Friends

I just heard that clergy friends will be moving in January to a St. Louis suburb.  Jon and I started the process for discernment to the priesthood about the same time.  He already had a degree in pastoral counseling so was able to finish quickly after one and half years at General Seminary.  His first call as rector was a hard one, with conflict.  Small town, where he was missing big town amenities, as well. So I am glad that he has found something more for his soul.  Also, he and his family will be 3 hours closer and I may actually be able to take the train down to visit some time.

My call continues to be a challenge, with challenging people who seem to be stuck in the old conflicts and make these conflicts about personalities.  I am now in a clergy consultation group to help deal with parish systems and hope to help the parish get through these difficulties. If they don't the conflicts and personalities will continue to clash and be counterproductive for the life of the parish.  They want to grow; there is much work to do.

As Christmas Eve approaches, I have been preaching on the love that came down in Bethelehem--God's most wonderous and mysterious love through the Christ.  Our being able to accept this love is crucial in responding in a way that continues the love of Christ in our world.

How can I help my parish move beyond its conflicts, the wounds so old I would have thought they would have scarred over by now. There are deep longings for new life, but some people get mired in their grieving and their wounds that have not healed.

Like Jon, I want to do good work, but I also need to be fed in my situation, in a way that lets my given talents and creativity come forward in my priesthood.  I don't want to be constantly working with old wounds, I want to help the healing begin and finish or at least be more functional, if healing is to take much more time than I had hoped.

Pray for all congregations who carry wounds of past hurts with them. Pray for individual parishioners who seek to be more peaceful even as they call up old wounds, fears, enmities, and continue to live through them.  Forgiveness seems to be far away from their hearts, but this is the season that teaches us how God forgave so much sinfulness within us.  How can we not respond by forgiving those who have hurt us, how can we not give God a chance as helping us heal?