Much like the story of Christmas itself, there are a lot of despairing things going on in our world, and yet, if we are careful and attentive, we can see God‘s beauty, hope, truth and great love breaking into the world in so many places.
We have to look no further than our own community to see beautiful messy spirituality at work.
Pope Francis is keeping the light of Christ burning bright in his leadership on Synodality, emphasizing mercy and caring for our planet and (while I might be accused of being a bit biased) his heavily leaning into pastoral accompaniment for LGBTQ+ children of God.
We in the SEC can look forward to a year of gathering together in prayer and fellowship as well as joining in and helping lead synodal conversations this coming year in the lead-up to the second Synod gathering in Oct 2024. We will be engaging on topics near to our hearts as we help model a new way of encountering one another-especially those who see things differently than us, but who also love God and the church.
This is going to be a challenging year for our country and democracy. There are few things that are as important as modeling civil and respectful dialogue. So our practicing a better way of listening to one another with our hearts united by the Holy Spirit is critical. We’ve already seen the positive impact of this approach on several bishops during the Synod.
To aid us in our journey, our theme this year is “Walking in Wisdom, Listening in the Spirit”.
This theme points to what is likely our only hope – and it has always been so. We perhaps can tweak Melanie Brzezinski’s (Jerry’s mom) spiritual mantra as “Take one day at a time, accept what is, stay in the present, and deeply listen to each other – because that’s where God is.”
Here’s to an amazing and healing Christmas Season and prayers from your SEC leadership team that you and your family and our community find the courage, comfort and joy we need in Christ.
-terry
servantsentrance.com 