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A Word from Grace Street

Christ, in the features of faces

March 17, 2010

My Dear People,

For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

-- Gerard Manley Hopkins, from "As Kingfishers Catch Fire"

I have been asked how I choose what to write about each week. And the best answer I can give is that I don't choose. Rather, what I am to write about presents itself. And so it was last night, at our vestry meeting, as I saw Christ in the features of men and women's faces, around the room, and as I heard Christ in the words they spoke.

Last night our senior warden, and longtime member of St. Paul's, Mary Kay Huss, resigned her office as warden. As you may know, the Huss' are in the process of getting Phil through a health situation and back to full strength. While I will very much miss having Mary Kay serve with us as warden, I am grateful for the service she has already offered, and I support her entirely in her decision to devote her energies and attention to her family at this time.

Wilson Whitehurst was unanimously elected to finish out Mary Kay's term as senior warden. And we give great thanks for Wilson's gracious willingness to serve.

It is at moments such as this that the true colors of a community show. And they shone beautifully last night, again, in the faces and in the voices of all gathered around the table.

I give great thanks for the Christian community of disciples that is St. Paul's Church.

With gratitude and with prayers,
your brother in Christ,

Wallace+

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A WORD FROM GRACE STREET

A Word From Grace Street, Wallace's weekly theological reflection, is sent by email to all who are interested. Sign-up above or read them below.

SERMONS

To Bethlehem; to Bethlehem, we have come.

And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.

The Pointer’s Point

More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John,  and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.

Keep Alert, Awake, and Watchful

On any given day, there are those things that would get our attention; those things that would bring fresh perspective; those things would remind us of what is most important, what is most true. If, that is, if we but notice. We never know when those things, those experiences, those people might come. And so it has always been, so it has always been.

The Rule of 72

The Rule of 72, they call it.  It’s a rule of thumb to figure how long it’ll take to double your money. If you know you can get 5%, on your investment, then you divide 5 into 72 and that tells you: it’ll take roughly 14 and ½ years to double your money. That’s the Rule of 72. Now, sometimes an investor doesn’t want to wait 14 and a ½ years, or however long the Rule of 72 tells you that you have to wait and so increased risks are taken. And sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose.

Walk the Way of a Servant

We all want, in the words of St. Paul, to “lead a life worthy of God.” A life worthy of God. Un-like the lives of the false prophets, of Micah’s day, or the false teachers of Jesus’ day, the scribes and the Pharisees, teachers of the law. Their lives are un-worthy of God, we are told, in no uncertain terms. In their hypocrisy, they serve, not God, not God’s people, but themselves.

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