Redeemer Review
The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
September, 2006
From the Vicar
Notes from the Coach: Encounter with the Holy
One of my old professors at seminary talked about faith as the practice of the Holy. What is the Holy? It is a
borderland, he taught, the place where daily life comes face to face with a mystery that goes beyond words, a mystery
that might be directly experienced, but not directly expressed. The Holy brings forth images, metaphor, music and
tears. The Holy is where we encounter our living God.
During August, we had four experiences of Holy Mystery at Redeemer. The first came with the very sudden death of
David Ewell, apparently of a massive stroke, on the evening of July 30th. A week later, we were at a memorial service
for someone who had so recently been vibrantly alive. It seemed so unfair that he and Pat should have found each other
after such a long wait only to be parted again. How can God have made us aware of life in all its wonder only to have
us lose it? How can God have given us the gift of love when there is so much grief in its losing? And yet, at David’s
service, we were able to speak boldly about love, because God is love and we stood at the border of heaven.
The second event was the Sunday, one week after David’s service, when we gathered to say a second kind of good
bye, this time with our friend Jan Robitscher who was retiring her Guide Dog of 10 years. We don’t think of being
parted from our animals in this way, but for all the love that flowed between them, “Christmas” was never a pet.
“Christmas,” like Christ, was the restorer of sight and Jesus never hung around so we could keep him. Jan has a new
Guide Dog now and her circle of love widens, even in grief. The love between dogs and people has always seemed to
be a lot like the love of God, both realistic and unconditional. When “Christmas” retired, the church was so full of
unconditional love that there was hardly a dry eye in the place. Love may be more miraculous than sight.
The third event came one week later, when Wayne and Cathy Kirk renewed their marriage vows after forty years.
Imagine all the life, love, difficulty, wonder, fidelity, laughter and tears contained within forty years! When we vow to
love someone “until death do us part” can we ever know what that means? What it means to invite another person so
close that we become one flesh, one mind, one heart? What it costs to love? To experience forty years of relationship is
to see at a human level, how our relationship with God, too, is an ever growing thing, supporting, encouraging,
challenging, lifting us up to heights we could never ascend on our own. In standing before human love, we stand
before God’s love.
The fourth has been less an event than an ongoing ministry to Jack and Betty Baird. As a community we have been
bringing them food as Betty recovers from surgery and Jack from his fall. Our service brings to life the beautiful
prayer of St. Teresa of Avila,
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He sees.
Yours are the feet with which He walks. Yours are the hands with which he blesses the entire world.”
As our mission statement reminds us, we discover God by being with each other. Like soccer, like reading, like math,
like the mastery of any skill of any importance, coming to know God takes practice. Join us in practice this fall and let
us love each other into richer life.
Next Month: Jesus the Teacher
Blessings,
 |
 |
 |