NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
Dear Friends in Christ:
With the beginning of the Church Year on the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, I thought I’d get a head start on the resolution business. It’s not only that all the hectic activity around Christmas makes it hard to think about resolutions. There is also a good theological reason for making resolutions during Advent, a time of anticipation of Christ’s coming – at
So, in that spirit, here are three of my resolutions:
v To have a weekly night out with Jan. This is not a new resolution; it’s one that I have to make over and over again. Life gets busy and nights out somehow get squeezed out far too often. I have been Jan’s husband longer than I have been a priest and need to make sure that priestly duties don’t keep me from being a good husband.
v To learn more about what you all do every day. I sometimes get asked what a parishioner does for a living and far too often I don’t have an answer. As part of a continuing education program I was in several years ago, I spent a day each with three parishioners and learned a great deal about them and their work. I would love to do that with parishioners here and would welcome your invitations.
v To continue to work on making the parish a place where diversity is embraced. A parishioner with whom I disagreed on some “hot button” issues said that she was thankful that I respected her and her convictions. We are a parish with some real diversity of convictions and opinions and I am thankful that we treat one another with respect. Knowing that there will be controversy in the Episcopal Church in the coming year, I am committed to this being a community of mutual respect and diversity.
Resolutions like these three may seem to be pretty mundane, but I believe that it is often in the small things of life that God gives us opportunities to grow into “the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) Mother Teresa of
We must not think that our love has to be extraordinary. But we do need to love without getting tired. How does a lamp burn? Through the continuous input of small drops of oil. These drops are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being quiet, of looking, of speaking, and of acting. They are the true drops of love that keep our lives and relationships burning like a lively flame.
During this season of anticipation, I invite to consider your own resolutions, to look for ways that you can prepare for Christ’s Coming.
Your brother and priest,
Daniel
