From the Rector

Walk with Us

December 20, 2024

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Our Advent journey is now turning into the wonder of Christmas. Let’s keep walking together.  While all the details are further down in this email, I want to say a little bit about the coming opportunities to gather and pray.

The Longest Night. This Saturday, I invite you to join us on the year’s Longest Night.  Not everyone is ready for angels and light, choirs and bells.  Life is hard, and sometimes  we must tend earnestly to our own hearts before it is even possible to be present with and share in the joy that others bring. This service is contemplative, and honest, and a safe place even for tears.  Come and be with one another in this holy space and moment.

Lessons & Carols. On Sunday evening, our Choir leads us in the annual Lessons & Carols Service.  It is a magnificent offering of prayer, readings, hymns and anthems that lift our spirits and draw up our eyes in hope.  A wonderful reception will follow, sponsored by the Vestry.  Share with us in the beauty of this traditional offering of the season.
Las Posadas. Monday night is the final evening of Las Posadas, a traditional observance in Latino culture of the Holy Family’s search for a place to welcome the Christ child into the world.  Folks have been traveling from house to house since December 16, and the tradition will culminate in a special gathering in Parish Hall on the 23rd.  As a community, we’ll make room for God to come and be born among us.

Tuesday is Christmas Eve!  O Come, let us adore him!  On this evening, we offer liturgies for all ages, languages, family expressions, and sensibilities of our parish.  The 4:00 Family Service & Nativity Play is an annual treat, when children and youth of our parish present the Christmas Story (in English) with dramatic flair.  At 6:00, our Saints & Singers Choir leads us in singing beloved Christmas carols and hymns in a joyful celebration of the Holy Eucharist (in English).  The 8:00 Mass is in Spanish, with traditional carols from Mexico and Latin America.  Or, gather at 10:30 pm for a joyful musical prelude singing of carols and anthems, with a High Mass at 11:00. 
Christmas Day. We’ll gather for a simple liturgy on Christmas Day at 10:00 am.  It’s a particularly special opportunity to gather with our family of faith for Christmas carols, Eucharist, and fellowship.

Epiphany. I also want to invite you to save the date for Sunday, January 5. That Sunday, we’ll be all together to celebrate Epiphany/Tres Reyes in one bilingual service at 10:00 am, followed with a Convivio/Potluck lunch to share as one community of St. Michael/San Miguel.  It’ll be a fitting start to the new year, in love and solidarity with one another.
I am personally excited to be with you in these observances and celebrations. You are a gift to one another and a gift to me.  I pray that we may find light, and friendship, and hope in this Christmas Season.

In peace,
Scott+
The Rev. R. Scott Painter, Rector

“Be not afraid (?)”

December 14, 2024

During Advent Mondays, I’ve been Zooming with folks for a weekly discussion group reading the book Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear by Scott Bader-Saye.

I have found Bader-Saye’s insights about the power of fear in our lives to be thought-provoking and challenging.

The author argues against the pursuit of fearlessness as a Christian value, a pursuit which would require the love of nothing (so, then, we would have nothing to fear losing). Rather, he wonders if we might do well to seek to right-size and right-place fear, accomplished in part while probing the powerful loves in our own lives (people, possessions, privileges, etc) and our relationship to those loves.

The goal, then, would not be to abolish fear, which plays an important role in motivating and fueling such good aims as relational care, social action, persistent witness, among other things. It is to deny fear outsized power in our lives when called to face scary things with courage and faithfulness for the good of those in our circles of relationship and the created world.

As we draw closer to that most famous of stories, when glorious angels appear with glad tidings of great joy for shepherds and say, “Don’t be afraid,” I wonder how those words resonate in our own lives. Bader-Saye writes, “the quieting of fear is required in order to hear and do what God asks of us. Fear makes it difficult to embrace the vulnerability involved in discipleship. Following Jesus requires that we step out “into faith’s daring.”

I am praying today that our lives are filled with love and joy, even in a time when so many forces threaten to overwhelm. May we learn to live with fear rightly sized—acknowledging it while not letting it take control. And may God grant us the grace to keep caring, loving, and sharing ourselves with others. Like the shepherds who will soon hear again the angel’s words, may we also hear the call: Be not afraid; move forward with courage into the good news of God’s love.

With you,
Scott+
The Rev. R. Scott Painter, Rector
Email: ScottP@stmaa.org

From the Rector

Walk with Us

“Be not afraid (?)”

From the office

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