Dear Incarnation,
Thank you for another beautiful Sunday. The music sang the gospel and anchored us in truth and beauty (my goodness, the strings!). The prayers were full of honest petitions and holy silences. And the livestream captured this near-spit-take by Russell when I made a curate joke.
It was so good to gather around Jesus' table in the wake of a divisive election and all the uncertainty that comes with it. I wrote you a letter about the election last week and have prayed with many of you since then. Katie, Russell, and I are here to continue praying with you as you walk through these uncertain days.
And still, there is much happening in each of our lives beyond the election. Our faithfulness to Jesus is lived out mostly in the quiet moments and relationships of our everyday lives, not in the abstractions of politics. I have the privilege of seeing you practicing this faithfulness in so many ways: Working each day in your homes and offices with care, prayer, and integrity even when you're burned out and mistreated. Parenting your children with patient love through each new challenging stage of development. Rushing to sacrificially support friends and family in crisis. Taking brave steps toward personal healing. Extending grace to weary people who desperately need it. Serving vulnerable people with your time and resources.
This is what it means to be saints, people whose lives are set apart by a holy love for God and neighbor. In the words of our hymn from All Saints Sunday:
They lived not only in ages past; there are hundreds of thousands still.
The world is bright with the joyous saints who love to do Jesus' will.
You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor, and I mean to be one too.
On All Saints Sunday, two weeks ago, the world was indeed bright — did you catch the small fire at the front of the church? One of our candles ignited the wooden box, and Phil and Trent leapt to extinguish them. We can add this to the list of small but notable Incarnation fires, which includes Pentecost 2019 (another candle mishap) and Christmas Eve 2019 (an electrical fire that shorted the projector and fried my laptop — but not until the final line of the final hymn).
Because there was no serious danger and only minimal drama, I actually found my worship enhanced by the sight of catching flame and rising smoke. (I think my sermons can attest that I love a good visual metaphor!) I was reminded of the images from scripture in which the prayers of the saints rise like smoke before God (e.g., Rev 8:3-4, Ps 141:2). I was moved to pray that our lives, like the candles of those whose lives we remember, would burn so brightly with the love of God that we would inflame the structures that surround us.
There is a tangible, liturgical way to fan this flame within us: confirmation (and along with that, reaffirmation and reception). Our bishop will visit on Sunday, December 8, to confirm, reaffirm, and receive people from our church at that time. I invite you to consider whether you would like to participate.
Confirmation is sometimes referred to as "the ordination of the layperson." In confirmation, the bishop lays hands on a person and prays for the strengthening of the Holy Spirit for a life of service to God. In this way, confirmation is a rite of Christian maturity and mission, a public acknowledgement of the continuation of the Spirit's work in baptism. At confirmation, someone is spiritually marked by the bishop as a minister of Jesus in all the ordinary places of their lives: their households, neighborhoods, and workplaces.
Reaffirmation is simply a re-upping of one's confirmation, laying down a new marker on one's spiritual journey. Reaffirmation can be especially meaningful for those who are returning to the faith, experiencing inward spiritual renewal, or going through a significant life transition. My own life this year has been marked by a deepened longing for holiness and experience of God's loving presence, and so I, too, will be reaffirmed by the bishop.
Reception is a way of receiving someone who was already confirmed in another tradition into our Anglican tradition. It's simply a way of saying "yup, you were already confirmed, and now your current bishop blesses your confirmation too."
If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to me or Katie! We will hold a preparation class on Sunday, Nov 24, at 7pm on Zoom.
Whether or not you are seeking confirmation/reaffirmation/reception this year, I am praying for all of us that God would fan the flame that is in us and ignite our lives with his love.
May the world be bright with the joyous saints of Incarnation who love to do Jesus' will.
Finally, I hope you will join us tomorrow night at 7pm at Greenbrier Baptist for a service remembering all those who have died. It will be a quite, contemplative time to share our sorrows and affirm our resurrection hope.
Much love,
Amy
コメント