January 14

Peace be with you! This morning our older day school students enjoyed “Music Wednesday” with our Music Director, Dr. Mattilda Middleton. Mattilda asked each child what they were most grateful to God for creating. The children shared many wonderful responses to her question. One child touched her heart and said, “I am most grateful to God for my heart.”  My intuition told me that this child was referring to her spiritual heart, her deep center of being where she is grounded in God’s love.

In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, John the Baptist sees the Spirit of God descend from heaven like a dove on Jesus and recognizes Jesus as the Son of God. John then says, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” The next day John’s disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter, spend some time with Jesus and their hearts are transformed. These brothers begin to live their lives centered on Jesus and His Way of Love.

St. Teresa of Avila describes Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit as a “baptism of fire”. She experienced her baptism of the Holy Spirit as a gift from Jesus that melted away the parts of her soul that were not in service to Love. St. Teresa said that this experience left her “all on fire with a great love of God” in which she desired nothing less than God. ( from The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus)

Participation in the life and sacraments of the church allows us to enter Jesus’ “baptism of fire” in full trust, knowing that the discomfort of this baptism will ultimately refine our souls so that we can live for God alone. Engaging in the life of the church enables us to undergo this baptism of the Holy Spirit with the support of our Christian community and the larger communion of saints throughout the ages. I’ve found the Christian mystics and our children to be especially helpful teachers who can show us how to live from our center in God and for Love alone.

This Sunday we are excited to celebrate the Frey family with an Expectant Family Blessing at the 10 am service! Directly following the 10 am service, parents are invited to join our Annual Parish Meeting in the nave.  Children ages 3 and older are invited to the undercroft for lunch and “Oreos in the Undercroft” activities. Nursery care will be available during the Annual Meeting.

We hope to see you this Sunday!

Many Blessings,

Patty