After having just completed our Bishop's Visitation and Annual meeting on two consecutive Sundays, we have been very busy! We didn't get an issue of the Fieldstone Crier out this January, and so it has been some time since I wrote to you in this space--I'm glad to be back here, and back to work. I came back in the midst of all the movement of Christmas, and new leadership, and new members--and I am so excited about what this year will bring.
There's quite a bit happening this month, too. On the 14th, we'll baptize Alana Shirley, whose parents Michael and Michelle have been coming for several months. That Sunday is the Feast of the Transfiguration--the last Sunday before Lent. I think every year I've been here we've done baptisms on that day, and it is a good one for it. In our Gospel for that Sunday, we meet Jesus on the mountain top, transfigured in white in a cloud, along with Moses and Elijah. God speaks from the cloud: "This is my son, my Chosen (The Gospels of Matthew and Mark say "beloved") listen to him." When we celebrate a baptism the Sunday before Lent begins, we're following Jesus' pattern, in a way; the Scriptures tell of him being driven into the wilderness after his own baptism. He goes out in the wilderness with a deep sureness of his nature as a beloved child of God, and his power comes directly from that beloved nature.
If we observe Lent to remind ourselves of Jesus' ministry and mission and his time in the desert, we should do so with the same awareness of God's presence and love as he did. The season of Lent is about stripping down and focusing. We don't observe Lent and focus on our sin to think about how bad we are, we observe Lent to remember how good we can be.
Whenever we celebrate a baptism, we reaffirm the promises of our own baptismal covenants. We don't do baptisms privately because we need the support of the community to make, and keep, those promises.
When Adah and Vanessa were baptized a few weeks ago, each of you promised to do "all in your power to support these persons in their lives in Christ" --partly because they need it, but also because you need it! We need each other to practice our faith and to know God.
This Lent, I invite you to pray about how you are a member of this community; how does it sustain you? How do you help to sustain it? How is your life of faith intertwined with others in this place? What do you need for the life of your Spirit this Lent, and how can you invite this community into that life?
Blessings,
Sara+
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