Dear Church,

 

Happy Imbolc! Happy Saint Brigid's Day! This Celtic festival day at the beginning of February celebrates the coming of spring - as it lands approximately half-way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

 

From what-some-of-us-used-to-encyclopedias-now-called-Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc): The holiday was a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Celebrations often involved hearthfires, special foods, divination or watching for omens, candles or a bonfire if the weather permitted. Fire and purification were an important part of the festival. The lighting of candles and fires represented the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. A spring cleaning was also customary. Holy wells were visited at Imbolc, and at the other Gaelic festivals of Beltane and Lughnasa. Visitors to holy wells would pray for health while walking 'sunwise' around the well. They would then leave offerings, typically coins or clooties. Water from the well was used to bless the home, family members, livestock and fields. Donald Alexander Mackenzie also recorded that offerings were made "to earth and sea." The offering could be milk poured into the ground or porridge poured into the water, as a libation.

 

I lift before us this Celtic festival as a way to remind ourselves of the new life springing up, even under the still-cold, barren New England ground. I am excited about our new 5-point, 5-year Missional Plan and how early seeds of that work are being watered and nurtured. A new Climate Jubilee Team has been birthed and has begun a phase of initial research. Your Council is reshaping its monthly agendas to incorporate these 5 goals. We are working hard already to see about new ways of generating income to support our overall life together. We have extended our period of transition into August as our Transitional Associate Pastor Rev. Adam has agreed to remain with us an additional 6 months. And finally, in part to help support these commitments, our congregation has settled on the scope of our next three-quarters time settled Associate Pastor who we hope will begin in September, 2020.  

 

Friends, the hearthfires of God's creativity are already blessing us into this new decade. May we feel their warmth and new life as we join the practice of Saint Brigid who prays:

 

O Loving Day Star,

We would like the angels of Heaven to be among us.

We would like an abundance of peace.

We would like full vessels of charity.

We would like rich treasures of mercy.

We would like cheerfulness to preside over all.

We would like Jesus to be present.

Amen.

 

~Rev. Rob