Category Archives: From the Rector

Weekly articles from our Rector published in the News & Notes newsletter.

This is a Day of New Beginnings

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Dear Friends,

One of my favorite writers of contemporary hymn texts is Brian Wren. A poet and minister, he has over the last 30 years written an extraordinary number of hymns that have become contemporary classics, and will long endure. We will sing one of his hymns this Sunday, When Christ Was Lifted From the Earth.  But I think of another of his hymns as we approach this Sunday – This is A Day of New Beginnings.

We will be looking forward this Sunday to a new year. But as I write these words on September 11, I also know that this is  a time of looking back. Today may bring many memories, and a  reawakening of pain and grief. Looking at current events, we may also feel deep frustration or pessimism that there is nothing new being done to bring about a lasting peace.

At the center of our life, however is the One who proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new.” All things. Our pain, our grief,  all that is familiar to us and all that is strange and new.  Brian Wren expresses that truth this way:

This is a day of new beginnings,
time to remember and move on,
time to believe what love is bringing,
laying to rest the pain that’s gone.

For by the life and death of Jesus,
God’s mighty Spirit, now as then,
can make for us a world of difference,
as faith and hope are born again.

I encourage you, today, and this Sunday, to see what God is making new. What is God making new for you in the midst of any pain or uncertainly?  What is God making new for you in that which is familiar – in a hymn that you know and love? What is God making new for you as we recite the ancient but ever new words of the Nicene Creed? And what is God making new for you in the most familiar face you may see, the dearest friend you may greet?

I am so eager and glad to return to this time in our church life, and I pray that all of us will remember these words of Brian Wren:

Christ is alive, and goes before us,
to show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings;
Our God is making all things new.

Faithfully,

Tom

Losing Our Life and Finding It

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Dear Friends,

Last Sunday, the gospel lesson in church concluded with these words of Jesus:

“Those who lose their life for my sake, will find it.”

Another expression of that  truth might be these words: “Those who give away what they have for my sake will find true abundance.”

In 2013, the vestry made a decision to give away  a tithe – or 10%- of the total of any fundraising event to missions and ministries beyond our local parish.  When we are working hard to meet our own budget, that can seem like a challenge. Yet we are already learning that as we look outward and give ourselves away, generosity flows.

Many of you recall that we had a very succesfsul Spring Auction, coordinated by Charlotte Maynard. At Charlotte’s suggestion, we decided to give not just 10%, but 40% of what we raised to local organizations in Charlestown that serve the common good. I am happy to report that in this last month, checks for $528 each were sent to the following organizations:

Harvest on Vine, Charlestown’s Emergency Food Pantry

The Harvard-Kent Leadership and Scholarship Partnership, which provides college scholarships and leadership training for students at the Harvard Kent School

The Charlestown Lacrosse and Learning Center, which provides tutoring and after school programs along with athletic programs for youth

The Kennedy Center, serving children through Headstart, tutoring, and other programs

Thank you to all who with glad and generous hearts are helping us to live out the truth of Jesus’ words.

Faithfully,
Tom

Sharing Our Story

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Dear Friends,

 

On Good Friday, Emily Garcia led a group of children and their parents on the pathway of the Passion, telling the story of Jesus’ last hours with the people he loved. We started at the altar, where we heard about the Last Supper. We moved outside to the garden, where we were invited to watch and pray with Jesus. We confronted the cross back in the church,  and went again to the garden as if we were those bringing Jesus to the tomb.

 

At each stop along the way, children were invited to ask questions, and to make some drawings of what they heard and thought. It is not an easy story to tell on that day.  And yet, at the end of the service, one of our young friends held his pictures close to his breast and said, “I love my story.”

 

He spoke the truth. Ultimately, it is a story we love, because we know it did not end on Good Friday. And, as we were also reminded at the Easter Vigil, the story of Jesus is our story, one into which we are drawn,  so that we are blessed and changed.

 

We love our story. Certainly I saw that love made manifest throughout Holy Week and the first great celebrations of Easter. Thank you for all each of you did to make those services and observances possible. Thank you for all each of you did to share the Good News of that story with the larger community.

 

Of course, the story that did not end on Good Friday did not end on Easter either. We now enter the great fifty days of the Easter season. This is a time when we can love this story, both by holding it close to our breasts, and sharing it with the world.  Thanks be to God.


Faithfully,

 

Tom

Great Expectations

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Dear Friends,

As Episcopalians in the Diocese of Massachusetts, we gave thanks last weekend as we elected a new bishop to lead us – the Rev. Alan Gates of St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  You can read more about Alan and his family here:

http://www.diomass.org/diocesan-news/alan-gates-ohio-elected-bishop-diocese-massachusetts

We will eagerly await his arrival as we look forward to his consecration on September 13th. We may have great expectations for his episcopate. He comes to us highly qualified, and his accomplishments are many. And, he is a human being. In other words, he will inspire us, and I am sure, at some point disappoint us. But that should not surprise us in the least.

images-1This Sunday, we remember another time when a “new” leader was welcomed by a community with great celebration and great expectations. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, there were many who expected that he would fulfill their hopes that he was indeed the Messiah – the one to liberate them from the oppressive yoke of the Roman Empire. Jesus inspired adulation and adoration. But within the course of a week, he demonstrated a very different way of leading- a way of truth telling, humility, and obedience; a way of forgiveness. His way of being in the world disappointed some and threatened others. He did not fulfill expectations, but upended them. In so doing, he gave his life, faithfully. But in that offering he opened for us the path to live in just such a way.

I am sure that Alan Gates will will bring significant gifts to our diocese, and I certainly  hope he will fulfill some of the expectations that we have for him.  But I also hope he will challenge us, and be unafraid to unsettle or upend some of the expectations we have for him and our diocese. And if he does, my prayer is that we will see him for who he is: our bishop, and not the Messiah. He will bring great gifts. And he will bring his humanity. He is a gifted leader. And he is a human being. I hope that we will embrace all those things, as we welcome him with love, affection, and the prayer that he will be a disciple among us, walking in the way of Christ.

Faithfully,

Tom

 

Jump In! The Water is Fine

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Dear Friends,

The invitation above comes from the theme of this year’s Family Camp weekend at the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center. It refers to more than an invitation to go swimming in the lake. The full title for the weekend is this: Jump In! The Water is Fine: An Invitation to the  Baptismal Life. Amidst all the fun of the weekend will be some reflections on what it means to live out our baptismal vows.

St. John's baptismal FontIt is an invitation for a delightful weekend at camp. As we approach Easter,  it occurs to me that it is also an appropriate, if unconventional, invitation to enter into the whole Easter season. In the early church, the weeks leading up to Easter were a time of intense preparation for those preparing to be baptized. A central part of the Great Vigil of Easter was and is the Renewal of Baptismal Vows for those already baptized, and the Sacrament of Baptism for those newly entering the Body of Christ.

Here at St. John’s, the Easter season will be a time for us to reflect on what it means for each of us to be baptized, and how we can live out our vows through all that this community offers us.  And, if you have not been baptized, or have children you wish to bring to the font, please consider this season ahead as an especially appropriate time for this sacrament. See the article below for specific dates, and do let me know if baptism for you or family members is something you want to explore.

It may involve a leap, or a jump, and it is a decision that takes some prayer and preparation. But the water is more than just fine. It is invigorating, it is transforming, and it is life-giving.

Faithfully,
Tom