Dear Friends,

Last weekend I had the chance to spend some time in the cellars beneath our buildings. Ken Stone, who faithfully tends to the care of our buildings, and Brian O’Neill our sexton, were each showing me where things were not working. Water in the cellar of the Parish Hous from all the rain, then a leak in the pipe that brings water into the building, and finally, sections of the heating ducts that bring hot air to the church which had fallen to the ground. Ken, Tom Slaman, and Brian fixed the last problem, and we have contracted with the city to repair the leak this week (and replace the ancient pipe that runs out under the sidewalk). And we are continuing to address water that seeps into the cellar.

All of these things, while problems, did remind me of what I so often take for granted: the underlying structure of our life together: the ducts and pipes that transmit the heat and water which make our life building habitable.

And they reminded me that in the church, beneath us and around us is another life- giving flow of energy: the Holy Spirit. Much of our life as a church community is about building and sustaining the framework in which the Holy Spirit can move: honest and compassionate relationships, liturgies of worship that engage the heart and mind, an ongoing life of prayer, and opportunities to live out our Christian calling to love and to serve.

Of course, the great gift of the Spirit is that when we do experience her reality, it is not because of things breaking down or falling apart, but because of new life springing up, fresh new breezes of compassion in our midst, and surprising moments of grace.

As we gather this Sunday, I hope you will give thanks for all that is unseen going on beneath us (and for those who help maintain it). And I hope you will give thanks for the unseen movement of the Spirit in your life and in the life of our church, as we continue to create and sustain the structures through which God’s grace may flow.

Faithfully,

Tom