The Holy Spirit

Whenever we baptize a new person into our community, we like to share the Godly Play story on baptism with the family at a rehearsal.  If you haven't had a chance to hear the story, you should!  It's a tangible reminder of the family of Christ that we belong to.

In the story, the storyteller talks about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is depicted as a dove, that comes down to us when we need help. It goes where it will and where it is needed.  What I love about this is that the bird is a great reminder that the Holy Spirit doesn't have boundaries.  It isn't stuck on the ground but can reach each and every one of us when we need it.

As we head toward Pentecost and the birthday of our church, what a great reminder that we are not alone.  Whether we need grace, patience, hope or joy; the Holy Spirit is ready and able to provide it to you.  This time of quarantine has been challenging on so many levels. Whether you're alone, surrounded by your children, working from home, or laid off, I hope this weekend will be a reminder that the Holy Spirit is part of each and every one of us.

Connecting to people has taken on a whole new level for me and especially in ministry.  Its become increasingly important for me to reach out to people when I need to instead of trying to figure life out alone.  Even though I'm not able to connect in person with my church family, I can still call, write or email people to support, encourage, and love me.

I challenge you this week to find places that the Holy Spirit has visited you.  Connect with a friend.  Join our car parade to celebrate our church and who God is for us!

Peace,

Rachel

Stop Looking Back

During the last 6 weeks I have been exploring with children through Godly Play some of the many ways those first disciples came to know Jesus in new ways after his resurrection. Imagine with me that we had shared so many wonderful experiences with Jesus. We had learned so much from him. We would follow him anywhere. Then the unthinkable happened and Jesus was crucified. Our whole world turned upside down and nothing was as we had known it. Then many of us, even though grieving were surprised by his presence. It was different from when he was with us before but we knew it was him. After a while we came to expect these experiences. Then one day about 5 weeks after his death, we heard him say that we were to go into all of the world to make disciples. What?! This is huge – impossible! Before he left he assured us that he would be with us always and he was gone. About a week or so later Jesus appeared to us again and led us outside the walls of Jerusalem. He looked at each of us and blessed us and then he withdrew in a cloud. Where did he go? We kept looking up until we heard a couple of voices ask us what we were looking at. Feeling foolish we looked over to see two men dressed in white. Those angels answered their own question: “Jesus is gone now as you have known him.” In this moment everything changed A burden was lifted. I have always struggled with why that was good news to them. Jesus was gone as they had known him! As I told this story to the children last week, the message was made clear for my life as we have all been living through a pandemic. Life as we knew it was gone in a day and everything has been turned upside down. For weeks I have grieved the way things were, hoping to just wake up from this bad dream. I want to see all of you tomorrow but that is not happening. I heard for myself those words that the angels spoke to the first disciples. It was like being told that it was time to begin to look at the new things that God is doing and stop thinking about the way things were. It does not mean that we will never be back but this seems to be a time in our lives like that which the disciples had experienced, full of unknowns that require much patience and prayer. It was only after the disciples received the angels’ news that they were able to go back to Jerusalem, call a disciple to replace Judas, and await the coming Holy Spirit. They had no idea what the Holy Spirit would be like or how it would guide them but they had to move on – they felt stronger. It was good news for me as well. I heard to stop looking for how I think that things should look and wait for the Holy Spirit. Some of the most incredible creations come out of chaos. We are in a new day together. Lets watch and listen for surprises from God. Remember that Jesus said he would always be with us. Let us look forward together and be energized for new direction.

Finding God

I’ve been looking for God my whole life. As a priest, I guess you could say I’m now in the “God finding” business.

It’s not that I’m worried God is lost or that somehow God got away from us like an untethered balloon; it’s that I try to look for God in every situation, in every season, and I try to make sense of what I think God is up to in the world.

When covidtide started, one of the first things I thought was “Alright God, what are You up to?” I didn’t ask that question because I thought God caused this illness, but because I knew that God would be up to something in the middle of it all.

When I was younger, I saw God as a Zeus-like figure in the clouds, raining down blessings when the world was good and lighting bolts when the world was bad. But now I see a God who walks with creation, a God who desires relationship over control. This God works with whatever He’s given, even a pandemic.

One of the hardest things for me to learn has been that God doesn’t control everything. “God is love” (1 John 4:7), and control isn’t what love looks like. God could stop every bad or difficult thing from happening in the world, but that would make God a puppet master, not a Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. I know the Triune God is up to something in this season, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes.

But one thing I’ve learned, if nothing else, is that when I stop looking for God in a particular season, somehow God finds me. When I try too hard to make meaning out of a situation, when I try too hard to interject God into where I’m feeling God’s absence, it can end up feeling hollow and inauthentic. It’s only when I step back and let God show up on God’s own terms that I really see where God is.

This week that’s taken the form of me spending time in my new backyard, where Caitlin and I have been encountering all sorts of wildlife. As a friend recently told me, if you just look at nature right now, you would have no idea that there’s a pandemic. Creation is bursting with new life.

This has become embodied for me in our new backyard friend, an adolescent possum who recently struck out on his own. Seeing him scurry across our yard to catch unsuspecting bugs has been a joy for Caitlin and I (and a source of torment for our dog, Izzy). Seeing this little fellow has been a constant reminder for us that life is still happening, even when it feels like other aspects of our life have come to a standstill.

The thought this all gives me is this: what if humanity needed a time like this one? Maybe we needed time to take a breath and pay attention to the world around us. That’s not why this illness happened (because  there's no rhyme or reason to a pandemic) but it’s something that God is doing, in spite of it all.

My invitation to you this week is this: take some time to see what God is up to in the world. Look outside your window, go to a green place if you’re able. See the life that is all around us, even in the smallest of places. And then remember that we are part of a greater Ecosystem where we can always find God, and where God can always find us.


By The Rev. Will Berry
Associate Rector for Young Adults & Young Families

Quiet Time Isn't So Quiet

I used to adore silence. That quiet time of day at dusk when it felt like a shift change of animals and insects, and the coolness sets in. It's my favorite. But I've never been great at quiet time with God. Even when away at a women's retreat, I would find my perfect spot among the trees, open my Bible and journal, have every thing "perfect" to hear God, only to find my mind rolling through my to-do list back home or wondering if it was going to rain. I would press in harder, straining my ears for silence from the world to hear God's voice more clearly. I knew he had something to say if I would just get quiet.

I still like that time with God, alone and focused, but it's often a treasured moment rather than a daily activity. I'm reading the book "Get Out of Your Head" by Jennie Allen, and I just finished the chapter on holding space for silence. Now, she is referring to silence in our minds, taking our thoughts captive, but in preparing for this meditation, it struck me differently. She says, "...we need time with God alone, in the quiet, where we can hear His healing voice. We have a choice between chaos and quiet, between noise and solitude with God, between denial and healing." I completely agree time with God in silence is life-changing, and Jennie goes on to offer facts and truth about how essential that silence with God is to our lives. It's like a beautiful reset.

But finding that time is hard. I have three children ages 14, 3 & 15 months. My workload has gone from part time to nearly full time during this pandemic, and my husband is an essential employee so he isn't home. Life is hard, and surviving is often what my day feels like. Making it to bedtime when the new shift change happens - Mom out, Dad in! - is sometimes all I can do. Holding space for silence? Not a chance. Or so I thought.

I started noticing small moments where my heartbeat would slow, my breathing would deepen, and the world would seem the pause. They were so rare, I barely noticed at first. But the longer this quarantine continues, I find these moments becoming more frequent, even if my attempt at quiet time is still a struggle.

What surprised me most about these moments was that I was never alone. Each one of these moments was with my kids or my husband. Watching my youngest do her excited dance to a kids Zumba video we had viewed for the 10th time that morning. Laying with my son in his bed as he struggled to fall asleep, remembering his difficult early entrance into the world. Seeing my oldest run through the sprinkler with her little sister. A simple rub on my back and a kiss on my cheek from my husband so as not to interrupt my work.


I still enjoy my fire pit at dusk, or a quiet moment reading my Bible or a good book alone. I crave "me time" right now. But I'm learning to find joy in the chaos; I was surprised by the silence I found there too. Sometimes quiet time isn't so quiet. Sometimes it's loud, really loud, and those small moments of silence are a gift. God is still seeking quiet time with me. For now, he has found a way to hold space for silence with me himself. I'm grateful.


Ashley Goodrich
Communications Director