Rector's Reflections - January 2007

I love the theatre and I especially love Christmas pageants. Our Christmas pageant was indeed a First Class theatrical production that enabled us to enter into the Christmas Season in a meaningful way.

It was also a wonderful expression of the church of all ages working together for the good of the whole community. It took a lot of hard work and cooperation by the actors, the parents of our actors, and of our talented director, Ginger Hamilton. There were also many people behind the scenes doing exemplary work.

Like all pageants, there are moments that just grabbed my attention and enabled me to enter into the mystery of the Nativity. The more obvious moment was seeing our grandson lying in the manager. Of course he and Logan (baby John the Baptist) gave five-star performances!

The less obvious was when the chalice bears and I began distributing the Body and Blood of Christ to the “prophets,” the “shepherds” and their “sheep,” and the “heavenly chorus.” Then there was “Joseph” and “Mary” and the archangel “Gabriel,” who was really Mary's older sister.

Yes, I knew who was really underneath the costumes, but just for a moment the idea of stepping back into the past as we do every Holy Eucharist and marrying the present with the past as we look to the future with hope was inspiring. I even took some time at my favorite getaway place on Monday afternoon to pray about those thoughts of my heart. For a moment I felt a special connection with Mary who “pondered all these things in her heart.”

My message to you this season of the Christ Mass is to pause and go to your favorite getaway place and ponder these things that God has given to us, including the birth of “His only begotten Son.” Try not to let the New Year get into full swing until you have a moment of reflection on the mystery of God's profound love for us manifested at Bethlehem and again seen in full view here at St. Theodore's.

May you have a blessed reflection and time of prayer.

 

 

Fr. Ken †