Christmas message 2021

Christmas 2021

 O Come let us adore Him….Christ the Lord!

 “You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger”

                                                                                                                      Luke 2: 12b

Jenny and our family, join me in wishing you a joyous and spirit filled Christmas. My prayer for you is the prayer we have for ourselves….that you would cherish the pulse of life around you in your loved ones family and dearest friends.

A number of years  ago, as I sat in Saint John’s Church Bridgeport CT, experiencing Amahl and the night visitors, I felt a sense of wonder, intrigue excitement and marvel.

The culmination of the glorious music and indeed the message, taught me yet again the truth about giving and discovering the truth about the wonder of gift deep within the soul and in the strangest of places.

The crippled Amahl gave the very crutch away upon which he was dependant, and which he himself had made, without reserve or wanting anything in return….no strings attached

His giving of his very life support to some degree liberated his spirit, into a freedom beyond measure.

I became all chocked up, aware of the miracle of healing, wholeness and hope.

Somehow the unexpected creates a space for the extraordinary

A baby wrapped in strips of cloth….and lying in a manger. Ironically, the same Baby as the incarnate Christ draped in strips of cloth on a tree, is the one we adore on this most Holy and extraordinary night

While Saint Luke proclaims: “ You will find a baby,” The wonder of Christmas is that God is seeking us…we are found God.

The wonder of the incarnation is not so much in our finding as in God’s giving. God in the birth of the Christ, on this Holy night wrapped in strips of cloth, clothes us with a love given so freely and without reserve….no strings attached

It is indeed on this night, unlike any other night before or since, when God not only acted in history, but entered history….wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger………

As God gives God self to you tonight, we kneel in awe, wonder and adoration, as we do him homage and respond to the world’s need in his name.

I conclude with words of a song we sang at the end every Holy Eucharist in my last  parish in South Africa.

“ Send us out from here Lord to serve a world in need.

May we know no one by the coat they wear,

But the heart that Jesus sees.

 And may the light of your face Lord,

Shine upon us now,

You have filled our hearts with your love

And our cup is overflowing with joy.”

O Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

The Prie Dieu (prayer desk)

The Prie Dieu (prayer desk)

I love to work with wood! It is not only cathartic, it is indeed renewing, restoring and allows me to reclaim the joy of recreating!

So, it is, each summer I intentionally “find” a project. This time around it feels like this project “found” me. It was “buried” in the basement of the church – Saint Mary the Virgin in Chappaqua, NY (church basements are fascinating places, filled with hidden gems and valuable history!)

Sometimes it takes, digging deeper to discover the wonder of yesteryear!

I found a Prie Dieu (prayer desk) given “to the glory of God and in memory of a certain Alice Lyon.”

The Prie Dieu, was encrusted with layers of dust, in pieces and at first glance looked like another piece of junk.

I set up shop, in the basement, slowly and carefully putting it all together….a challenge in itself, simply because there were no screws, nails or any other evidence of how it was constructed…..except by tight joints and a craftsmanship of the highest standard.

A high-quality glue and special clamps were used, painstakingly accomplishing the original construction.

A deliberate decision was made not to sand or varnish it. It was meticulously wiped down and one coating of special oil completed the work….see pictures below!

Too much detail you may say. The truth be told; there is much more detail.

Renewing hope, restoring grace and reclaiming joy, rooted in the gift of prayer, takes time, patience and resting in the opportunities that arise from challenges.

My Mother taught me how to pray, through her persistent example, her gentle soulful heart and perseverance amidst the most challenging of times. When I am at a loss, or find it hard to pray, I catch myself praying those simple, yet powerful prayers Mum taught me.

As we live into these summer days, it is my very sincere prayer that each of us would embrace, hope, grace and joy.

Jesus represents the archetypal example of prayer. As we follow the Christ, with fever and purpose, may we in our day, truly be agents of renewing hope, restoring grace and reclaiming joy!

Alan G. Dennis

A summer message

“Pour out on us, O Lord, that same Spirit by which your deacon Ephrem rejoiced to proclaim in sacred song the mysteries of faith; and so gladden our hearts that we, like him, may be devoted to you alone”
~ a great cloud of witnesses, a calendar of commemorations

As we live through these summer days, I have been reflecting on the past program year, and also preparing for the next. In doing so, I have become starkly aware of the unsung saints of God, who by their life, witness and example teach us so much.
On June 10, the church remembered Ephrem of Edessa, Syria, who was a Deacon in the church. It is my prayer that the following excerpt, from “a great cloud of witnesses,” will give us all hope and encourage us on our journey during this summer, and beyond.
Ephrem of Edessa, Syria
Deacon, 373
“Ephrem of Edessa was a teacher, poet, orator, and defender of the faith—a voice of Aramaic Christianity, speaking the language Jesus spoke, using the imagery Jesus used. Edessa, a Syrian city, was a center for the spread of Christianity in the East long before the conversion of the western Roman empire.
The Syrians called Ephrem “The Harp of the Holy Spirit,” and his hymns still enrich the liturgies of the Syrian Church.
Ephrem was born at Nisibis in Mesopotamia. At eighteen, he was baptized by James, Bishop of Nisibis. It is believed that Ephrem accompanied James to the famous Council of Nicaea in 325. He lived at Nisibis until 363, when the Persians captured the city and drove out the Christians.
Ephrem retired to a cave in the hills above the city of Edessa. There he wrote most of his spiritual works. He lived on barley bread and dried herbs, sometimes varied by greens. He drank only water. His clothing was a mass of patches. But he was not a recluse, and frequently went to Edessa to preach. Discovering that hymns could be of great value in support of the true faith, he opposed Gnostic hymns with his own, sung by a choir of women. An example is, “From God Christs Deity came forth.” (Episcopal Hymnal # 443)
During a famine in 372–373, he distributed food and money to the poor and organized a sort of ambulance service for the sick. He died of exhaustion, brought on by his long hours of relief work. Of his writings, there remain 72 hymns, commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, and numerous homilies. In his commentary on the Passion, he wrote: “No one has seen or shall see the things which you have seen. The Lord himself has become the altar, priest, and bread, and the chalice of salvation. He alone suffices for all, yet none suffices for him. He is Altar and Lamb, victim and sacrifice, priest as well as food.” ~ a great cloud of witnesses, a calendar of commemorations
As we enjoy these summer days, may we be challenged to follow his example, with a song in our hearts, as we seek to serve those in need around us, and in or world.
Alan Dennis

A Pentecost Message

The experience of Pentecost could possibly bring out the skeptic in most of us. If it cannot be scrutinized, analyzed or categorized, we seem to have difficulty believing it. However, God the Holy Spirit invaded the hearts and spirits of women and men then, and continues to do so in an unexpected manner today.

The day of Pentecost was so called because it was celebrated on the fiftieth ( Greek ~ penetekostos) day after the first barley harvest. It was also known as the “feast of weeks,” and also as “the day of the first fruits.”

It was on this symbolic day that the power of the Holy Spirits rumblings in that upper room spilled out into the street below. Saint Luke graphically reflects upon the confusion, amazement, curiosity, miracle, acceptance and denial of the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2.

So it is in our own day, amidst the confusion, uncertainty and division that so often seems to rule the day, I believe that the spirits rumblings and power continue to be rebirthed in our lives; renewing, refreshing, challenging and changing us. The gift of Pentecost makes the ordinary extraordinary, as the message of the Spirit calls us into extraordinary relationship with our awesome God!

In their thought provoking book, Music of Silence – A sacred journey through the hours of the day, David Steindl-Rast and Sharon Lebell, reflect on the monastic hours of the day

“Now at the third hour of the day the focus is on the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is called down on all our work, especially in the text of the hymn we chant at this hour. For Terce, (the third hour) reminds us of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost …………. Others accused the apostles who were talking in different languages, of being drunk. Filled with the Spirit, Peter jovially replied, “we are not drunk; after all, it is only the third hour.”

So it is indeed, that the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit is a blessing. One of the hymns speak of “sober inebriation,” enjoyed by those filled with the Spirit; the Blessing of our Holy God giving new life, new breath, fresh energy, bursting with vitality and hope.

As a faith community we too can celebrate this glorious gift, because Pentecost tells us that as God’s beloved we can join God in the holy work of renewing the church and the world.

Pentecost tells us that we are living flames, looking beyond doubt and fear.

Pentecost tells us that we should reach out to ALL God’s people as we seek healing, justice, peace and reconciliation

Pentecost tells us that there is a place and space for all at the table.

Pentecost will rekindle within each of us the fire of God’s love, as we seek to renew the face of the earth, and God’s church.

As we enter these summer days, may we be refreshed with the power of the Spirits grace and grow in grace during the long green season of Pentecost.

With my prayers and Pentecostal Blessings of grace upon grace!

The Reverend Canon Alan G. Dennis