Dear Friends,
We have reached the annual final quarter of the year, a season that seems to bring with it a secular shopping countdown of holidays culminating in Christmas Day. Here at the beginning of October, grocery store shelves are newly stocked with copious amounts of Halloween themed candies, while home improvement centers are already installing displays of Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. Yet, somewhere in the midst of the mounds of sweets, felted turkeys in Pilgrim hats, and outdoor holiday lighting that bestrewn our path, we find ourselves on the annual spiritual quest to seek meaning and moments of reflective quietude. Somewhere between the daily draw of vapid commercialism and the longing for an earnest faith, I believe that it is vitally important to remember that life is meant to be fun.
I find that there are crucial moments of decision making during the holiday season, when family commitments and unrealistic expectations can tend to overwhelm our personal sense of enjoyment. Perhaps, driven by generations of Protestant guilt and a certain Calvinistic work ethic, we can choose personal suffering over personal joy. In a terrible irony that turns what should be celebratory into what feels burdensome, It’s as our perceived obligation to bring light and joy to others is overshadowed by a certain personal suspicion belief that we don’t deserve joy for ourselves. Perhaps our faith or family may have given us an overdeveloped fear of hedonism, a dictatorial perfectionism that cautions us that we are in danger of descending into chandelier-swinging debauched epicureans, devoid of all family loyalties. Alternatively, maybe the ideals of sacrificial giving contribute to an unconscious self-subjugation to the will and desires of others. Mayhap we have inherited a particular version of Christian morality that urges us inexorably towards acts of self-sacrifice, ironically during a time of the liturgical year when we are reminded that Christ came into the world to be the one and only perfect sacrifice so that we might know new life and eternal joy. Life is not intended to be a series of tortures to which we submit ourselves in God’s name and which others may be too willing to inflict (knowingly or unknowingly). At such times, we must remember, as C.S. Lewis wrote, that, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.”
I urge you this month to begin to make plans to experience joy at the holidays, whatever joy is for you and with whomever brings you joy. Prioritize your joy, desire it and embrace it, make room for it, and host it with tea and jam cookies – put slippers and comfortable lounge clothes on it, settle it in your best chair beside the fire of your heart. Allow joy to abide with you, and give yourself permission to prioritize your joy – for only in this way will your joy be genuine for anyone else.
As part of a commitment to encouraging joy, Trinity leadership and staff have planned a special community event for each holiday month this quarter. On Sunday, October 30th, we will hold two services: a normal Rite I service at 8:00 AM with the readings assigned that day (Pentecost 21) and a special Rite II service at 10:00 AM celebrating the universe, story, and theology of Star Wars; costumed attendees are highly encouraged, and All Are Welcome! The following month, on Sunday, November 20th, Trinity will hold one combined morning service beginning at 10:00 AM, when we will celebrate the ingathering and conclusion of our “Holy Currencies” annual pledge campaign (running from October 16 – November 20) in preparation of the 2023 budget; this special service will be followed by a midday Thanksgiving meal and holiday gifts auction (including silent auction items and some very special live auction items). Finally, on Sunday, December 18th, immediately after the conclusion of the 10:00 AM service, community members are invited to participate in the Greening of the Church for Christmas (there are ways in which our members of every age can support the effort), followed by an especially delightful coffee hour with live Christmas music and surprise goodies as a thank you (and you might just catch a glance of ole’ St. Nicholas himself!).
So, let us enter these coming three months with the intention to welcome joy, to reveal in it, and to celebrate it as a precious gift from God that we are meant to experience in in this life. As a community, we have scheduled and are planning for experiences of joy. In the same way, I encourage each of you to look at your calendars now, determine where and how you will schedule time for what and who brings you true joy. Keep those times and occasions, events and personal Sabbaths, as sacred and God-gifted – because they are.
Life is meant to be fun. So, wear the costume, enjoy the food, decorate in celebration that God is with us, laughing with us, as we honor God the most when we appreciate and enjoy the precious life with which we have each been gifted. As much as you are able, set worries and the burdens of expectations aside, sit beside the fire within the joy of your heart, sacred times in which God has the opportunity to en-joy you.
In Christ’s Name,
Pastor Rachel+
The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, Rector