Rector’s Fisherman Letter for November 2007

"Bloom Where You are Planted"

Dear Friends,

It may feel a little early to you to be looking at stories associated with Advent, but as Mary Seel pointed out to me in October, our parish journey is taking on some aspects of the story of the Holy Family before the birth of Jesus. Joseph and Mary were called out of their home by a government decree. After the birth of Jesus they obeyed God’s direction to them in a dream and fled to Egypt to protect their child.

God is calling us out of a familiar and comfortable place and sending us out to find a new place for worship, ministry and mission. We go out not on our own volition, but because we have been directed to do so. We cannot stay in our church building and community center. The Seel family cannot stay in the rectory. So we go out believing that to do so is to be obedient to God’s call on our parish.

It is difficult for many of us to depart from the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Central New York. As a cradle Episcopalian, my mother’s words still ring in my ears: “Bloom where you are planted.” But when the soil will no longer support life, a plant needs to be repotted in good soil that can support and nurture life.

Our last time of worship in the building of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church will be on the Feast of St. Andrew, November 30. Our liturgy that evening will be a bit different than all other celebrations of the feast of our patron saint. We will take time to say goodbye to a building that has served our congregation well for many years. It is a time of sadness, but on Sunday, December 2, the first Sunday of Advent, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church will be in new surroundings, preparing once more for the birth of Christ and His second coming.

One final word for us from Scripture:

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. Hebrews 10: 32-36

This November is an in-between time for us as we prepare to depart our old facilities and arrive in a new place for us. Just as Mary and Joseph were displaced, we too will be in unfamiliar places, but like them, we go trusting that God is with us always. As I have become fond of repeating, God is good all the time, all the time God is good. I really do believe this and I hope that you do too.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Tony Seel, Rector