September 28, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We’re beginning to have more activities here at All Saints and much more information we’d like to share with you regularly. Too much, I believe, to have us include it all in our weekly emails. So beginning this week, we’ll be resuming our monthly newsletter! I hope you enjoy this small step towards more routine activities here at All Saints.

This past Saturday I had a chance to simply sit in my backyard, dwelling with God. This is my sacred space at home, the place where I most enjoy praying, for it’s here that I most easily experience that sense of God’s peace washing over me. And it’s my favorite place for my first cup of coffee.

I’m often visited by the neighborhood wildlife in these quiet times. That particular morning’s entertainment included a very industrious woodpecker; a squirrel racing across the fence top, carrying some treasure to an unknown destination; and more cardinals that I ever expected to see at one time. When I take to time to be still, noticing what’s right in front of me, I’m reawakened to the wonder of God’s good creation and reminded of God’s truth: God is faithful, God is always with us, and our Lord and Savior encourages us to abide in his loving embrace. It is in Christ that we can find wholeness and healing and rest for our weary souls.

These past months have been a real strain on us all. The pandemics of the virus and our spirits; the realization of continuing racial inequity and systemic racism; the devastation of violence and destruction from both human and natural causes; and the divisive rhetoric constantly surrounding us are heartbreaking. And I imagine we all expect the political noise to continue to escalate in these final weeks leading up to our November election. How can we help but be weary?

I encourage us all to find time to rest. Take the time to simply be with God, leaning into our hope in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  And we can all find time to abide in God by doing something relatively simple — tune out, turn off, and step away from the noise of cable news, social media, and all those things that create fear and that sense of impending doom. Truly, I recommend we all limit our time with this “noise” around us to an hour a day and use some of that found time to rest in Jesus. 

Jesus shows us the way, his way, of love. His way of love calls us to act in word and deed in ways that express our great love of God by loving all our neighbors. The Spirit nudges us to examine our daily actions and find those places where we’re not aligned with God’s love for all God’s good creation. And when we discover those things we’ve done or left undone that don’t align with God, to repent, ask forgiveness, and turn back towards God’s way of love.

My hope for us all is that we find the time for blessed, holy rest in these upcoming weeks, so that we may be strengthened to love like Jesus and carry Christ’s light into the world.

Blessings,

Mother Bonnie+