Dear parishioners and friends of St. Matthew’s ~

I just had to send out this second of my weekly emails to you because I am so looking forward to tomorrow- Sunday, January 8, when we will have breakfast together as a community, and when our service of Holy Eucharist will also include the baptism of precious Mori Jean Lenig. It will be absolutely glorious as we surround her with love and proclaim aloud what we already know- that she is Christ’s own forever- and have the opportunity to also reaffirm our own baptismal vows. The Reverend Canon Chris Streeter, Canon to the Ordinary for Congregational Life for our diocese, will be here with us to preside and preach on this wonderful day and it is a lovely chance for us to thank him for all the care and wisdom he has offered our community over the past year or so. Breakfast is at 9:00 am and our children’s activity at 9:30 and then worship at 10am, so please do come and share in this time with us and savor the blessings of gathering together and being fed in Word and Sacrament.

I am so eager to meet more of you and have the chance to begin to get to know each other as we begin this season of life together.

My picture above is of the nativity set in our home- an aerial view, so to speak- and I love how all the people and creatures are crowded together as they made room for the Magi and their patient camel to come right up to present their gifts to the Child, but weren’t quite ready to leave themselves. Epiphany calls us to take our clues from these faithful worshippers and steadfast travelers from a faraway land, who allowed their wonder and amazement to so transform them that they were never the same again and could no longer safely take the familiar roads home.

From a sermon I preached on the Feast of the Epiphany, 2020:

“The journey of the Magi is, after all, our own. We go forth and we come back, following a Light not everyone may see, never quite the same as when we left, driven by a purpose sometimes beyond our comprehension, in the end always heading for what we long to call our home. This is the core of God’s call to us as found in all our seeking and our journeying- God’s invitation to draw near and offer our homage, to acknowledge and share God’s gift of Love so that Love may truly live in all times and all places and among all people.”

All blessings to you, tonight and always, and know you are always close in my prayers and love. It is a gift to begin this season of life and ministry together.

The Reverend Dina Carter Ishler