Dear Friends,
Recently, my husband, Lindon, and I went to the movies to see “Won't you be my neighbor?”, the documentary about the life and work of Fred Rogers. I am not quite sure what we were expecting but at least it got us out of the heat!
It wound up being
a moving experience: a story of a tender heart committed to the protection of children, and unafraid to talk about hard issues and controversy.
The combination of sorrow and joy, pathos and celebration, lost dreams and emerging miracles, sadness and hope all laced with a deep sense of humor about the ambiguity of life touched our hearts and refreshed our souls. It found that place in each of us which longs for the “heavenly kingdom” where “pain and sorrow are no more.”
All of us have had the experience of being lost in one way or another; all of us are grateful for our second chances, and deeply aware of the frailty of life itself.
I was struck, therefore, by two phrases from the collect for this coming Sunday. “Grant to us ….. the spirit to think and do always those things that are right,” and “we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will.”
Deep inside this prayer is the sure and certain acknowledgement that we can’t do it on our own – we may well try, but we will never be able to do it on our own. Neither can any single human being make us able to do it on our own, but only by God’s generous grace can we begin to approach thinking and doing those things that are right.
And why is thinking and doing those things that are right so important? That’s how we get to walk on water when life requires it!
It’s how the neighborhood gets to live forever.
Blessings,
Sue
The Reverend Susan N. Eaves, Interim Rector
