HOPE

"Stand firm against the winter wind, whether of age or illness, struggle or loss, grief or lack, do not bend or break, but be lifted up, held up, made strong by the power of love that surrounds you. You are safe within the walls of hope. You are sheltered by the strength of goodness. It is the hand, the very hand of God, that holds you. It is the will of God that you be brought to quiet harbor once your storm has passed. Do not be anxious or afraid. Do not look into the long night and fear you will find no answer, but look out to the flags flying around you, the host of angels that guard you night and day. Stand firm and let faith find you." -Bishop Steven Charleston, 12/2/2014 

Hope.  A four letter word that sometimes gets lost in the Monday morning quarterbacking that follows tragic events like those in Ferguson, Missouri.  I am certain that other four-lettered words were hurled on both sides of the fence, but hope, was not one of them. 

As an Episcopalian I hold fast to the concept of the “via media,” or middle way.    Our lives are lived on the broad path between two curbs, two borders if you will - the conservative and the progressive.  Some of us choose from time to time to walk on one side of the path or the other.  What we are called to do as a people of faith is to walk in the middle.  To walk in the middle is to walk holding the tensions of two opposing sides in the loving embrace of a thing called hope.  We are called to listen to the side that is opposite of the one we might prefer, to be open to the Spirit asking us to listen to the voices of the “sacred others” in our midst. 

Advent is a time to remember the possibility of hope.

Keith

Jesus is coming!

"Jesus is coming. Look busy!”  We’re familiar with the joke from T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers. But as we enter this season of Advent, we know that it is not a joke. Jesus is coming.  And the last thing we should be doing is trying to look busy!

Advent offers us an invitation to reject busy-ness, to seek out silence, to listen and wait and keep watch.  Advent is an in-between time when we can openly acknowledge the depth of our yearning for God.  We want Jesus to return because we know God’s kingdom will be completely fulfilled when he does. The hints we’ve noticed up to now, and the glimpses we’ve seen, make us long to experience the kingdom of God in all its fullness.  We want to live in a place of perfection where Jesus is visibly present and where there’s no trace of the pain and disappointment and confusion that is so much a part of our life in this world.

As we make the effort to slow down, to pay attention, to watch and wait and listen this Advent season, can we bring to mind occasions when God was noticeably present in our lives?  How did it feel?  And how do those experiences compare to the times when it seems that God is absent? 

Jesus is coming. Instead of looking busy, why not look around? Advent is a time to notice those people and places and situations that are crying out for a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. The brokenness, injustice and suffering of this world can make it seem as though God is absent. In this in-between time of Advent, we can do nothing and simply wait for Jesus to return, or we can bring a message of hope to the world.

Jesus is coming.  Look like it matters!

Kate +

A St. Paul's Thanksgiving 2014 - as Advent begins we pause to give thanks

Advent has arrived, and with it hopefully an opportunity for all of us to take a deep breath and remember all of the gifts we already have - before we worry about what gifts we need to buy!  St. Paul's church is so blessed with people who care for one another, and also are careful to ensure that the things we possess are shared with others.  Here are just a few photos from our Annual Church Thanksgiving meal.  The first photo is of just a few of the baskets prepared to give to our Food Pantry clients.  Those baskets are a wonderful example of the generosity of this community.  The other photos that follow capture just some of the faces from our kitchen and dining hall as we gathered to enjoy one another.

As we begin to light the candles on our Advent wreaths, to eat the chocolates in our Advent calendars, to check off the names on our shopping lists, write cards, decorate and plan and more - let us pause for a moment and savor what is already here - a community of faith filled with love and acceptance.  Perhaps the greatest preparation has already been done.

Some of our Thanksgiving baskets filled and ready to go!

Bob working on a turkey.

Robin with her hands full.

We are thankful for our neighbors - and a chance to love them

from a sermon on October 26 by the Rev. Keith Patterson

Who is my neighbor that I am to love just as much as I love myself?  That is the question that is hard to answer.  I know for myself that there is no easier answer just more questions.  Do I love those who are like me, who have the same education and background?  Can I put myself and all that I love about myself into the place of the stranger that passes me on the street?  How do I love someone else as much as I love myself in a world that advertises “it’s all about me?” 

Sometimes when I am working in the thrift store or the food pantry it is easy to love my neighbor as myself because I really don’t know any of the people.  They are strangers to me.

All of that changes when I know who my neighbor is.  When someone I see on the streets of Concord who comes to ask for food, I know that person also wants a decent meal just like I do.  I am eager to meet the needs of the other because I recognize that the stranger, the other, is me.

Here is a poem written by Jan Richardson that speaks to love being the oldest law and the oldest blessing.  She asks that we become open to it, that we pursue it and that we spend it.

Love Is the Most Ancient Law
A Blessing 

Open to it
and you will know it
how love is
its own blessing
and most ancient
of laws.

Pursue it
entirely
with everything
in you—
your heart
(all)
your soul
(all)
your mind
(all).

Spend it
all—
this love
so generous
this love
that goes out
to each
it finds
this love
that gives itself
in lavish and
unimagined measure
everywhere and
to all—

yourself
not least.[1]

---

[1] Jan Richardson, The Painted Prayerbook, http://paintedprayerbook.com/2014/10/23/love-is-the-most-ancient-law/#.VEvY5-l0zIU

What do we have to be grateful for? Our Outreach Programs and all of the volunteers who “show up”.

At  St. Paul’s, we have many things for which we give thanks.  As the Food Pantry is our Mission of the Month for November, let us start our list with all of those who “show up” to run our Outreach Programs.  We are grateful for the Food Pantry volunteers – the organizers and shoppers, those who work with the clients, those who stock the shelves, those who transport the food, and those who clip the coupons.  And of course we are grateful to all who give food and money to allow us to feed the people to come to us for help.  These people and the work that they do is the face of St. Paul’s to many in our community, and we are very proud of them.

Moving across the hall, we are thankful for our Thrift Shop and clothing bank.  From those who sort and price the items, to those who help people to find what they need, we are so blessed to have this dedicated group of volunteers.  We have clients who come to us in need of clothing for a job interview, or warm clothes after moving here from a warm climate.  We have those who are in need of blankets who are sleeping outside.  They are cared for with dignity and respect.

We are appreciative of the support of the Visiting Nurses who come here for Senior Health and Immunization clinics.  We are also blessed to be the site of a monthly Downtown Health Clinic with staff from Concord Hospital who meet with those who are disconnected from the healthcare system and work to provide medical care as well as counseling.

We are thankful for all who feed the hungry people in our community.  On the third Wednesday of each month, a team from St. Paul’s prepares and serves a meal to clients at the Friendly Kitchen – often approaching one hundred people!  The Friendly Kitchen serves all who arrive at the table, and we are glad to be a part of that work.

Showing up is part of who we are as people of God in the Episcopal Church.  And when we show up for ministry to the people who need us most, lives are transformed – their lives and ours.

Feeding the Hungry: Food Pantry, Mission of the Month for November

We all know the importance of food.  We cannot survive without it.  Here at St. Paul’s our Food Pantry volunteers work at a variety of tasks with one simple goal – to feed people.  And so - to our stockers, shoppers, schedulers, workers who give out the food, those who clip coupons, those who donate food and funds, those who go to the food bank to collect larger shipments of food, and those who clean, fold bags and break down and recycle boxes – to all of them a huge thank you for showing us how to live out the message of Jesus to love and serve others as ourselves.  These people do this work for many different reasons.  Here we have words from two of our volunteers, sharing the reasons they serve in our Food Pantry:

"Being newly retired, I was looking for ways I could give back to the community in time and energy. Volunteering at a food pantry was on my to do list since working professionally with a person who has been involved with and has spoke highly of the St. Paul's Food Pantry for years. The experience has been so gratifying. Clients often share their stories and even though we see people for a short time during a visit it doesn't take long to feel connected to each one. I am in awe of the refugees who come to the U.S. and try to make sense of our language, food, educational system, living arrangements, government and family dynamics. I would like to think I would be that brave but..... I leave the pantry each time renewed with good feelings, especially towards all the people we help, and the huge number of people who work together to make the St. Paul's Food Pantry happen."
- Sandy Davis

"I started in the Food pantry when it was upstairs in the hall about 20 years ago..  I continue to serve because I feel it is something I can do that will help our clients directly--not just through giving money through a third party.  And I like the clients."

- Georgette Daugherty

Do you feel called to help?  Contact the church office for details.

Help to fill the shelves - and feed those who are hungry.

On a Friday morning, the shelves are quite bare....

Five Practices of Saints

by The Rev. Kate Atkinson

A wonderful thing to remember when we celebrate All Saints Day is that the communion of saints doesn’t only inhabit the heavenly kingdom; it’s alive and well right here on earth – right here at St. Paul’s. 

Bishop Rob recently came up with “The Practices of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire.”  It’s a list of five things which define us – as followers of Christ and as saints of God.

The first Practice is, “We show up.”  Showing up is important – it’s crucial; it shows that we’re committed to what we’re doing.

If we make the decision to go to church on a Sunday morning, our participation in that act of worship begins before we even leave our homes. That wonderful combination of dedication and anticipation, of expectancy coupled with certainty, that sense of familiarity and wonder and awe – those are some of the reasons why we get out of bed on a Sunday morning, or drive out in wintry weather, or choose church over some other option that presents itself.

People tell me how missing a service at St. Paul’s has an uncomfortable effect on them all week long. There’s a gap that nothing else can fill, a feeling of incompleteness, of unease, that isn’t resolved until they’re back in this place. Showing up in our faith community, worshipping with our parish family, is essential to our spiritual health. And it’s more than that – because when we

show up here, we’re renewed and nourished for the work we’re called to beyond St. Paul’s – in all the other places where we show up as Christ’s hands and feet and heart and voice in the world.

The second Practice is, “We tell the Story.”  The stories we hear from Scripture each week are only the beginning.  They teach us about the human condition and God’s saving acts, about our place in the world and the many people of faith who came before us.  They show us how easy it is to fall short of God’s ideal for us, and they encourage us to learn from our mistakes and to seek a better way.  Like the disciples, we receive our guidance from a divine teacher; like the apostles, we carry our own stories to others – sharing the wonder of lives transformed by God’s loving presence.

The third Practice brings to mind the sacrament of baptism: “We splash water.” When we baptize babies, children and adults, we splash them with water, symbolically cleansing them from the sin that can hold them back from a full relationship with God, and affirming God’s unfailing desire to forgive and renew us when we fall back into sinful ways. 

As we welcome the newly baptized into our church family, the water we splash on them is also a reminder of the source of life – the source that feeds us all and makes it possible for us to be Christ’s servants in hard places and painful situations. Baptism into the communion of saints assures us of eternal life but it doesn’t stop us engaging fully with the world we live in now, knowing that we’re strengthened by the Holy Spirit whose seal is on our head and our heart.

The fourth Practice is, “We share food”.  When we gather around the altar to share God’s holy meal, we receive sustenance unlike anything we consume at other times.  But the food we share at coffee hour or fellowship potluck or celebration meals – that too energizes us in a special way.  These are all ingredients of fellowship and community, calling to mind the gathering of the earliest Christians who shared everything they had and made sure that no one among them went hungry.

We share food with others too – with the clients we serve in the Friendly Kitchen, or in our Food pantry, or through our mission with Jamaica and other needy places in the world.  Our call to be a community of faith helps us to see that we have much more than we need.  As we recognize God’s abundance in our lives, we respond by sharing that abundance, and creating a banquet that anyone can attend.

The last of the five Practices isn’t something we do; it’s something God does.  “God surprises.” In the deep joy that fills us as we worship together; in the heartbreaking yet wondrous privilege of sharing another’s pain; in a life transformed because of a conversation or an invitation; in a new congregation growing from a tiny seed: God breaks into the life of saints like us, giving us tastes of the life that’s still to come.

The five practices link us to all the saints who’ve gone before us and all those who will come after us, as well as those who are with us now. As we continue to show up, to tell our stories, to splash water, and to share food, we are doing the work and living the life of saints by being true to our faith. But perhaps the most important thing of all about saints that we live our lives knowing that God surprises – and we notice it when God does!