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A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
12/23/2009
By Hart, Robert
Dear Friends:
The music is chosen, the service leaflets printed, the church decorated, the choir rehearsed, and the crucifer has practised. Christmas will come. As families and as individuals, as expectant and happy, as lonely and heartbroken we will gather before the Christmas Creche and around the Table of the Lord. We will sing God's praises and celebrate the birth of the Incarnate Word. We will recall in scripture, song and ceremony that God is with us in Jesus Christ. The Church is community, the community of the One who heals and redeems our lives by being born as one of us. I look forward to this moment and to being with you. Christmas is the world's loveliest and greatest festival. May we as we gather do so with thankful hearts and a renewed commitment to the work of Christ's healing love and redeeming goodness.
Christmas Eve Masses: 5: 30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Christmas Day Mass: 9:30 a.m.
Merry Christmas,
Bob Hart, Interim Rector
Advent Reflections
11/25/2009
By Hart, Robert
Santa Claus will arrive on Thanksgiving morning bringing up the rear of Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade signalling the start of the holiday shopping season. In Church, three days later, the season of Advent will begin with hardly a hint of Christmas and certainly no mention of Santa. It's like living in parallel universes. Bright lights and cheery music fill the stores and spill out into the streets. Our churches meanwhile are adorned with purple or sarum blue and the music is far more solemn and reflective. "Home for the holidays" makes a stark contrast up against "Lo, he comes with clouds descending."
The difference between the American cultural experience of the pre-Christmas season and the Church's universal keeping of Advent has long been remarked upon. It's a tension that's hard to keep. Nonetheless I've increasingly felt over the years that the Spirit of Advent is a welcome antidote to the "holiday spirit." I try to live in Advent. There's a deeper magic abroad than that of Frosty the Snowman and Rudoph the Rednosed Reindeer.
We pray on the first Sunday of Advent, "Almighty God, give us grace that we cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility..." That claim that Jesus, the Christ, the eternal Word of God, came to us as one of us gives both our observance of Advent and the frantic world of holiday parties and shopping for gifts their real meaning. The holiday lights and the candles of the Advent wreath were born of the same source, the advent of the Light of the World. This is the deep magic of God, restoring the dignity of our human nature. The One who shared our humanity made it possible for us to share the divine life.
The beauty of Advent keeps us focused on God's presence in our world through the incarnate Son, Jesus. It also radiates outward and gives our secular celebrations a greater depth of meaning. May all the blessings of Advent be with you and yours as we approach the celebration of Christmas.
Faithfully,
Bob Hart, Interim Rector
Telling Our Story
10/22/2009
By Hart, Robert
What is the story of Christ Church, Dearborn? Like any other community that's been around for a long time and pulled together to accomplish the mission of God, we have a story to tell. A lot depends though on what we choose to tell and how we envision our present and future. Like any other Episcopal parish we could tell a tale of those who didn't like the new Prayer Book, changes in the Hymnal 1982, or the issues surrounding human sexuality. No doubt, that's a part of our story. But there is a very creative and exciting story that waits to be told about this parish church.
Diana Butler Bass in her book, The Practicing Congregation, writes: "What if the story was about imaginative congregations reaching back to their native stories, drawing out practices known to their ancestors, and finding new ways of being faithful in a fragmented, detraditionalized world? What difference would that story make inyour own ministry, your congregation, in your diocese...?" It makes a difference what story we tell and how we tell it. It makes a difference to our own sense of confidence and effectiveness. And it makes a difference to those who are seeking a place to call their spiritual home.
As I participated in the benefit concert for the Detroit Coalition for Temporary Shelters, I realized what a concerted effort of organization and volunteer hours had gone into making that such an entertaining and diverse means of raising money for those in our area who are homeless. It was such a great event and it happened without fanfare or fuss. Christ Church has a story to tell about how its commited members take ownership of their common life. Whether its planning for youth ministry or dealing with the finances, people step forward and work together.
In the coming weeks the parishioners of Christ Church will participate in a process of strategic planning and envisioning our future. We call this the Charette process. This is our opportunity to recall our "native stories" and draw on the Christian practices that have nourished us. It is an occasion when we can brainstorm a bit and find new ways to an effective witness in the Dearborn area. In recalling our story we can begin to reenvision our story. Be a part of telling the story of God which is the story of Christ Church, Dearborn.
Bob Hart, Interim Rector
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