faithfully yours,

Hilary+

May, 2008

Dear Friends and Companions in Ministry,

On May 11, we will celebrate the feast of Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. You may already be thinking about May 11 because it is also Mother’s Day; plan on making church a part of your Mother’s Day this year. Let’s celebrate together!

One of my favorite biblical references to the Holy Spirit is Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." The Spirit, God active in the world, intercedes for us; the Spirit acts to brings us into a state of grace for our benefit and for the benefit of God’s creation. The Spirit helps us when we are not sure how to proceed. The Spirit creates in us the desire for what is of God. What is the Spirit creating in you?

Many people think that they do not know how to pray as they ought or, at least, wonder from time to time if they are praying the "right" way. First of all, there is no one right way to pray. We have been created by God communicate with God in different ways -ways suited to our temperament.

Some people are very structured and organized. Such people tend to like clearly defined steps in prayer that lead to a resolution. Others are more spontaneous in life, often focusing on what they feel rather than on what they think. This type of person can often experience God in nature and have a clear sense of the time as being prayerful.

The Spirit leads us in our prayer in ways that work best for each one of us. If you would like to discuss your practices of pray with someone, I am always available for conversation. There is much more that can be said about the different personality types and the forms of prayer to work well for each one. I have gained much information from a book written by Chester P. Michael and Marie C. Norrisey, Prayer and Temperament: Different Prayer Forms For Different Personality Types.

As we move into the season of Pentecost, I give thanks for the Spirit, who intercedes for us and helps us in our prayer and in every aspect of our lives.

Faithfully yours,

Hilary+

April, 2008

Happy Easter! We had a wonderful celebration of the Resurrection with 196 worshiping with us. The season of Easter has begun and goes for fifty days, until the Day of Pentecost on May 11.

Our lives as Christians are shaped by our faith in the Resurrection of Christ. We are "an Easter people." It has, however, been observed that during the Easter season churches often do less than they did in Lent. We have Lenten programs and special devotions, such as walking the Stations of the Cross. Our Lenten practices are designed to help us grow closer to God in particular ways based on the season of the year.

What are our Easter practices that help us grow closer to God? Are there any special devotions for the Easter seasons? Maybe the reason we do not often hear about Easter devotions has to do with the fact that we practice them year round – worshiping together, saying our prayers, sharing in the Holy Eucharist, baptizing those who come to God in faith, and the many other ways that we connect with God and that God connects with us.

Still, I do wonder about Easter and how we can be with God in special ways during this great season of our faith. Raymond Chapman has written a book, The Stations of the Resurrection (Morehouse, 1999), in which he provides prayers and meditations on the resurrection appearances found in the Bible. A number of other books are also available on the topic. When we pray the Stations of the Cross, we are seeking to know Jesus better through his sacrifice and pain; we also share in the pain of his first disciples. With the Stations of the Resurrection, we seek to know Jesus better through the power and glory of the resurrection; we seek to share in the awe and wonder and joy of those first followers who knew that death could not conquer the love of God. Praying about, and reflecting upon, those resurrection moments brings them into the present for us. The resurrection moments that Chapman considers are: Earthquake; Empty Tomb; Vision of Angels; Disciples at the Tomb; Mary Magdalene; Simon Peter; Closed Room; Thomas; Emmaus; Galilee; Five Hundred Witnesses; James; Ascension; and Paul.

We can also think of resurrection moments in our lives and the life of our church family. What would our Stations of the Resurrection be? One could be, for example, our 40th anniversary celebration, through which we celebrated and experienced the on-going, life-giving love of God that has sustained our church and strengthened it over the years. A Station could be the baptism that we had on March 30th of O’Malley Basinger, through which she was raised to new life in Christ, and we are reminded of the resurrection life we share with Christ through our baptisms. What Stations of Resurrection come to your mind? Pray with those and invite God to be with you in your reflections.

May the Easter season be a time of joy and new experiences of resurrection for you.

Faithfully yours,

Hilary+