Chronicles of Canterbury
the
Chronicles of Canterbury January 2017
From the Rector
Find Your Place in God's Story
I
n the beginning, God had a dream. When He spoke it, the Creation arose. God spoke his dream and thus became our reality. For when God speaks, it happens. And God is still dreaming and speaking, and you and I live and move and have our being inside the true story He is telling. That’s the story I’m living in.
Just as the Bible is the story of God’s dream, this church is part of God’s dream, too. St. Michael’s is alive – not unto itself – but because God wills it.
Twenty centuries ago God spoke a word, and He became flesh. He became one of us physical, emotional, mental, talented, needful. Yes, God spoke and his Son began his journey into our human story by way of a teenage girl. Jesus took part in our story as one of us, so that everybody else in creation might come to believe and know that they aren’t nobody — that they are somebody — that God, yes, even God, is dreaming of them, and it’s a dream of love.
Jesus lived so that we can know that our reality has meaning – and that meaning is FOR us – not against us. That the ultimate meaning of the Universe loves us – and wants us – and yearns to be with us. Even, little old us. Even little old us who can’t quite believe it sometimes. Wow. That’s awesome. The Bible is of course the classic story of God’s dream, but the Biblical world has no end; and it is God’s intention that we are part of that unending world. Do you have a story to tell? Of course you do – you have a life. And a life is a story. But we are not meant to be our own story tellers. You and I – we are called to submit our life stories to the Author of Creation for some serious editing. And He can. And He will. And it’s good. See RECTOR on page 3
From the Retiring Senior Warden
what’s inside 2 Life & Life This Epiphany 7 Jr. Warden's Report 8 EYC Stepping UP 9 The Gathering 10 St. Elizabeth Seton 11 Owls 12 Briefly 13 Lifelong Disciple
Experiencing God As Senior Warden
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i, I’m Will, and I’m your senior warden.
did I figure out, OH, it’s because most men never cry.
I think I’m supposed to be up here talking to you about the state of our union.
Me, on the other hand? I do not mind crying. My kids probably can’t count how many times they’ve seen me cry. They see it weekly. In fact, if you’re ever bored in church, just look over our way to see if my kids are checking for tears. It could be a hymn, a prayer, a sermon, a children’s choir—oh, a children’s choir, that’s a killer—but rare is the Sunday that I won’t have a big, manly tear rolling down my cheek.
Instead I want to talk to you about crying. Crying is a funny thing. Kids cry. Kids cry all the time. Women cry, although when a woman cries, people act like she’s on fire, gathering around to smother the tears out. And then there’s a man crying. People generally do not know what to make of a man crying. A man cries, you just turn and walk the other way. If you see him later, you try not to talk about it. When a man cries, it becomes a meme. (Ask your kids.) I’ve always thought this was odd. What is the big deal about a man crying? Only after living for a few years
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Why am I telling you this? Because of all the amazing things that are going to happen over the next 30 minutes as I talk to you—kidding!—about the only thing I can guarantee you is that I will get choked up at some point. Some of my beloved friends, and I’m sure my family,
See WARDEN on page 4