February 2014
St. Mark’s News
Volume 17/Issue 2
From the Assistant Rector Perhaps it’s because of Thanksgiving followed by the Christmas season, perhaps it’s because feasting and fasting are such a part of our identity in the Episcopal church, or perhaps because so many of us are now paying the price for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but lately I have had a number of conversations regarding feasts and fasts and how they fit into the Christian practice. It is important to ponder, because our beliefs about these two things guide our In this Issue Christian practice and inform how we view God. Growing up in a different church tradition, the metaphor or paradigm of life’s seasons (speaking here more of emotional states or states of mind rather than seasons of a liturgical calendar) was a roller coaster. I tended to see my life as a series of ups and downs, a perpetual cycle of peaks and valleys. One sets his or her mind on so-called “mountain-top experiences.” Life consisted of waiting out valleys while seeking mountaintop experiences and prolonging them as much as possible. That those valleys can even be avoided sinks into one’s heart and theology as a real possibility achieved by living a “righteous life.”
From the Assistant Rector ......... 1 Vestry Highlights ........................ 2 Outreach .................................... 5 Parish Life .................................. 5 Music Notes ............................... 7 Parishioner Highlights ................ 7 Christian Formation ................... 8 Caffeine Ministry ........................ 9 Celebrations ............................ 10 ROTA ....................................... 11
This is a noble aim indeed, but is it complete? Is it what the Scriptures reveal is God’s reality? Are these peak experiences the logical climax in Christian practice? What I found was that the unintended consequence of the roller coaster metaphor (and therefore lifestyle) is that I was left with my salvation in my own hands. My deeds determined the trajectory of life and happiness. It proved too heavy an emotional load, too much for me alone. I grew fatigued as the world proved more complicated than my paradigm could explain. As an Episcopalian my paradigm is an analogy rather than a metaphor. By this I mean, my life is not an attempt to be Godly enough; there is not a bar I must reach to be worthy. Instead I am worthy from my first breath (before my first breath!). I was made worthy at Creation. I am perfectly made and wonderfully accepted. Another way to view this is that this life is somehow, mysteriously, a reflection of Heaven. The Bible offers us glimpses of this in a few places, including the Prodigal Son parable and the Passion narratives. Taking those same low and high points, one begins to see them as cycles of Heaven, patterns of God. One common, yet primary pattern is death and resurrection. Those seasons in which we find ourselves distant from our Maker are not so dire looking through the analogy. Instead of our life being pared down to things we have done or left done, we are able to see life in all its complexities, feeling the multitude of layered emotions and nuanced passions, never leaving God’s proximity. Our emotions do not determine our reality. God is our reality who informs (defines, redeems, etc.) our emotions and everything else! He is near to us wherever we find ourselves, because God is God and we are each unique individuals…perfectly made. The prodigal son allows for different language; instead of ups and downs,
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