A FINAL REFLECTION

 This is the final reflection that I am writing specifically for Christ Episcopal Church as our church has a new rector starting this week.  Naturally, I will continue to post articles on this blog site, but they may not be a regular weekly event.  

                                                                             PSALM 84:1-2

How lovely is your dwelling place,

    O Lord of hosts! 

My soul longs, indeed it faints

    for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and my flesh sing for joy

    to the living God.

A FINAL REFLECTION

With this being my final reflection after having written a total of 70 reflections since March 2020, I invite you to join me in reflecting on the more than three and a half years our parish has been without a rector.  We are grateful for Fr. Tim Fountain who for more than a year served as our interim priest and shepherded us through the early months of our vacancy.  We are also grateful for the services of Rev. Ellie Thober and Mother Pat White Horse-Carda, who served as our celebrants during our monthly Eucharist services.  In between times, our worship team of Deacon John, Liz, Dick, and myself took turns officiating and preaching during our Sunday Morning Prayer services until COVID-19 hit and things drastically changed.  We were among the first churches  in our community to close our doors and one of the last to reopen them.

The heart yearns for the familiar; to what seemed reliably available to our members prior to the pandemic. Since we did not have the technology available to do online video services and many of our older members did not have the means to retrieve them if we were able to offer them, I offered to do a written weekly devotion that could be mailed or emailed to our members while our church remained closed.  These devotion were also made  accessible to those who followed our church on Facebook and our church’s website. 

In those Sunday Devotions I would utilize photos throughout the devotions that I had taken of our church’s windows and furnishings to draw attention to some of the details that can be easily overlooked within the ornate setting of our church; to visually cast the devotions within a setting familiar to us members.  Unlike many of those who attend our church, I had keys and would frequent the church to ring the churches bells at 3 PM each weekday in conjunction with other churches to show support for the frontline workers fighting this pandemic, our doctors, nurses, and first responders and then to keep in practice as our church’s organist.  

For many of our members this period of lockdown was agonizing.  I can honestly say that having access to an empty church was no less agonizing because an empty church is just that, empty, and its empty nave conveyed a sense of loneliness for the people who frequently worshiped in its space.

I am convinced that God’s good will is most evident when things aren’t going well; when we experience a period of disorientation, isolation, or feel challenged in some respect - what I have referred to in some of my reflections as being placed on “pause.”  2020 could be described as a year in which the “Pause Button” was hit and “normal” was put on hold.  In my musings on Jesus’ Transfiguration and other transfiguring events described in our scriptures, I presented pause as a moment that precedes a transfiguration; a period of prepping one to see God, oneself, and life as a whole in new light.  

Acts of faith emerged during a time many of us were compelled to stay put and keep our distance.  I believe acts of faith that kept us connected to our church home was when our vestry utilized this “pause” to make needed repairs to our church.  These began with upgrading the church’s fire alarm system.  COVID-19 underscored the need to upgrade the church’s air-flow and filtration system.  There was also an urgent need to make extensive repairs to brick exterior of our 139 year-old church building.  Accomplishing those tasks were not merely works of love for the home of the oldest congregation in the former Dakota Territory, but were acts of faith.  While our doors were not open, the message was clear to us and our community, “We’re alive and determined to carry on by God’s grace.” 

Another act of faith was in extending a call to Fr. Mike, to be our full-time rector.  Through much of our interim period we were given to understand that our parish could not afford a full-time priest; that we would have to rely on either sharing a priest with another parish or, for the foreseeable future, continue to rely on supply priests.  Fr. Mike, in an act of faith, reached out to us and felt drawn to us and we felt drawn to him.  Money was gifted to our parish that allowed making this call not only a possibility but a reality.

We are now about to embark on a new adventure, a new ministry with the arrival of Fr. Mike.  Faith abounds and we must keep faith in God and with each other.  There is a sense that this period of pause is nearing its end and transfiguration for our parish is at hand; that we shall see and be seen in a new light.  What that exactly means, however, is yet to be seen. 

What is certain is that loving acts of faith will be required moving forward.  The arrival of Fr. Mike doesn’t mean our parish has achieved its goals or that our work as parishioners is done. With Fr. Mike’s arrival, a new day is dawning and our work is just getting started. Our goal and our ministry is to continue the ministry of Jesus in our world and increase the family of Christ in our midst; a goal that will hopefully continue long after us by future generations.

If you are a reader of these reflections, consider yourself a part of our church family.  If you live in or near the Yankton area, consider being present with us in our/your church home on Sundays whenever you can. Your presence will be much appreciated.  You will be welcomed and loved as a child of God, as all are children of God and siblings of one another.  

Ours is a church, a family, one can ease into.  There’s no rush or need to make a hasty commitment.  Sit with us for awhile, pray with us, worship with us, and learn about us and the God we love.   So come and be transfigured with us.  Share with us a new vision; a new adventure into the light of God’s love for all.  

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God of wonder and grace, we thank you for protecting and keeping our church family together during this long interim and the uncertainty of this pandemic.  We give you thanks for the services of Fr. Tim, Rev. Ellie, and Mother Pat and for those of our parish who served when there was no priest available.  We give thanks for those who looked after our church home, our vestry and others; for the completion of many needed projects and for the prayers and financial support of the faithful members and friends of this parish.   Above all, we give thanks for your Holy Spirit which guided Fr. Mike and us into mutual ministry together.  Bless him as our new rector and bless his family as they make a new home with us.  Bless us also as we join with Fr. Mike in engaging and envisioning new ministries.  Keep us mindful of your love and bind this family of faith ever closer to one another in your love.   Strengthen us in faith that we may increase the family of Christ in our midst.  All this we ask through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, our Brother.   Amen

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Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

UNITY - A REFLECTION ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

These reflections are written as devotions for my parish church, Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton South Dakota.

 PSALM 133: 1

How good and pleasant it is when brethren live together in unity!

UNITY

On this Fourth of July Sunday, we are mindful of the blessings and the challenges present in a nation predicated on the idea and in the faith that out of the democratic mash of diverse ideas, political opinions, and creeds could be distilled a unified republic such as the United States of America.  

Ours is a nation founded on words; words like “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal and are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights, words like “with liberty and justice for all” from our Pledge of Allegiance, and words like, “ E. Pluribus Unum” (from the many one) and “ In God We Trust.”   

Then there are the covenantal words upon which our constitutional republic rests, the words of our Constitution’s Preamble: 

 “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity… .”

Our founding fathers and mothers understood the importance of words in founding a new nation.  As such, they sought language that would shed light on the truths they sought to realize in its formation.  It is no wonder then, that the language they used was the language derived from the scriptures we use in our churches every Sunday; words they were raised with, words that brought many of their forebears to this land, ideas and words that could have be drawn from the Psalm and lessons selected for today.  

They possessed a deep faith in divine providence; a belief that they were being guided by the hand of God. While the Preamble of the Constitution avoids any direct reference to God, its language reveals an appeal to the perennial wisdom found in our scriptures.   

Knowing the Preamble of the Constitution is necessary for understanding the paradigm on how this nation is to function; in that, it identifies our constitutional government’s overall objective to “form a more perfect union.”  In order to do so, it identifies five goals essential to meeting that end; five goals that are the touchstone by which “We the people” know whether we, as a nation, are moving the needle closer to or further away from achieving its constitutional mandate.  

Unlike the inspirational language of the Declaration of Independence, our pledge, and our national mottos, the Preamble of the Constitution, takes on a humble tone that understands unity is only attainable when justice for all is realized, when our homeland is tranquil, when everyone feels safe, when the welfare of all is ensured, and when everyone can feel liberated in their own skin and their own sense of identity; liberated to be truly who they are as individuals created in the image of God.

If we are to form a more perfect union, we cannot divorce ourselves from the diverse mash of our opinions, our ideas, or our politics.  We can only try our best to listen, to learn, and to discern the best course amongst the cacophony of the voices that surrounds us, praying that God guides us through the shoals of our shortcomings and grants us humble hearts in our accomplishments, keeping faith in God and keeping faith with each other that God’s will is worked through the decisions made by us and on our behalf.  

The history of our nation is one of both amazing triumphs and excruciating failures.  Our history tells us we have yet to manifest a united commitment to forming the perfect union the founders of this nation dreamed of and so many of our citizens, past and present, have fought for and are fighting for; a dream so many have given their lives and livelihood to realize.   

As our nation continues to grow in a world that continues to shrink, the need for national unity in meeting the challenges we face as a nation cannot be divorced from the needs of the world we live in.  We are not alone in the problems we face as a nation because they are indeed the problems every nation is faced with.   Our founding fathers and mothers recognized this interconnection and envisioned this nation serving as a beacon on a hill for other nations to find hope and inspiration.  

Like any concept found in our scriptures, liberty is paradox.  While some distort the idea of liberty with the ability of doing “my own thing my own way” regardless of the needs of one’s neighbor, the paradox is that true liberty is only assured when we are free enough to acknowledge the image of God we are all created in and to understand that my freedom, my liberty is only assured when my neighbor’s freedom and liberty is ensured, both here at home and abroad. 

In acknowledging the diversity of God’s image expressed in each and every individual, we are enabled to fully embrace the value expressed in “We the People” and the self-evident truth it reflects.  Our diversity, indeed the diversity found throughout the world, is nothing less than a manifestation of the immensity of our Creator. The journey towards a more perfect union is ultimately a journey of faith into the truth it reflects, the truth that all are created equal, a truth yet to be fully embraced in our nation.

On a day celebrating our independence as a nation, we should take humble pride in the good and the many amazing achievements of our nation and above all in the truth-bearing words upon which it rests.  

On a day celebrating our independence as a nation, we should be mindful of the covenant entrusted to us by our forefathers and refuse to turn a blind eye towards or justify the painful failures and challenging moments our nation has endured and has yet to overcome.  For only in facing them honestly and with integrity can we keep making corrections to the path ahead of us and achieve the unity we are seeking; heeding the words of the apostle Paul who urges us to “speak truth in love… so that with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another for the sake of love, to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” [Ephesians 4]  Only then can we move the needle closer to achieving our nation’s goals and realizing the formation of a more perfect union.

Let us pray,

Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage:  We humbly ask you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will.  Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners.  Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.  Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought from many people and cultures.  Give a spirit of wisdom to those who in your Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your Word, we may give praise to you among the nations of the earth.  In time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, strengthen our faith; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.    (Prayer adapted from the Book of Common Prayer)

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Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm