Changing Seasons and God's Changelessness

“From everlasting thou art God, to endless years the same.”

-Hymn 680 (“O God our help in ages past”)

This time of year always makes me think of transitions.  Baseball season is over, giving way to football and basketball.  The leaves change and fall to the ground, giving birth to a new landscape.  The weather begins to cool, and Old Man Winter starts to knock on the door.  In the church we are journeying through these final days of the year, looking with expectation to the Advent and Christmas seasons. All around us we are in the midst of transition.

What transition do you find yourself in the midst of right now?  Are you dealing with the loss of a loved one?  Has a child gone away to school for the first time?  Are you preparing to move away to a new place?  Are you adjusting to new life circumstances that seem to have hit you from out-of-the-blue?

Transitions can be scary, just like the weather outside our doors.  Transitions make us feel vulnerable and afraid.  Uncertainties abound as we journey into something unexpected.  Life can feel as dark as the skies we have seen as of late, with very little direction and promise.  It is even difficult to see the light of God as we go through these moments of transition. 

Our Daily Office readings have been carrying us recently through the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach
(commonly called Ecclesiasticus).  This jewel that we find in the section of Holy Scripture known as the Apocrypha offers many nuggets of wisdom and instruction for right living.  The one constant throughout the book is the wisdom and love of God.  Through all of life’s trials and tribulations, God’s grace and wisdom abound, unhindered, ever-changing.  God is from everlasting and remains the same throughout all generations.  Though the seasons change, the weather cools, loved ones leave us, and we find ourselves thrown into situations we either did not ask for or expect, God remains constant.  God’s welcome, God’s wisdom, God’s love, and God’s life-giving Spirit are ever-present and never-failing.  No amount of transition that we endure can change that.

So as you journey through the changing weather and the growing storms of life, may you rest in God’s eternal changelessness.  Know that regardless of the changes and chances of this life that you belong to God…ALWAYS!  That God’s love for you is eternal.  And that God will see you safely to your journey’s end. 

-The Rev. Joe Mitchell, Curate 

Autumn Gatherings and God's Blessings

Autumn is by far my favorite season. As I sit in the sunroom, looking out onto the maple trees, my eyes catch the bright orange, gold and red of the leaves. On the ground lay these leaves already turned brown, that crackle beneath my feet when I shuffle through them. The colors in the light of the setting sun always remind me of a collection of Dutch artists’ paintings I saw years ago in the National Gallery of Art. The colors in the paintings were subdued as if waiting for some serious event to take place. My senses are filled with the gifts of colors and sounds that God has set just the other side of my windows.

Autumn is the time when a warm cup of cocoa beckons me when the dogs and I come in from a chilly evening walk. The dogs make their ways to the den to curl up in the warmth and comfort of their beds.  The fall season is the time of year when I feel inspired to cook lots of soups and make a loaf of my Aunt Janet’s recipe of whole wheat bread. I look in my pantry see the bounty of summer’s canned vegetables lined up on the shelves. As I work in the kitchen, filled with the wonderful aromas of simmering soups and baking bread, I have a sense of comfort such as that when we celebrate the gifts God has provided us.

Most autumns, nature reminds me that it is preparing for a time of sleep and rest, only to burst forth in glorious colors and smells the following spring. It is the time of year when God seems so slow everything down a bit as we move ever closer towards the end of another year.  The trees shed their beautiful colored leaves, the last of the garden tomatoes struggle to turn red on the vine. Even the fish in my koi pond slow down as they eat less, move a bit slower and descend towards the lower levels of the pond. The squirrels, however, are scurrying about carrying walnuts and storing them in various places in our yard and gardens. They stow their precious treasures to meet their winter needs, though much to my dismay, they seem to forget where the nuts have been buried.

Autumn even sounds different to me. The crickets are long gone, no frogs can be heard croaking out near the pond and fewer birds seem to be calling into the night. I always miss the night sounds when I fall asleep at night as autumn descends over our part of Mother Earth as this season reminds the plants and animals in our midst that it is time to rest.

I doubt I would so enjoy the gifts of autumn were I not in such a comfortable place in life. I don’t know that I would enjoy the colors and sounds of the season if my mind was filled with the dread of not having a warm place to sleep, enough food for my family, warm clothes for the approaching winter cold and a way to continue to provide for those things everyday necessities. I believe I would find autumn a season of impending dread, increased hardship and worry as I tried to prepare for the frosty months ahead rather than the season that delights my senses and gives me pause to slow down and reflect on all the goodness in my life.

I have just finished writing the check which will fulfill my financial pledge to the Cathedral for this year. I am reminded that it is through God’s gifts to me that I am able to be a steward of the church. My gifts, along with yours, will help house and feed those men who will be guests at Christ Church through the Room in the Inn program. Our efforts will provide a night’s safe warm rest and a few good comforting meals to some of those of Christ’s flock who find themselves homeless and alone. Our participation in Church Under the Bridge will enable us to feed men, women and children, old and young, with a hearty lunch, fellowship and an opportunity to hear and share God’s holy word. The Pyramid Professionals will continue to share their wisdom and expertise as they help others develop skills and be appropriately ready to apply for work and take steps toward having their own of security. Community Cupboard will continue to provide food to those in financial distress so that they may put meals on tables to feed themselves and their families.

I see all the activity here at Christ Church as we prepare for the Community Cupboard Saturdays, for Room in the Inn and for Church Under the Bridge. I see the good work of the Church as we strive to help provide for those in our community who are not as fortunate as are we. I recognize that through our good stewardship, we are putting into action those words of Jesus that call us to love our neighbors as ourselves. And as I sit here in the warmth of the sunlight coming through the window, I know that just as nature prepares to rest for the winter, we share the harvests of our lives to enrich the lives of others around us.


 - The Rev. Paula Ott

Finding God's Welcome Within

I wonder what God’s welcome would really look like.  I mean total, unconditional welcome.  Have you ever wondered how many friends you would have if you revealed all of who you really are?  I have certainly had such thoughts.  When someone has given me a compliment, to myself I have thought, “That is nice, but if you really knew the truth of me you would not say that!”     Last week in staff meeting and again last Wednesday night with Rabbi Kline, we discussed the very real truth, that without welcoming one’s self, one cannot welcome anyone else.  Rabbi Kline said that prayer is about going down into the very depths of the self and seeing what is there.  Where are the wounds, the inner homeless, and the inner terrorists?  We must welcome all of ourselves and bring them into the light.     When I go on retreat, I begin to let go of all of my pretenses, some of which I may not even realize are there.  I am tired from the pace and from wearing all of the hats that I seem to think that I must wear.  There is the Christian Formation hat, mother hat, wife hat, spiritual director hat, friend hat...  Then of course there is taking care of the body and doing all with a smile.  So, I can get exhausted and lost in all of these good things!     On my very first extended silent retreat I hardly left my room for the first 2 ½ days.  I had no idea that I was so tired.  I got to the retreat center Sunday afternoon.  By Wednesday I was rested up and more than ready to go home.  It however was not time to go.  I had five more days.  I had almost a feeling of panic.  How could I possibly spend that much time with just me?  My spiritual director was very gentle with me and gave me some scripture passages to ponder.  One was about how God delights in me.  I had a while to be with me and to see what God could really delight in.     What I found out was that God did not require anything of me in order to delight in me.  I could stay grungy, be angry or even full of rage, happy, sad, or mean and God would still be at my very core welcoming me into wholeness.  I got in touch with this intimacy with God on this very first long retreat about 17 years ago.  I knew a presence that I had never known at such depth.  Somehow this depth of knowing enabled me to love and accept myself more than I had.  I didn’t want to leave.  I was afraid I would lose this intimacy that I had found.     I came home and have tried to make it a practice to go on a yearly retreat.  I have found that that presence is always deep within me.  It is kind of like a good friend or spouse whose love is there daily.  It takes those times of getting away together however, from all distractions to really connect.      I am now beginning to anticipate with excitement my upcoming retreat in November.   I am longing for this soaking time with God.  I encourage you to take up this practice if you do not already.  You will find that you are loved and welcomed beyond measure and will then desire to give this love and welcome away.

Prove It!

An Episcopal priest friend told me this story. He went to visit a parishioner at the local hospital. He was wearing his clerical collar and black shirt, and carrying a communion kit. While at the hospital, he was approached by an intense young pastor of another church who stared sharply at the priest and asked, “Are you saved?” The priest said he wouldn’t phrase it that way, but yes he was saved. The intense young pastor then demanded, “Prove it!”

I think these types of questions mix up two very different things. The first is the issue of salvation, in other words, is there life after life for us? The other is how do we identify whether someone is a Christian? As to the first thing, the issue of life after life, I like what theologian Reinhold Niehber said. When asked if and when he was saved, Niehber replied:  “I was saved about 2,000 years ago on a dusty hill called Golgotha outside the walls of Jerusalem.” I like this response. It’s simple, easy to remember and says it all. We aren’t saved by whether we have a mystical conversion experience.  We don’t save ourselves even by asserting we are saved. The salvation of eternal life is not something that get through our own efforts. Instead, it is something that Jesus freely gave to everyone through what he did.

But the other issue that is mixed up by the questions of the intense young pastor is how do we identify whether someone is a Christian? For many Christians the answer to the question, “Is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior?” is dispositive. As to this question, I was reading about a monk who lives in a monastery founded in 963 A.D. on Mount Athos in Greece. A Christian from America visited the monk and asked, “Is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior?” The smiling monk replied: “No, I like to share him.”  

Jesus said: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). Jesus knew what we already understand: if we want to know what someone is like, thinks, or believes, then watch what she or he does. Talk is cheap; the proof is in what people actually do. So, the intense young pastor should have asked the priest what he was doing if he really wanted to know if the priest was a Christian. My priest friend would have answered: “I’m visiting a sick friend and taking her the body and blood of Christ.”