December 2005
For I know the plans I have
for you, declares the Lord,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and
a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)
Dear All Saints’ Family,
Advent marks the beginning
of a new liturgical year. The theme of Advent is the coming of Jesus and
the dawn of the new age of the reign of God. Jesus comes to us as the
Christ child at Christmas, but he also will come again to put away all
darkness and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The new year also
gives us an opportunity to look toward the future will all of its
possibilities, challenges, hopes and dreams. I believe the coming year
will be filled with important choices that will shape the future of our
denomination and, in turn, our parish. The prophet Jeremiah speaks for
the Lord and declares: For I know the plans I have for you,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. (Jeremiah 29:11) Jeremiah wrote this to the whole people of
God, but it also applies to each one of us individually.
What are some of these
monumental choices? We will need to choose to support the mission and
ministry of All Saints’ Church or to fall back, circle the wagons, and
risk becoming inwardly focused and stagnant. On a much larger scale this
summer, the Episcopal Church USA will be asked to make the choice to
remain faithful to the authority of scripture and 2000 years of
Christian teaching, or to walk away from its association with the
Anglican Communion and the vast majority of the Christian faith and
become a dwindling, separate denomination unto itself. Each one of us
will be forced to, in the words of Joshua, Choose this day whom you
will serve, the God of your forefathers or the gods of this world. I
pray that we will all answer as he did: As for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord. (Jeremiah 24:15).
What is God’s will for us?
God’s will is that we prosper, making it our first priority to seek His
will and ways in all of decisions and actions. Fr. Dan, Clay Lawson,
Janet and I attended the Hope and a Future Conference in Pittsburgh
recently and the overriding message was that our hope and future rests
in Christ alone. The political mess that we find ourselves in as a
denomination remains murky. Some are calling for immediate action, some
are calling for more dialogue, others are hoping this all will just go
away. Time will tell, but choices will have to be made along the way.
Only God knows the futures, so in the meantime, we must constantly seek
the Lord and rest all of our hope and future in Jesus Christ our Savior,
who is the head of the Church.
I pray that we all keep our
focus on Him, His will, His direction, and His choice. If we do, our
future will be filled with prosperity, hope and joy.
God bless you all,
Fr. David+
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