By

Dear Friends,
Beginning next week, I will be on vacation until August 2nd. You will have a variety of supply clergy (maybe a few long-time friends!) for Sunday, and information and pastoral needs can be directed to the Wardens Chris Leonardo and Sasha Killewald. I hope you are all likewise renewing and refreshing yourselves!

Jesus frequently modeled for his disciples that rest and renewal were essentials to faith. Clergy traditionally resist taking all their vacation (i know I did up until a few years ago!) but there are a number of reasons why its important for all of us to take time off from even work we love for rest and renewal.

1. For Ourselves: All humans need time off from cares or concerns. even when we love our work dearly, having a time to rest from thinking about or thinking through concerns gives us time to turn our thoughts to thinking about God.

2. For our Families: Today’s families have less time together than they ever have; both adults and children spend less time simply checking in with one another, playing or listening to one another. We all know that relationships take work, and we all need the time to reconnect with our loved ones.

3. For God: Spending time in prayer and listening to God is essential for our spiritual health! Just like our relationships with our human loved ones, the Holy One needs our time and attention as well.
Wishing you all rest, renewal and refreshment!

“The Peace Of Wild Things”
by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

May this summer help us all “rest in the grace”!

Rev. Rebecca Black
Interim

What is a Rector? is a question I hear often, both from members of a parish and from outsiders. Everyone has met a Rector, and most people have some ideas. I thought we might take a deep dive into the question together as we wait for a new Rector for Christ Church to be named.

Here’s the definition from the Episcopal Church Dictionary:
Rector: The priest in charge of a parish. Typically, a rector is the priest in charge of a self-supporting parish, and a vicar is the priest in charge of a supported mission. The rector is the ecclesiastical authority of the parish. The term is derived from the Latin for “rule.” The rector has authority and responsibility for worship and the spiritual jurisdiction of the parish, subject to the rubrics of the BCP, the constitution and canons of the church, and the pastoral direction of the bishop. The rector is responsible for selection of all assistant clergy, and they serve at the discretion of the rector. The church and parish buildings and furnishings are under the rector’s control. The rector or a member of the vestry designated by the rector presides at all vestry meetings.

Well, that tells us a little, but not a whole lot. We can layer in some of the Episcopal Church Constitution and Canons:

“…The Rector, or such other member of the vestry designated by the Rector, shall preside in all the meetings of the Vestry.” [I.14.3];
“…The Member of the Clergy shall have final authority in the administration of matters pertaining to music. In fulfilling this responsibility the Member of the Clergy shall seek assistance from persons skilled in music. Together they shall see that music is appropriate to the context in which it is used.” [II.5]
“The Rector shall have full authority and responsibility for the conduct of the worship and the spiritual jurisdiction of the Parish, subject to the Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, the Constitution and Canons of this Church, and the pastoral direction of the Bishop.” [III.9.5(a.1)];
“…The Rector shall at all times be entitled to the use and control of the Church and Parish buildings…and to access to all records and registers maintained by or on behalf of the congregation.” [III.9.5 (a.2)];
Still not a very complete picture, is it?

Here is a sentence from the Contract “Covenant” each Rector signs with their church:
“The relationship between a Rector and a Vestry (on behalf of or as proxy for a parish) is unique, and it evolves within a larger covenant of mutual trust and ministry to each other.”

Mutual trust and ministry with each other is the unique character or charisma of the ministry of Rector.

It isn’t a job description as much as it is a setting in which mutual ministry will arise.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to explore with you some of the aspects of a Rector’s work — bearibng in mind that each is unique and unfolds in a unique setting.

Our Diocese does not provide a template for a Rector’s job description–largely because , as one of the oldest Diocese in the Episcopal Church, many Rector’s positions have evolved and changed over time.
The parish profile is a good place to begin looking at the scope and nature of the work: click here
I have also edited a sample job description from the Episcopal Diocese of South Florida to make it more germane to our Diocese: click here.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have when you see me on Sunday!

from The Rev. Rebecca Black, Interim

Dear Friends,

Liturgy in Greek means the work for the people, or work done with the people. As the people of God, the liturgy is the work we do with one another in order to worship and praise God. The Eucharist is intended to be a participatory experience, with parts of the service executed or led by the lay people of the Church.

Specific roles in the liturgy are designated in varying ways.
Roles scheduled through the Worship Leaders Google Group:

• Lay Eucharistic Ministers help serve at the altar and present the chalice of wine to service participants
• Readers read Scripture lessons and lead the Psalm
• Prayer Leaders lead the Prayers of the People
• Greeters greet people at the door, hand out bulletins, identify and greet newcomers and generally make sure everyone coming in to worship has what they need
• Sound Managers set up and monitor the sound system during the service
• Coffee Hour hosts set up coffee and food, or can sign up to bring additional food

If you are interested in serving in one of these roles (or hosting or helping with Coffee Hour, please contact Susmarine@gmail.com or the office@christchurchealtham.org

Other roles in the liturgy are filled at the time of the service. As you walk into the church, you may notice a wrought iron ”tree ” holding tags on lanyards. Each tag corresponds to an open role in the liturgy and directions on how to fulfill that role are on the back of the tag. They are:

• Intercessors (3 roles to fill) read from the congregation the names of those for whom we are praying
• Ushers collect the peoples’ financial offering, assist people in coming up to the rail for Communion, count all the people present at the service, and generally help with the congregations’ needs
• Oblationers carry the elements of bread and wine to the altar as an offering

Any of these roles can be filled by anyone, adult, youth or child, and all people are encouraged to participate in our work of worship together by trying on a new role

In the name of Christ,
Rev. Rebecca

Physical Health: How Seniors Can Benefit from Church by Jason Lewis at strongwell.org –

When it comes to improving the health of the elderly, there are very few weekly activities that can rival the transformative act of attending church. It turns out that the benefits of attending church are multitudinous – and not all of them have to do with spirituality. There are plenty of non-religious reasons why attending church is beneficial to seniors, and how it can improve their health in tangible ways.

Naturally, the most obvious reason for going to church is to worship, to celebrate a tenet of your faith. But church, unlike many other group activities or communities, provides an incredible opportunity for seniors, especially those who are feeling depressed or lonely, and makes for a much more positive alternative than succumbing to unhealthy coping mechanisms, like substance abuse, for dealing with their problems. Here have a few other ways seniors can benefit from church: Community – Church is the number one place where the elderly find community. Without it, many seniors would face isolation and loneliness. Churches can offer seniors a fully-formed social network, 100 percent ready and willing to take them in and make them a part of the family.

“As indicated by religious support systems, churches often foster satisfying social networks among seniors. A study, published in the journal American Sociological Review, showed that 28 percent of individuals who attended a religious ceremony every week were ‘extremely satisfied’ with their lives, as opposed to the less than 20 percent of people who did not attend services. In addition to the benefit of elevated mood, seniors may also find that a religious community helps them make new friends and stay social after they move to a senior living community,” says Chelsea Jewish.

Isolation is a leading cause of depression – especially in the elderly. Depression is known to have major negative health effects, and can even lead to addiction. Being a part of a community and having a constant support system can help seniors stave off depression.

Watchful eyes – By joining a church community, you’re immediately introducing yourself to dozens and dozens of people who, as a main tenet of their faith, care about your well being. Having people to keep watchful eyes on seniors as they age is crucial. If a senior is beginning to decline – either cognitively or physical – it’s more likely to be caught early and addressed if they are among many peers. Having a church family helps to keep a constant check on the health of the elderly. And if something happens – an illness or an injury – it helps to have people who will aid in the recovery.

Forced mobility – Attending church has been shown to be solid exercise for the mind. Spirituality triggers brain activity that in turn serves to reduce stress and anxiety, regulate blood pressure, and more. Many of these positive health benefits are tied to religiosity and prayer.

For many seniors with disabilities, mobility is an issue. Some fall into the routine of simply making their way around the house, exerting themselves as little as possible. But church is a routine – a scheduled activity that gets seniors up and out of the house. This can do wonders not only for them physically, but mentally as well.

Whether they go to meet with friends, to enjoy the music, or to simply sit in contemplation – there are plenty of health-related reasons why seniors can benefit from attending church.

Dear friends,
In some homes by now the tree has been taken down, perhaps decorations put away. Stores are advertising year-end sales. Some people have already bought presents and cards for next year at significant savings. In the church it is still Christmas. We have 12 precious days to focus on the wonder of God’s love and what it means.

Although many will be glad to see the old year pass away, especially with its turmoil, terror, and upheaval, we can greet the New Year with something more than relief. We can with joy celebrate what we asked for in Advent: Emmanuel—God with us!

This is what the Christ did for us at Christmas. The Word, the Creator at the beginning of time, became flesh and lived among us. He placed his bed among our beds. He ate, and slept, got thirsty and tired. He made friends and lost them. He was admired, he was reviled, he was betrayed. Those who were there, those who saw him, touched him and were in turn touched by him and restored to life. Whatever we are or will be, we have always been the people whom God loved.

On the Mystery of the Incarnation

It’s when we face for a moment
the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know
the taint in our own selves, that awe
cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart:
not to a flower, not to a dolphin,
to no innocent form
but to this creature vainly sure
it and no other is god-like, God
(out of compassion for our ugly
failure to evolve) entrusts,
as guest, as brother,
the Word.

–Denise Levertov

Dear Christ Church Friends,
We are all familiar with what is called “the Serenity Prayer”

God grant me the serenity,
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

Written by Reinhold Niehbur, an American theologian and ethicist, the Serenity Prayer can be found on many greeting cards and wall hangings. But did you know that there is more to the prayer? The prayer ends with these lines:

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.

Powerful, isn’t it? We live in a world that once again feels sinful and with daily attacks on our ability to feel safe–whether it be financially, socially, emotionally or physically. Niehbur’s prayer was written as a sort of protest to utopian thinking. Rather than bemoaning that the world wasn’t perfect, Niehbur preached a theology of realism–this is how things are. And a theology of tough hopefulness — accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.

Although we do not need to accept all things as Niehbur did, knowing that we have a God who asks us only to trust and then, from that trust, be willing to forge on, is a comforting thought.

May God grant us all a form of serenity as we await the coming of Christ, to accept those things we cannot change, and to have the will, courage and wisdom to work and fight for those things we can change in the world about us.

Blessings and love,
Rev Rebecca+

Dear Christ Church Friends,
The pre-Christmas craziness has begun again.
As Christians, and especially as Episcopalians, we know that these 4 weeks leading up to Christmas are a different season–the season of Advent. But somehow, the culture around us has conflated “Advent season” with “Christmas shopping season” and it has diminished the richness of both our celebration of Advent AND of Christmas.

It wasn’t always so —
The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus,meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia. Scholars believe that during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany, the celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus, his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and his first miracle at Cana. During this season of preparation, Cristians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas. By the 6th century, however, Roman Christians had tied Advent to the coming of Christ. But the “coming” they had in mind was not Christ’s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but his second coming in the clouds as the judge of the world. It was not until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was explicitly linked to Christ’s first coming at Christmas. — Justin Holcomb

Advent is a time of preparation, of being ready for Christ’s coming.It is a time of holding in tension both the joy of Christmas — that God became flesh and lived among us– and the anticipation of the parousia, when Christ will come again.

In that spirit of preparation, I invite you to begin using one of the resources for daily reflection available to us — The Society of Saint John the Evangelists’s Daily “Brother, Give us a Word” By subscribing (click here) you receive a daily sentence to reflect on.

May your Advent be peaceful and rich,

Blessings and love,
Rev Rebecca+

Dear Christ Church Friends,
Giving thanks to God is our daily work. Sometimes it is easy to be grateful, and sometimes it is very hard. As always, Mary Oliver says it best.

The Gift by Mary Oliver

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.
Earth and heaven both are still watching
though time is draining from the clock
and your walk, that was confident and quick,
has become slow,

So, be slow if you must, but let
the heart still play its part.
Love still as once you loved, deeply
and without patience, let God and the world
know you are grateful.
That the gift has been given.

The gift has been given. Alleluia!

Blessings and love,
Rev Rebecca+

Dear Christ Church Friends,
This coming Sunday, we will fill out and bless pledge cards to reflect back the generous gifts God has given us. One of the many themes of Christian life is showing God our gratitude. What is our mission and purpose is a question answered by our Catechism in this way– “To reconcile all people to God and to one another.”

I like to think that the poet Mary Oliver answered the same question with the same answer, just said in a different way in this poem.

Messenger
by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren,
to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

Tell over and over again, friends, how it is we live forever. May we show our gratitude to God in all our words, in all our actions, and in how we live our lives.

Blessings and love,
Rev Rebecca+

Dear Christ Church Friends,
A Word from The Rev. Sarah K. Fisher
Imagining the Promised Land

The Israelites knew what it meant to journey from scarcity to abundance. They did it time and time again. They fled by night, trusting God would guide them and provide for them. Who could have imagined that their journey to liberation would include the sea itself parting and their ability to walk through as though it were dry land? As they traveled through the wilderness, God joined them, feeding them manna, enough for the day, providing them fire by night, and cloud by day. It was not an easy journey, and at times, the Israelites stumbled and complained along the way. Still, God was with them, always, as they moved from a place of bondage to a place of freedom and abundant life.

At its heart, stewardship is an invitation to journey into God’s abundance. And for most of us, the journey to generosity is just that — a journey. It is human nature to fear not having enough. Yet God’s story and our story collide and we experience something different. God invites us to taste and see what God is doing in our lives and to consider what God is entrusting to our care. In journeying to generosity, we are invited to become co-creators with God. When we move away from scarcity and self, we can begin to focus on what God has entrusted to us; we can see more fully how God is acting in our lives and in our world. In a culture that values our own enlightened self-interest over the needs of others, it is not always an easy journey, yet the gifts that await us when we truly step into community and into deep relationship with God are abundant.

All of us are called to be stewards. We are stewards of God’s creation, stewards of our families, stewards of money, stewards of time, stewards of our churches, and stewards of the faith that has been handed down to us, the faith that so many generations before us have stewarded. As we travel with God, we begin to recognize those places in our lives where God is calling us, as God called the Israelites, to step forth in faith into new and unknown places. It can feel risky to let go of the familiar, the safe, the known. And yet, when we let go, when we invite God more fully into our lives, the journey cannot help but be one that transforms us, taking us out of our places of bondage, into new, generous and abundant life.

For reflection…
• Where do you sense God inviting you to go and explore? Where do you need to be attentive to God’s invitation?
• What are you stewarding in your life? Where do you see God in your stewardship?
• How do you think the Israelites imagined the Promised Land as they were traveling? As you journey, how do you imagine the Promised Land?

Blessings and love,
Rev Rebecca+