Episcopal Church of St. Anne

Dear Friends in Christ,

I was present in Mrs. Wilcox’s kindergarten class for the Weekly Reader lesson on the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.  Somehow his legacy was reduced to a lesson about being calm, reading books and following the rules.  

I would say it’s important to know why it is important to stay calm and whose rules we are supposed to be following.  

Every Sunday we reaffirm that the rules that we are to follow are God’s rules and that a life of peace and tranquility will be ours if we put our lives and anxieties in God’s hands.  Knowing this and living this we can be calm in face of an amazing number of affronts to our dignity and way of life.

Here is a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer:

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows
lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is
hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.
Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest,
and peace at the last. Amen.

(sounds a little like a hobbit prayer – but it is a good one nonetheless)

Our Valentine’s Dinner is only 3 weeks away.  We will have tickets available next week.  AND you will be hearing next week from me about all the ways you can help out.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Dear Friends in Christ

Our stewardship and budgeting seasons brought good news for both churches.  Giving is up.  We have enough money to meet our expenses.  The actual details will be available at our annual meetings: Zion on Sunday, January 25 St Anne’s, February 1.  Both meetings are after church.  Please plan to attend.  Bring your questions.  Let’s celebrate the hard work we have all done to get where we are.

Most of you know I am a night owl.  Some of you share my affliction.  I found this prayer by Henri Nouwen that speaks to the end of a day when you haven’t had enough sleep the night before:

O Lord… You know me more deeply and fully than I know myself. You love me with a greater love than I can love myself. You even offer me more than I can desire… Take my tired body, my confused mind, and my restless soul into your arms and give me rest, simple quiet rest.     Amen

Maybe you can pray it too.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Dear Friends in Christ,

 This Sunday we observe two different revelations of God.  

At Zion, the Baby Jesus is acknowledged as a gift from God by three wisemen who come from the East to pay him homage.

At St Anne’s, the clouds separate and a light from heaven comes down and rests on Jesus. A voice declares, This is my son. Listen to him.

Jesus stood in line to be baptized.  He did not jump the line.  He did not ask for or receive special treatment.  Jesus went out into the desert to find John and be baptized by John so that he could be one with his people’s yearning for a better world for themselves and their children.  

The people standing in line with Jesus had no idea who Jesus was until the heavens let them know.

When Jesus was baptized by his cousin John, Jesus was not holding a checklist of things he had to accomplish before God would acknowledge him as his own.

Cold and wet, disoriented by his dip into the River Jordan, Jesus was at his most vulnerable.  He was at his most human when the heavens opened and God declared him to be God’s son.

The light shone, not just on Jesus, but also on the crowd that surrounded him.  God’s message on that day was not only about who Jesus is, but who God wants to be in our lives:  A God who acknowledges our desire to be better and more holy and loves us into fulfilling that desire.  A God who illumines the world that we live in and wants to help us find our way in that world.  A God who does not observe us from some safe place in God’s heaven,  but joins us when we stand in line for what we need. 

God loves us even when we are not patiently standing in line.  God loves us when we are angry, when we are confused, when we are selfish.  For us, God sent his son.

Today, the New York Times published a snippet of Renee Good’s writings:

The Bible and Qur’an and Bhagavad Gita are sliding long hairs behind my ear like mom used to & exhaling from their mouths ‘make room for wonder’ —

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Dear Friends in Christ,

The season of Christmas and Christmas carols is coming to an end.  We have prayed fervently that the Spirit of Christmas might come to dwell in our hearts.  Now, as we look forward to the season of Epiphany, we begin to wonder how our lives are changed when the Spirit of the Christ child actually does come to dwell in our hearts.

Week after week, we will encounter Gospel stories of how God’s presence in our lives changes things.  It begins with the star that the wisemen follow to Bethlehem.  That star continues to shine even into our present day.  To quote (again) the TENS website:

Light for the world looks like light on linoleum floors-school corridors, clinic halls, kitchens at midnight when the shift ends. During this Christmas season, celebrate the star of Bethlehem moving, and then take its direction seriously. 

J. Davey Gerhard suggests that during this season we

celebrate the star of Bethlehem moving and then take its direction seriously.

He suggests a prayer:

Receive joy, and then pour it out. It is not our birthday; it is our sending day. May Jesus guide you by a faithful light, from comfort to compassion; from sentiment to service. As you go, may the peace of Jesus Christ guard your heart, as the love of God widens your circle of connection. And may the Holy Spirit keep you moving until every child rests in safety and every table makes room. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Spirit     Amen

And then he adds

Breathe in the Christmas carol; breathe out with a spirit of welcome for others. Remember, you are blessed-on purpose, so you can be a blessing for others.

Amen!  Amen!

Dear Friends in Christ,

Our stormy weather is bringing its own kind of beauty to my garden.  The peach trees have lost their leaves.  The camellia bushes are thinking about showing us their blossoms. (The one beside the side door of the church is in full bloom with beautiful pink flowers.). The strawberries were beginning to fruit – but have now given up.  The plants are now a delightful mix of yellow, brown and green leaves.

We are down to one chicken (You don’t really want to know.).  She has taken objection to the weather and is laying her eggs as far under her house as she can manage.  At every opportunity she is letting us know that things are not to her liking.

During the month of December, all four of our churches celebrated Advent and Christmas in their own ways.  We also collaborated on some spectacular events: Thanksgiving Food Giveaway, Lessons and Carols, Special Music and Coffee Hour provided by the Tongan Church when Bishop David came to visit for the last time, Las Posadas, the Live Nativity.

It is the nature of Christmas, that even when we are doing all that we can do, we wonder if we need a wee bit of forgiveness for those things which we have done, and those things we have left undone.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas have set the stage for the quieter revelations of Epiphany.  Epiphany begins January 10. 

If you have not signed up and would like to attend our Icon Painting and Weaving Workshop on Monday and Tuesday: December 29 & 30 from 9 am to 12 pm, please give me a call (508-558-6849). 

The Zion Chamber Music Orchestra concerts are early this year.  The first one is January 4.  You can buy your tickets on the Zion Lutheran Church Website or during office hours at Zion.

On Valentines Day: Saturday, February 14, the Tongan Church, the Tongan Church Youth Group and the Church of St Anne’s will be offering a dinner @ St Anne’s to raise funds for Grandma’s Garden.  Stay tuned for details.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Dear Friends in Christ,

This evening, we had a multi-church celebration of the Advent and Christmas Seasons.  We sang.  We prayed.  We listened to the Word of God.  We were in St Anne’s parish hall.  We went to people’s houses.  Good food.  Good fellowship.  A great affirmation of the fact that when we come together in Christ, we truly become the body of Christ.  Thank you to everyone who shared their homes, prepared the food, set up and cleaned up.

Pictures of the festivities are attached.

Tomorrow, December 20 @ Zion, we have a Live Nativity with music and a petting zoo.

Wednesday,  December 24 we have Christmas Eve services at St Anne’s and Zion

Thursday, December 25, we have a simple Eucharist at Zion at 11 am.

Monday & Tuesday, December 29 & 30 we have an icon painting and weaving workshop at St Anne’s (9 am – 12 pm). This is for teenagers and adults.  Call your church office to sign up.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Father Christian is now at the Brookside Care Center; 1221 Rose Marie Lane

Dear Friends in Christ,

God encourage us in this reading from Isaiah:

Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come.       Isaiah 35:3,4

J Davey Gerhard the author of an Advent reflection written for the TENS newsletter reflects on this passage:

Here is one of Scripture’s most tender invitations: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.” Advent does not ask us to pretend. It does not require us to be strong. Instead, it shows us God turning toward the vulnerable – in ourselves, in each other… and teaching us to do the same. …. Hands weaken under strain; knees tremble under worry. In times of illness, depression, grief, or exhaustion, strength ebbs slowly. And Isaiah’s response is pastoral: not “be strong,” but “let us help steady you until strength returns.”

He continues

This is the heart of Advent:

a God who strengthens rather than shames;
a God who brings renewal where we imagined only desolation;
a God who leads us home by joy, not coercion.

The way God prepares for us as God leads us home is one where:

Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

This Advent, even as the season rushes swiftly by, we are invited to follow God along God’s way all the way to the manger where we will rest in God’s glory as we sing Christmas hymns and hear once again the story of how God came into the world to be our companion and guide.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Father Christian continues to improve.  He is still at Dameron and welcomes visitors.

Dear Friends in Christ,

As the dark descends at 4:30 in the afternoon and the morning fog makes it difficult to get out of bed, I am grateful for all the Christmas lights that push back the gloom.

Last Tuesday evening, we had a beautiful Advent Event at St Anne’s.  A dinner of soup and bread was followed by a concert by candlelight.  Rhonda, Kimberly and Liz performed music inspired by the writings of the medieval abbess, Hildegard de Bingen.  This music was interspersed with Advent hymns and Taize chants.  We were all on our way home by 8:15.

Our Mystical Voices Trio will be performing one more time next Tuesday (December 9).  As we did last time, we will precede the concert with a meal of soup (tomato) and bread. 

Please try to come.  You will be blessed and inspired. 

Here is a prayer from the Tens Stewardship Program:

Unexpected Christ, who was laid where animals feed, draw near to families whose tables are uncertain. When programs wobble and benefits pause, please cause us to be open-handed and open-hearted, so that our bodies will go to the places we say are important in our thoughts and prayers. Make us to be like “daily bread” for your little ones, as we pray, “your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Amen.

Don’t forget to check your Wednesday mailings for upcoming events: St Lucia Day (during the 9 am service on Sunday, 12.14.25), The Bishop’s final visitation with music  and coffee hour provided by the Tongan Church,  Las Posadas(Friday, 12.19.25 @ 6 pm at St Anne’s),  Outdoor Live Nativity (Saturday 12.20.25@ 10 am @ Zion), Christmas Eve Services (4 pm @ Zion, 9 pm @ St Anne’s), Christmas Day Service (10 am @ Zion) AND an Icon painting and Tapestry Weaving Workshop for Teenagers and Adults (9am-12 pm, Monday & Tuesday at St Anne’s),

REMEMBER! No Service @ St Anne’s on Sunday, December 7 (this coming Sunday).  Both Churches will worship together at Zion @ 9 am as we experience an Advent Lessons and Carols at Zion

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

For those of you who know the Rev Christian Hagan:  He is doing much better.  He is now on the step down unit at Dameron Hospital and welcomes visitors.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The week leading up to Thanksgiving was full of hustle and bustle as our four churches and the Grace and Mercy Foodbank worked together to distribute food to our church members, neighbors and our new friends who make their living working in the fields and live in trailer parks in Linden.

This is the first verse of my favorite Thanksgiving hymn:

Come, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God our Maker doth provide

For our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.

At our Thanksgiving Service on Wednesday Evening and at our Thanksgiving meals on Thursday we could truly give thanks for the good work God has given us to do and God’s amazing provision of enough food to feed us all.

I have attached pictures.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Dear Friends in Christ,

After 2 clergy conferences, a convention that I did not go to, a disorienting illness and an accident with hot tea that required me to buy a new laptop, I am happy to get back in the swing of things.

I am attaching a thorough list of activities and events from now until after Christmas.  Nobody needs to attend all of them. But all of us need to attend some of them.

We are now in Stewardship Season.

Both St Anne’s and Zion have new and growing bright spots in our lives together

·      We have vibrant partnerships with sister churches

·      We have an ever-evolving Grandma’s Garden Program

·      We can be generous with our neighbors when our political climate does not encourage us to do so.

·      We have new people in our churches who are very glad they found us.

On the next several Sundays, members of our churches will talk about the reasons why they support our churches, why it is important that Zion and St Anne’s continue to exist in our neighborhoods and our city.  

Our gifts to our churches 

·      provide stability: they insure that we have electricity and water when we need them, that we can fix things when they break, that our properties remain well kept and beautiful

·      enable us to fulfill our mission to be Christ’s body in the world:  they pay staff, provide the stuff of worship, encourage us to do good works and reach out to our neighbors and those in need

·      make the future possible: each step we take, each dollar we contribute toward the maintenance and mission our church  helps shape a more beautiful and hopeful future; a future that pleases God and allows for human flourishing.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca

Please, see “Events” page for attachment.