We have entered into the Season After The Epiphany (SATE for short). During this time we celebrate God's identity continually being revealed to us in the person of Jesus. In the attached PDF I offer you a "PPP loan" of sorts. The PPP in this instance stands for Poem, Pic, and Prayer! When traced back to the Middle English, 'loan' can mean "a gift
or reward from a superior, a gift of God". May you find this PPP loan a helpful way to kick off this season of revelation and discovery!
There’s nothing magic about January 1, but we can imbue this new start with meaning. How will you tend to your spiritual needs this year?
Once you decide, be specific with your intention. Be doubly specific about what you’ll do when you inevitably fall down.
Most important: remember why you’re making this resolution. The idea is not to look like a “better Christian” (whatever that would mean!), or check a box on a list, or be perfect. Get in touch with your desire to deepen your relationship with Christ, then ask God for guidance about how to do so.
Loving for our neighbors is a spiritual practice (John 21:15), as is caring for God’s creation (Genesis 2:15). Consider committing to a new way of feeding Jesus’ lambs:
To care for God’s creation, pledge to minimize your plastic consumption, or take steps to reduce your carbon footprint.
Jesus teaches us to care for people society forgets (Matthew 25:31-46). Is there somewhere you can volunteer, or someone who needs some of your income more than you do?
In Christ, there is no race, no gender (Galatians 3:26-28), but we’re shackled by the prejudices our world holds up as truth. How will you commit to dismantling the racism (and homophobia, sexism, ableism, ageism, etc.) that our culture has inculcated in us?
The Bible is a library of writing about the relationship between God and God’s people—it’s a book about you. How much of it have you read? Consider committing to reading the whole Bible this year; that may sound like a lot, but some people do it annually! If that’s too much, make a commitment that feels life-giving.
I recommend The Bible Challenge, a book by a priest in our diocese, the Rev. Marek Zabriskie. It helps you read the Bible in a year, with meditations by spiritual leaders and biblical scholars.
Is your prayer life still feeding you? Or maybe you’re starting from scratch. Prayer is the way we deepen our relationship with God. Here are a couple places to start.
The Daily Office is one of the best parts of our Episcopal heritage. Start your day with Morning Prayer or take a quick prayer break at lunchtime with Noonday Prayer. Here’s a tutorial to get started. (If you need the Book of Common Prayer, get in touch with us to “adopt a prayer book” during COVID.)
Contemplative prayer is the practice of sitting comfortably in God’s presence. I recommend Cynthia Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, or this short guide.
The Ignatian examen keeps us mindful of God’s presence in our daily life. It’s a simple but powerful practice. Here's a getting started guide.
The rule of life comes from monastic communities, wherein people commit to live in a particular way. Don’t think of it as “rules” like “no running in the hallway.” Instead, think of the Latin word regula (a ruler). What is the ruler by which you can measure your life? I can’t think of a better ruler than a close relationship with God.
I recommend the Society of St. John the Evangelist’s Growing a Rule of Life. It’s a free six-week set of reflections and activities to help you discern and build your rule of life.
It’s a good thing I was on “mute,” because I couldn’t stop laughing.
The first video we recorded for the digital Christmas pageant was Zach, the sheep. He was our only human-acting-as-animal this year, and boy did he pull his weight. On cue, he baa’d nonstop for several minutes.
There was a real artistry about it. He varied his pitches and vowel sounds, trying out different sheep voices. Luckily, my muted laughing didn’t impede Zach’s performance.
You never know what you’re going to get with Christmas pageants. Kids are delightfully unpredictable. And, more importantly, they have a way of getting to the heart of a narrative. It makes even the same story, the same script, the same words, exciting all over again, every year.
We had to do things differently this year, to keep everyone safe. I probably spent way too much time filming and then editing this video. But the process was such a delight; the time I was working on it flew by.
The kids did an amazing job of telling the story of the birth of our Savior. Each of the little ones is cuter than the last, and the older ones ably provided the storytelling structure. Parents wrestled with costumes and Zoom backgrounds, and I battled my video editing program and YouTube closed captions. Jenn conscripted 15 kids into service during a busy time, and Matt made the hymns happen against all odds.
Together, we told the story of Christmas—not only in the words of the video but in its very spirit: Jesus is present with us, always, and especially when we are gathered together in his name. I feel God’s presence when I watch this video.
Every time Luke walks on camera, holding Nellie the guinea pig, I can’t help but smile. Were there guinea pigs in the stable with Jesus and the shepherds? Almost certainly not. But were there smiles at the silliness of children and the joy of Jesus’ birth? There must've been. Imagine the joy of that night! May this pageant bring you Christmas cheer and the deep sense of God’s presence, now and always.
