Here in this holy house where we worship and praise, where we come to rest and to pray, where we come away to receive nourishment…here in this holy house, as beautiful and wonderful as it is, as much as we desperately need what we find here, this holy house is not where we’re meant to stay.
No, like God, we are called to move about in tent and tabernacle, a nomadic…a pilgrim people called to go out to dwell with God’s people in the world, to feed, to teach, to heal.
This was the eNews opener I wrote the week I began serving Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Chicago. 
These are days when I feel like signs of God's abundance are all around. Just yesterday, as of this writing, I began my time serving as Administrator for Communications, Worship, and Community Life (the longest title ever, I know) here at Holy Trinity. This is, for me, a sign of God's abundance because I am getting to worship, serve, sing, play, coordinate, facilitate, and more, with a vibrant community that I've followed and loved from afar for years. You all (Y'all, where I come from), the community of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, are a sign of God's abundance for me.In this weekend's Gospel reading we'll hear the story of the loaves and fishes. When Jesus told the disciples to feed the gathered crowds and they realize that they have only five loaves and two fish, God's abundance was, I imagine, the furthest thing from their minds. But Jesus did a curious thing, he took, blessed and broke the loaves, and somehow, all who were gathered ate and were well-filled...there were even leftovers.There are times in our lives when what we are given seems anything but abundant. Sometimes the only thing that seems abundant is our brokenness. But what did Jesus do before he broke those loaves? He blessed them. Just as we are blessed by God even in our brokenness. And as we gather in our blessed brokenness, we are somehow re-membered as the body of Christ: broken, yet whole; one body, though many members. And then all are fed: "The Body of Christ, broken for you." "The Blood of Christ, shed for you." And miracle of miracles: there are leftovers (and sometimes aren't the leftovers the best of all?) ! God's abundance overflows in us so that we become like those twelve baskets full. We become a sign of God's abundance: food and drink, broken and poured out for the life of the world.What are some signs of God's abundance in your life?How have you experienced God's abundance in the midst of brokenness?How might your experience of God's abundance overflow beyond yourself?
As we begin this new year we are certainly called to take the name of Jesus with us, to treasure it in our hearts and have it on our lips as Christians have done for centuries, this strong name that reminds us that God saves. And we are called to more than that. We ourselves are called by God in baptism to be living signs, icons of the truth that God saves. We not only take the name of Jesus with us, we are marked with the cross of Christ forever. We not only take the name of Jesus with us, we receive him into our bodies in the Eucharist…the Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven…the Blood of Christ, the Cup of Salvation.
As we begin this new year we are certainly called to take the name of Jesus with us, to treasure it in our hearts and have it on our lips as Christians have done for centuries, this strong name that reminds us that God saves. And we are called to more than that. We ourselves are called by God in baptism to be living signs, icons of the truth that God saves. We not only take the name of Jesus with us, we are marked with the cross of Christ forever. We not only take the name of Jesus with us, we receive him into our bodies in the Eucharist…the Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven…the Blood of Christ, the Cup of Salvation.
The past two Summers I have been delighted to participate in the Bexley Seabury Leadership Institute at the Kellogg School, a joint program between Bexley Seabury Seminary Federation and 
Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. This rich and robust program brings top level nonprofit management training to clergy and faith leaders. Shortly after the program this past June I was invited to be interviewed by Jessica Love, Editor in Chief of Kellogg Insight, for an article she was working on about Kellogg's programs with faith leaders and why they are important. Below is a link to the article in which I am honored to be extensively quoted. Jessica weaves together insights from Kellogg professors, including Dr. Nicholas Pierce, who taught in the program both times I participated in it. This program is invaluable for lay and clergy leaders in communities of faith and I encourage all faith leaders to consider participating in it.Here's the link to the article.
The beauty, richness, and diversity of our liturgical and musical life
at St. Mary's right now has my heart and soul so full of gratitude and almost overwhelmed by all of the beauty and loveliness in so many ways.Our liturgies this Advent season have, while being grounded in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition, included a variety of resources to help us get to the heart of what I like to call a "spirituality of Advent." Our Rector, Patrick's, preaching has, I believe, helped us to see how our lives, especially in these seemingly dark days, are Advent-ful if we but take the time to pay attention. Advent, I thnk, is more relevant now than ever.These liturgies, this preaching, and the music we have made together in the midst of it all, have really been working on me this Advent. During a time when I have often felt overwhelmed and dismayed by everything going on in the church and the world I am thankful that I haven't been able to get away from Advent. The relentless Advent refrain of hope and expectation is, I think, one of the things that has most helped me keep going.Today I feel like I got a splendid glimpse of the hope and expectation of Advent - the waiting and yearning for a time when God will be all in all, in the culmination of some of our Advent activities and preparations for Christmas. This Advent we've be singing as the Fraction Anthem, "God of promise, you have prepared a banquet for us. Happy are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb." This is one of those times when, in the midst of the daily grind of being a church musician, I feel like I've been graced with a little glimpse of heaven.Today: A Taize Eucharist with our Parish Choir and an intergenerational group of nearly 10 instrumentalists leading us in worship followed by assembling 200 or so sack lunches to help feed hungry people, and, in just over an hour from now, our children's Christmas pageant.
Next Sunday the Parish Choir sings Herbert Sumsion's Magnificat in A Major and our section leaders will sing Hans Leo Hassler's Dixit Maria. In the midst of all of that we'll chant the Magnificat to the gorgeous Tonus peregrinus and sing Rory Cooney's powerful paraphrase of the Magnificat, Canticle of the Turning, set to the rollicking Irish tune Star of the County Down.On Christmas Eve, in addition to tons of carols, the Gospel Choir and friends will sing at the 4:30pm liturgy and offer Andre Thomas' Here's a Pretty Little Baby and Lynn Trapp's setting of The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy. At the 10pm Prelude/10:30pm Liturgy the Handbell Choir will ring and the Parish Choir will sing. The Parish Choir will offer Charles Wood's Ding Dong Merrily on High, Harold Darke's In the Bleak Midwinter and Bob Chilcott's ravishingly beautiful The Shepherds Sing. Also, I'm super excited that our soprano section leader will sing Herbert Howells' Come Sing and Dance.I am always humbled by the generous offering of time that our music leaders bring especially with everything else they have going on during this hectic season. The music in which all of our musicians lead us, volunteers and staff singers alike, is one of the greatest Christmas gifts I am blessed to receive.
