A Message From Stephen 2-11-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

I'm writing this note on Thursday afternoon, sitting outside on my deck in a t-shirt because it's 75 degrees. In February. I guess this is climate change. I long for the days when the weather did what we expected it to do. Much of life is like that lately. I also long for the pre-covid days which I took for granted, when we could plan vacations, and family activities, and elective surgeries a few months out, without the threat of a variant washing everything away. Amidst these uncertain times I long for something solid to cling to.

The Psalms talk all about turning to God in times of uncertainty and danger:

• The Lord is my rock, my fortress

• The Lord is a stronghold

• O Lord, make me lie down in safety

• On God rests my deliverance

• But you, O Lord, are a shield around me

• You, O Lord, will protect us

• Etc, etc, etc...

That language is beautiful, but it can also feel like pablum. Rather than comforting words, I want something more certain. That's the challenge inherent in faith: We want certainty and comfort in a fundamentally uncertain and uncomforting world. If we can't have faith in certainty, what can we have?

We can have each other. I am quite convinced that we'll learn more about God's presence from each other than we ever could from books of theology. In one another we can find some comfort, some hope and also some challenge. The last few years have shown us that there's not too much we can count on in this life, but that we can count on our community to help carry us through this uncertainty. We can count on our community to walk alongside of us through the valley of the shadow of death, as Psalm 23 puts it. All together, we make a body, a body that can walk through climate change, Covid and all of the other challenges of this life.

-Stephen

A Message from Stephen: 2-4-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

Last weekend our newly constituted vestry gathered for an abbreviated retreat. Due to Covid concerns we stayed in Alameda with our facilitator. On Saturday we explored how we can live further into our vision statement to gather, transform and engage people in our community. We talked about the way a church exists to serve people who don't yet go there. We ended the day by articulating three goals which the vestry will work in 2022:

1. Develop and implement a process to better welcome newcomers during coffee hour.

2. Create a process to help incorporate newcomers into small groups within Christ Church.

3. Restructure how we gather volunteers and food for coffee hour.

The vestry will work on the nuts and bolts of these goals. But because they're about opening up our community to newcomers, we'll need help from all of you to make a cultural change at Christ Church. That's no small thing. We say "All are welcome," but we could do more to meet people where they are. This is the case for the entire Episcopal Church.

Please pray for our vestry as we continue our work together. Please pray for our church as we strive to live into Jesus' example. And please pray for our wider community.

Peace,
Stephen

A Message from Stephen: 1-21-22

Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

On Sunday we'll gather for Christ Church's 152nd annual meeting. Every generation of Christ Church has added a chapter to the long story of our community. Here in the third decade of the 21st century, we're adding our own. Each of the chapters of the story of Christ Church is different because the challenges facing every generation are different: World wars, the influenza of 1919, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, disco, September 11, and now Covid, among so many other things. One common theme in these chapters is the idea that our church is a collection of individuals who try to work together as one body. We all have different talents and needs and we share those with each other to create a body that is greater than the sum of its parts. This has been especially true in the last couple of years as we've navigated Covid 19. We've looked to each other for emotional support and prayers, meals, electronic community, and book discussions. We've worked together to feed hungry people, offer showers, create a homeless shelter and to try to make sense of public health, race, politics and anxiety. Working with a bunch of different people is hard. We have different temperaments, emotional needs and pet peeves. But sometimes, when we're patient with each other and when we listen to each other, when we make room for the Holy Spirit to cast her magic, it works.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." -1 Corinthians 12:12

As we turn towards 2022, and hopefully as the omicron variant recedes, let's continue working together to love our neighbors. Let's listen to each other, offer one another patience and grace, and try to follow Jesus' example. May God continue to bless Christ Church, and may we share God's blessing with the world around us.

A Message from Stephen: 1-14-22

My Dear Sisters and Brothers at Christ Church,

This afternoon I hung a banner in front of our church which says, "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's prophetic words remain relevant in our polarized nation. On politics, public health, race, policing, voting rights, human rights and so many other things, we Americans are divided. Naturally, we resent or dislike people whose views oppose ours on these important issues. Sometimes we are even tempted to hate them, especially if our adversaries employ hatred themselves. But hatred, as Martin Luther King pointed out, is a poor tactic for social change. While it may feel satisfying, it tends to drive opponents further apart, while tightening tribal

King also pointed out that hatred corrodes one's own soul. It turns a person into a reflection of the thing they hate. Some Buddhists put it this way: "Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." Love like this is hard work. It counters our evolutionary development and is totally embarrassing on social media. But hatred isn't working out very well for our country. This week as we recall the example which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King set for us, let's remember that being a disciple of Jesus is really hard work. But that kind of love may save our souls and preserve our nation.

Hang in there, everybody.