Saint Mark’s Cathedral, Mpls

TVR Paul J. Lebens-Englund

Friday, 12.18.20

We have endured, along with friends, family, and strangers the world over, an extremely challenging and traumatic year marked by loss and grief we never could have imagined a mere twelve months ago. Lives and livelihoods have ended prematurely, familiar rites and rituals of life’s transitions have been radically altered or suspended altogether, and we’ve been asked, collectively, to set aside personal preferences and familiar practices for the sake of the Common Good, and to do so within the framework of uncertain timelines and outcomes. Yet, despite the occasional sideways expression of fear and sadness, we’ve largely lived through all this with grace and understanding and hope and, even, some sense of peace. Of this, we should be both mindful and proud – the spiritual disposition of a community sufficiently buoyed by its faith to endure the very real and unpredictable storms of life.

 

As we know, anxiety causes both individuals and organizations to shut down and to circle the wagons in self-defense against further threat and discomfort. This is, perhaps, the reason the predominant angelic message of this season is to ‘Fear not,’ lest we close ourselves to the transformative power of deep disruption. In response to our very reasonable quest for safety and security, the Gospel reminds us that God shows up unannounced and asks hard things of us. Whether living with profound vulnerability or with perpetual privilege, God invites us into the hard work of bearing witness to the ‘new creation,’ in which the dignity of each person is defended and the flourishing of all life is assured. There is no ‘proper season’ – no ‘golden age’ – in which this vocation is more realistic than in others. This is always our work and witness, in both good times and bad: to love God and to love neighbor. It is the purpose behind our being. It is the meaning behind our doing. And, yes, it’s our mandate in good times and in bad.

 

As a people baptized into the Risen Life of Christ, into his ‘Body,’ which is the Church, we bear public, daily witness to the assurance of ‘new life’ on the far side of every ‘death.’ As a people ‘sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever,’ we are assured of God’s provision through every challenge and promised that we will never be lost, even as we walk ‘in the shadow of death.’ The marks we bear, we bear in good times and bad – in triumph and challenge – in health and in sickness – through joy and through sorrow. The marks are indelible, eternal – a holy reminder to ourselves and to others, that we can do hard things, and that we can do them with purpose and meaning, with joy and with peace.

 

While the context and conditions for our shared ministry have changed during 2020, the principles and practices have not. Despite a major public health crisis, despite the lethal violation of public trust, despite a long-overdue racial reckoning, despite deep political and ideological divisions, despite election agitation and uncertainty, despite severe economic challenge and loss, despite strict limitations to leisure and play, despite emotional isolation and digital fatigue, despite our on-going commitment to best love one another from afar, we remain a people of hope, a people of joy, a people of peace, grounded in the practices of prayer and study and service.

 

To align our hearts and minds with God’s presence in our time, we turn to prayer, grounding ourselves in the heart of God.   

To discern God’s purpose in our time, we turn to study, grounding ourselves in the mind of God.

To participate in God’s loving, liberating, life-giving practices in our time, we turn to service, grounding ourselves in the hands and feet of God.

All of this was happening before 2020.

All of this has happened during 2020.

All of this will continue to happen beyond 2020.

And it’s all made possible because you have committed to claim your identity amidst the whirlwind and to return to the spiritual roots that have preserved Life through all her storms.

None of this is a disembodied reality that just floats through time and space, but is always carried, from one season to the next, within the hearts and minds and hands and feet of all God’s people – the flickering Light entrusted to us for the healing and hope of the world.

 

Here at Saint Mark’s, I’m both heartened and proud to say we’ve carried this Light well during these dark days. We have been faithful and responsible stewards of our resources, tending to the places and spaces through which and in which we share a life with each other and with our surrounding community. We have been faithful and committed stewards of our people, expanding our pastoral care network, migrating to digital programming, and maintaining our current staffing. We have been faithful and generous mission partners, continuing to show up and to support the important work of tending to concrete human need and dismantling systemic injustice. And we have been faithful and compassionate friends, family, and neighbors, making room in our own lives for the lives of those nearest us – and I include, in this, making room for compassion and care toward ourselves, recognizing that we’re no good to anyone else if we’re not also good to ourselves.

 

Through all of this, we have continue to pay our bills – we have continued to keep the lights on – we have continued to share Good News – we have continued to gather and to nurture new believers – we have continued to honor deaths among us and to celebrate births – we have continued to give voice to our deepest hopes and longings – we have continued to shape hearts and minds for work and witness in Christ’s Name – we have continued to identify and to equip new leadership for the Church and her ministries – we have continued to examine our individual lives and our collective life through the Gospel lens, confessing and repenting of our sin, and seeking meaningful ways to amend our lives and our life so that God’s Will may be done among us – we have continued to sing God’s praises and to seek God’s kingdom – we have inquired and discerned, we’ve shown courage and have persevered, we have come to more deeply know God and to love God, and our joy and wonder at what God is up to in, among, and around us has flung wide our sail to capture the winds of God’s Holy Spirit, wherever she may lead us.

 

There’s hope in that.

There’s joy in that.

There’s peace in that.

And THAT is exactly what the world needs right now.

So, from the bottom of my heart, please know how grateful I am for your enduring commitment to the life we share at Saint Mark’s, how honored I am to serve among you as your Dean, and how excited I am for next year’s safe reunion, when we can all share together, again, the stories of what God has been up to among us and can offer our full-throated thanks and praise – the only sacrifice befitting the privilege of sharing this Holy Life.

 

With thanks to our Ministry Team, to our Council, to our Volunteers, to our Members and Guests, to our Neighbors and Mission Partners, to our Friends and Well-wishers, and to the God who knits us all together as One – I am yours,

 

In Christ,

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

 

Find the schedule and all links to our Advent and Christmas offerings here. 

The Dean's Christmas Appeal will go towards the Lionheart Scholarship program for the fourth year. Read about this wonderful program and find the link to donate here.