The Rev. Patricia Hanen, PhD., is an exceptional preacher, a spiritual guide, and a pastoral caregiver. She can care for us, deepen our faith and awareness of God, open our eyes to the needs of others, and help us to be a witness to Christ to the outside world.
A graduate of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, Pat has always been involved in small parish ministry. She has stated that “my job as clergy leader [is] to preach, teach, celebrate, innovate, and 'care' us into developing still further what God is already doing among the people of New Life.”
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Written by The Rev. Patricia Hanen
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Wednesday, 30 June 2010 00:00 |
Dear friends--
Take a look again at that list from Church Re-Imagined. Well, look at the first seven:
- We listen to and are obedient to God.
- People who are not Christians become followers of God in the way of Jesus.
- Those who are not involved in church would become an active part of it.
- People are deeply connected to God in all of life: body, mind, soul, and spirit.
- Beauty and art are valued, used, and understood as coming from the Creator.
- Culture is met, embraced, and transformed.
- Joy, fun, and excitement are part of our lives.
Starting with the last one--the Vestry gave a newcomers' dinner last Friday, to which twelve newcomers came. It was a fun event. I think it is exciting to look around the church and see new faces, to talk to new folks at coffee hour, and to see that folks are finding ours an encouraging and enlivening community to belong to. There's not a lot of joy in Muddville for many people today, but at New Life there is. That's Good News.
When I listen to our choir and our organist on Sunday morning I know that "beauty and art are valued and used," and I hope they're understood as coming from our Creator. When we use our creative gifts to praise God, we are following God. Our imagination--whether it's in the Christmas Pageant, or the making of vestments, or the writing of poems and prayers, or the making of delicious food, or the making of music--is given to us by God as an inspiration to share with others. And share it we do. That's Good News.
I'm getting eager to meet with the Prayer Study folks again (July 6 at 6:30 pm), because as we talk they are teaching me more about how "people are deeply connected to God in all of life: body, mind, soul, and spirit." And so do the Wednesday Morning group. (Ask anyone who is reading Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity to tell you the difference between a Supernatural Theist and a Panentheist! Most all of us, as Anglicans, are panentheists--did you know?) God is part of us, and God can be seen in every part of our lives, if we will only "listen to God and be obedient." Where do you hear God speaking to you? Where do you feel God asking you to follow? If you give yourself a few moments to be still and know that God is God, those same few moments will help you to know that you are you--and that you, in all your life, are also part of the Good News.
If we are trying to be our fullest selves--the selves God had in mind when we were created, the selves Jesus died and rose to save, the selves the Holy Spirit keeps "nudging"--others will see us and want to become "followers of God in the way of Jesus." They will want to do that by becoming "an active part" of New Life, because New Life is a community that values and encourages knowing Jesus and following God. (Did I mention the Newcomers' Dinner?)
And the more that happens, the more we will be engaged in transforming the culture to which we also belong. You know what our current culture is like. If you missed Sunday church, and Paul's capsule description, I'll print it here: "fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these" (Galatians 5: 19-21). That's the culture we see in every paper, in FOX News and PBS--everywhere. But Paul says that if we follow God in the way of Jesus we can bear the fruits of the Spirit instead. These are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5: 22-23). If we listen to God, and help one another, we can bear those fruits--and help others do the same. That's Good News. That's New Life.
Love to you all—
Pat |
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