Back to School, Near and Far

Our life together is the life we share as members and friends of Holy Comforter, and it is also a sharing in the reality of each other's lives beyond the corner of Monument and Staples Mill. Tomorrow, Sunday August 31st, we will take time to acknowledge and celebrate the beginning of the new school year with special prayers for students, teachers, parents, and all who work in educational settings. What we call the "Blessing of the Backpacks." As we have been anticipating the time for these prayers, some who have worked closely with the children in the village of Mzula in Tanzania, asked me if they could come forward with pencils to be blessed to represent the children of that village. Yes! What a great idea. As we bless and pray for the children who will gather at the church tomorrow, we will also pray for and bless these children in a village far away but close to our hearts.

Engaging the World and Being Engaged By It

The Church is not the Building

Over the last few weeks, we have been reaching out to our neighbors, people who live near the church and people who may not. We continue with our Outreach ministries of feeding homeless veterans and offering food to our food pantry visitors. We attended the neighborhood block party in the church's neighborhood a two weeks ago. The focus of the gathering was on getting to know each other, knowing who our neighbors are, and neighborhood safety - police and fire personnel were there, as was a local politician. Those of us from the church had a great time meeting and talking with people. It gave me a sense of who is living near the church...who they are, what their lives involve. Getting out and meeting people rather than staying in a church office is what we who work in the church need to do. The phrase, "The Episcopal Church is here for you." is for everyone who does not yet attend, and may never come to our church, as well as for those who do. 

Holy Comforter also needs our neighbors. At that gathering, we were able to share that vandals had done some damage to the church. It felt good knowing that our neighbors cared, which was obvious as they offered support. Not everyone will come to Holy Comforter or the Episcopal Church, but we are still in this life together...here for each other.

While the church is not the building (the church is you and me), we still hope to keep our buildings and grounds in good shape for this and future generations. Not a lot of damage has been done, but enough that it hurts...even a little hurts. We prayed during the worship service last Sunday that the people doing the vandalism will know God's love and joy, and be able to move on to better activities for their good and ours. Even though it is not a laughing matter, I had to laugh a little at this damage to one of our outdoor lights.

So Rich and Varied

Over the last two weeks, I have been struck by, even during the summer, known for a slower pace, our life together as people connected to HoCo has been so full and varied. And in every case, it is a life of relationships. I am going to try to get back to my original intention for this blog - to reflect on what it means to be the people of God and to be the Church in the world today.