May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all
our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Happy New
Year!
Today we
start a new year in the church calendar.
We start Advent. But what is
Advent all about.
Advent
is a time of preparation. Advent is a
time for looking within ourselves and finding a new way forward. It is a time for new beginnings. It is a time to challenge ourselves, to push
ourselves, to make demands of ourselves which may not be comfortable or easy.
Each year at Advent, we are called to look deeply at our
traditions and practices as members of the Christian family. What does it mean to be Christians in a world
that is no longer dominated by those of our faith?
We are called
to look as faithful people who belong to the worldwide Anglican Church. We are part of a denomination that spreads
around the world. We are a denomination
that is currently divided against itself on many issues. …
We are
called to look as part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. We are part of a diocese that is spread wide
over two provinces. We have to travel
nearly six hours to visit our cathedral and close to two hours to visit our
nearest neighbours within the diocese, Sydney Mines or North Sydney. What does it mean to be part of a family whom
we almost never see?
We are
called to look as people seeking to improve our own community here North of
Smokey. We are asked to look at what we
do and decide whether or not it serves us and those who look to us and to the
church for care. What do we have to
offer to the community? And what should
we be asking from the community in return?
During Advent
we explore the reasons that we come to church.
We ask what it is that God is doing in our lives and how we are called
to respond. We are called to look at
what we are doing well and what we could do better. We are called to explore our mission in this
place and what resources we have to accomplish that mission.
In the time I have been here, I have seen some great
things. I have seen two churches grow
together in their ministry. I have seen
a willingness to work together towards a future as a united parish. I have seen congregations who have come from
talking about needing to attract more people, to congregations that have looked
at ways to be more welcoming to those who do come, and finally to a parish that
is ready to go out and bring news of its ministry directly to those in the
community who are affected and ask them if there is more that you could
do. I am so proud of where we have come together.
There is still work to be done. I ask you to think this Advent about what it
means to be a people who celebrate God’s blessing in our personal lives and in
our life as a church.
I ask
you to think about what it means to be truly welcoming to the point where it is
more important for someone to feel welcome than for you to feel comfortable
yourself.
I ask
you to think about how having someone share their experience of God’s blessing
in their lives could possibly take away from anything that we do together in
church in this parish.
And so I
ask you to join me this Advent in prayer.
I pray that God will help us all during this Advent to hear his call in
our lives. I pray that God will send his
spirit upon us so that we may heal the hurts that we have caused and be healed
of those hurts that we have received. I
pray that God will open our eyes so that we can see clearly the effects that
our actions have upon ourselves, upon those around us, and upon our community. I pray that we can become a people who look
for God’s blessings in our lives and in the lives of those around us and that
we can celebrate those blessings as a gift to us all. And most of all, I pray that all can feel
welcome here, surrounded by our love and the love of God. Amen.
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