Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! When has the Church ever been out in front? Right now, actually.  Each year Christianity gets a head start on the new year with Advent, our New Year, beginning at midnight this morning, exactly one month before the world catches up with its own. So what shall we do with this month grace period?  Work harder, comes to mind.  Get better at being church?  Nice. Do more?  Surely.  Go more places?  Why not?  But honestly, these words don’t feel right and sound exhausting the more I repeat them.  Such a pace may be what the culture does, but no, not us, not right now.

Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places: Greetings in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ! “It reminds me of when the Israelites were caught between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea . . .” I am part of a monthly Clergy Spiritual Direction group in Albuquerque where four of us, sometimes five, share the challenges and joys of being pastors, under the care of a psychologist/spiritual director who is accustomed to lives like ours.  It has been an amazing and supportive group for more than a decade. This past week we talked about the election and what it might mean going forward.  It was here when my colleague finished his sentence: “. . . and God told the people to keep still.”